Curriculum Vitae

Education

Ph.D. American Studies, George Washington University, 2011

  • Dissertation: “Visualizing a Nation: Photographs, European Immigration, and American Identity, 1880-1980”; chaired by Tyler Anbinder.
  • Comprehensive Exams in Twentieth-Century United States History (Thomas Guglielmo), Visual Culture (Frank H. Goodyear), and Public History (James Oliver Horton).

B.A. with Distinction, Indiana University, 2001

  • Majors: History, Latin
  • Certificate: Medieval Studies
  • Minor: Art History

Publications

  • Many Voices, One Nation: Material Culture Reflections on Race and Migration in the United States, co-edited with Margaret Salazar-Porzio. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2017.
  • Seeing a Nation of Immigrants: Photographs and the Making of American Identity (manuscript in progress).
  • “Prototyping an Experimental Curated Publication, Digital Humanities Now, 2009-2014,” with Daniel J. Cohen, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media White Paper, June 2014. (doi: 10.13021/G8V30D)
  • “Guide to Developing a Curated Publication,” Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media White Paper, May 2014. (doi: 10.13021/G8RC7W).
  • “Discovering Scholarship on the Open Web,” Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media White Paper, April 2013. (doi: 10.13021/G8W30Q).
  • Review of “Attachments: Faces and Stories from America’s Gates,” Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. Temporary Exhibition, June 15 – September 4, 2012,” Journal of American History. December 2012. (doi: 10.1093/jahist/jas463).

Historical Research Presentations

  • “Museums and Civic Discourse: Past, Present, and Emerging Futures,” Working Group, National Council on Public History, Baltimore, March 2016.
  • “U.S. Government Propaganda and the Creation of a New Historical Narrative of Immigration,” National Council on Public History, Pensacola, Florida, April 2011.
  • “The American Museum of Immigration: A National Shrine in the Era of Ethnic Revival,” Panel Organizer for “Ethnicity, Migration, and Public History since the 1960s” panel, Organization of American Historians, Washington, DC, April 2010.
  • “Framing Visual Evidence: The Position of Visual and Popular Culture in American Studies,” Panel Organizer and Chair. American Studies Association, Albuquerque, October 2008.
  • “The Futures of American Studies and Ethnic Studies,” Panel Organizer. American Studies Association, Albuquerque, October 2008.
  • “Visualizing the Immigrant at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,” Society for Critical Exchange Mini-Conference, Midwest MLA, Cleveland, November 2007.
  • “Transparent Subjects: Photographs of Immigrants in the Illustrated Press, 1890-1925,” American Studies Association, Philadelphia, October 2007.

Digital Scholarship Presentations, Panels, and Workshops

  • “Welcome,” PressForward Institute, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, August 2015. Transcript.
  • “Scholarly Communications, Digital Publications, and Peer Review,” Doing Digital History, a summer institute for mid-career American historians, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Digital Humanities, run by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History in New Media, George Mason University, August 2014.
  • “Scholarly Communications, Digital Publications, and Peer Review,” Rebuilding the Portfolio: DH for Art Historians, a summer institute at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History in New Media, George Mason University, supported by the Getty Foundation, July 2014.
  • “Enhancing Scholarly Communication and Communities with the PressForward Plugin,” Poster Session, Digital Humanities 2014, Lausanne, Switzerland, July 2014.
  • Radcliffe Workshop on Technology & Archival Processing, Co-Sponsored by Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, and Association of Research Libraries, April 2014.
  • Open Access Summit co-sponsored by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, Philadelphia, February 2014.
  • “Rewriting the Museum Blog,” Museum Computer Network, Montreal, November 2013. Slides.
  • “PressForward,” Western Humanities Alliance, UC San Diego, October 2013. Slides.
  • “Scholarly Work on the Open Web and the PressForward Project,” Purdue University, April 2013. Slides.
  • “The PressForward Project and Scholarly Communication on the Open Web,” EDUCAUSE Webinar, February 2013. Recording.
  • “Experiments in Scholarly Communication on the Open Web from the PressForward Project,” Coalition for Networked Information, Arlington, Virginia, December 2012.
  • “Let’s Build a New Style of Digital Publication for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums, and their Publics,” Museum Computer Network, Seattle, November 2012.
  • “Open Access and Humanities Scholarship,” Open Access Faculty Forum, George Mason University, May 2012.
  • “Graphs, Maps, Trees: Imagining the Future of Public Interfaces to Cultural Heritage Collections,” Working Group, National Council on Public History, Milwaukee, April 2012. Blog post: http://www.visualizingthepast.org/author/joanftroyano/.
  • “New Modes of Publication,” Digital Library Federation Forum, Baltimore, October 2011.
  • “Collecting Memories Online,” Southwest Oral History Association, San Diego, May 2004.

Museum and Public History Work

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: ACLS Public Fellow

Developed exhibit content and interpretation, media and interactive treatments for “Many Voices, One Nation” permanent exhibit at the National Museum of American History (2017). Co-edited Many Voices, One Nation: Material Culture Reflections on Race and Migration in the United States, and co-authored 2 of 19 peer-reviewed essays from 16 scholars (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2017). Concept development for exhibitions across the Smithsonian, and qualitative and quantitative assessment of exhibitions. Researched visitor preferences and exhibits using the IPOP: Ideas-People-Object-Physical framework. Participated in professional development training and mentoring to learn about museum audiences, educational activities, and collections acquisition, documentation, and care. 2014-2016.

