UNCW Public History Program

Nov. 2008

Alicia Thomas, MA 2008, has accepted a position as visitor assistant at the new Capitol Visitor Center in the District of Columbia. For information about the Capitol Visitor’s Center visit: http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/

Michelle Cicero, MA 2007, reports that she has been promoted within Preservation North Carolina. She is now the Regional Director of the Louisburg Office. Michelle writes, “I'm responsible for historic preservation in 24 counties in North Carolina (including New Hanover and nearby counties), which includes researching endangered and significantproperties thatwe might work withand monitoring properties that we have already protected.” For information about Preservation North Carolina’s regional offices, visit: http://www.presnc.org/index.php/About-Us/Preservation-NC-Regional-Offices.html

Mona Vance, MA 2008, has assumed the position of President of the Columbus Historic Foundation in Columbus, Mississippi. Mona reports, “The CHFis closely associated with, and headquartered out of, the Blewett-Harrison-Lee House Museum.” The Columbus Historic Foundation’s website is: http://www.historic-columbus.org/

Mar. 2008

LuAnn Mims, MA 2003, has accepted the position of Executive Director at the Wrightsville Beach Museum. LuAnn writes in, “When you come down to enjoy the beautiful beach stop by and say Hello!” For hours and location of the Wrightsville Beach Museum, visit their website at: http://www.wbmuseum.com/

Jan. 2008

Wilkes County, by Jennifer L. Peña, Misty Bass, and Christy Earp, was recently published by Arcadia Publishing in their “Images of America” series. Jennifer Peña received her M.A. in Public History at UNCW in 2005 and worked on the book while she was curator at the Wilkes Heritage Museum. Jennifer reports that she is composing another history of Wilkes County that “will have fewer images and more words.”

Sept. 2007

Katie McClamrock Abbott, MA 2007, has recently reported that "I am moving to Chisholm, Minnesota. I just accepted a job as Curator of Exhibits and Collections at Ironworld. It is a mining town and the history correlates nicely with my thesis work on the textile industry. My MA in public history has paid off.” For further information about the Ironworld Discovery Center in Chisholm, Minnesota visit: http://www.ironworld.com/

Susan Grantier, BA 2007, is currently working as Tour Coordinator for the Old Baldy Foundation and the Smith Island Museum on Bald Head Island, N.C. Susan writes, “I am primarily responsible for marketing, promoting, scheduling and running history tours of the island and the lighthouse. I am also tasked with customizing the tours (i.e. haunted tours at Halloween) and helping to establish specialty educational lectures, etc” The Old Baldy Foundation and Smith Island Museum of History, which is responsible for preserving North Carolina’s oldest extant lighthouse, maintains a website located at: http://www.oldbaldy.org/

Andrew Duppstadt (BA 1996, MA 1999) delivered a presentation titled “Three Colonial Sites, Two Plantations, and a Tobacco Farm: Finding Relevance for the Civil War Sesquicentennial” at the annual meeting of the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) which was held in Atlanta, September 5-8, 2007. He was part of a panel called “Making Military History Relevant to Diverse Audiences.” He is currently serving his second two-year term on the AASLH Military History Committee. Andrew is the Assistant Curator of Education for the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites.

Feb. 2007

Kim Sims, BA 1999 and concentrated in Public History, has recently been promoted to a new position as Technical Services Archivist for Duke University Archives, where she previously served as the Archives Assistant.

Nov. 2006

Kellie Strickland, BA 2006, has enrolled in the Public History Program at NC State where she is focusing upon archives management. She is serving as Vice President of the student chapter of the Society of American Archivists and is active in the History Graduate Student Association.

Oct. 2006

Jennifer Lancaster Peña, MA 2005, was recently featured in a History Channel documentary entitled Modern Marvels: Distilleries 2. Peña, who is curator at the Wilkes Heritage Museum in Wilkesboro, N.C., was interviewed about the practice of distilling moonshine in North Carolina.  She reports, “It showed me talking with my name on the screen and everything!” The documentary is available for purchase at: http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=76831

Andrew Duppstadt (BA '96, MA '99) has been promoted to the position of Assistant Curator of Education for the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites.  Andrew has six years of experience as the Assistant Manager at the CSS Neuse State Historic Site with expertise in special event programming, historic weapons and teaching. He has also worked part-time at Fort Fisher State Historic Site and Tryon Palace Historic Sites and Gardens.  Andrew will take a vital role in the North Carolina History Bowl and will serve as the Historic Weapons Program Coordinator for sites.  He will be based in Kinston but will have statewide responsibilities.

Sept. 2006

Lisa Whitman-Grice, MA 