Center for the Study of Public History and Public Culture, George Washington University: Consultant

Selected photographs from “Claiming Citizenship: African Americans in New Deal Photography” exhibit for display at Gelman Library. 2011.

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC: Gallery Educator

Taught American History to K-12 students using biography and portraiture through exhibit tours and educational activities. 2007-2009.

Oasis Institute, Hyattsville, Maryland: Immigration History Scholar

Taught immigration history course for “The Immigrant Experience: A Journey to Becoming American,” a multi-part, multidisciplinary humanities program for mature adults developed for the Oasis Institute through a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant. Spring 2008.

Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, DC: George Washington University Fellow.

Assisted Politics and Reform Division with research for “Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life” exhibit. http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/abraham-lincoln-extraordinary-life. 2005-2006.

Digital History Work

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media,
Department of History & Art History, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.

Research Assistant Professor, 2011-2014

  • Director and Co-Principal Investigator, PressForward Grant, funded by the Sloan Foundation. Conducted research to establish effective methods for collecting, screening, and drawing attention to the best online scholarship, and developed a software platform to allow scholarly communities to publish high-quality, digital-first scholarship. (http://pressforward.org).
  • Editor, Digital Humanities Now (http://digitalhumanitiesnow.org) and Journal of Digital Humanities (http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org).
  • Project Manager, website production for Muslim Journeys, a Bridging Cultures Bookshelf from the National Endowment for the Humanities (https://bridgingcultures-muslimjourneys.org/).

Project Manager, Echo: Exploring & Collecting History Online – Science, Technology, and Industry (http://echo.gmu.edu)

Developed and managed website content. Coordinated workshops on the theory and practice of digital history. Helped prepare Grant Proposals, Executive Summaries, Project and Funding Reports. Interviewed and supervised part-time staff. Administered and managed $842,000 grant. Recognized for “Extraordinary Contribution” by George Mason University. 2004-2005.

Digital History Project Associate, September 11 Digital Archive (http://911digitalarchive.org) and ECHO (http://echo.gmu.edu)

Developed and managed project collections, websites, and collaborations with the Red Cross Museum and NASA History Division. Helped to plan and design “The Thin Blue Line: A History of the Pregnancy Test Kit,” an online exhibit by the National Institutes of Health Office of History. Coordinated workshops on collecting history online and provided individual consulting. Responded to public inquiries. Drafted Grant Proposals, Executive Summaries, and Project and Funding Reports. Completed “History and New Media” course with Roy Rosenzweig. 2002-2004.

Research and Editorial Assistance

Center for the Study of Public History and Public Culture, George Washington University: Banneker Fellow.

Provided research assistance on nineteenth century history for Director James O. Horton. 2007-2008.

Digital History: A Guide to Collecting, Presenting, and Preserving the Past, Roy Rosenzweig and Daniel J. Cohen (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005): Research and editorial assistant.

Primary and secondary research, interviews, and editorial work. 2003-2004.

Documents in World History, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Stephen Gosch, and Erwin Grieshaber. (Longman, 2005): Research assistant.

Located translated primary source materials for inclusion in fourth edition. 2004.

Childhood in World History, Peter N. Stearns. (Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2006): Research assistant.

Provided historical and bibliographic overviews of various regions and time periods. 2004.

Teaching

George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia: Introduction to Public History, Fall 2012.

University of Maryland, Baltimore County: Introduction to Public History, Fall 2011.

George Washington University, Washington, DC:

  • Cultural History of the New Deal Era, “Writing in the Disciplines” course, Fall 2010.
  • Writing Preceptor, Analysis of Business Issues, “Writing in the Disciplines” course, 2009- 2010.
  • Teaching Assistant. Intro to the Arts in America; 20th Century U.S. Immigration; Intro to American Studies, 2006-2009.

Language, Etc., Washington DC: Volunteer Teacher of English as a Second Language, Spring 2006.

Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana: Peer Instructor for Freshman Interest Groups Program, 1999-2001.

Selected Fellowships and Awards

Winterthur Institute Fellowship, 2015
Public Fellow, American Council of Learned Societies, 2014
University Fellow, George Washington University, Spring 2011
Balch Institute Fellowship, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2008-2009
Benjamin Banneker Fellowship, George Washington University, 2007-2008
Smithsonian Fellowship, George Washington University, 2005-2006
Dan H. Eikenberry Award, Indiana University History Department, 2001
Lillian Gay Berry Award, Indiana University Classical Studies Department, 1999-2001
Robert C. Byrd Scholarship, State of Georgia, 1997-2001

Service

Humanities Without Walls Predoctoral Career Diversity Summer Workshop
Presenter, “Digital Humanities and Engagement Beyond the Professoriate” panel. 2022.

National Council on Public History
Member of Professional Development Committee. 2015-2020.

Advancing Research Communication and Scholarship Conference
Member of Advisory Board and developed program for inaugural conference 2014-2015.

National Museum American History Blog
Member of team that developed and edited blog posts for museum website. 2014-2016.

THATCamp Publishing
Organized one-day unconference held at Simmons College, attended by 30 participants. June 2013.

Institute of Museum and Library Services
Facilitator of Web Wise conference for grant awardees. 2013.

American Studies Association, National Students’ Committee
Advocated for and supported student ASA members; planned professional development and intellectual programs at annual conferences; directed development of Committee Handbook. 2007-2009.

Affiliations

American Alliance of Museums

National Council on Public History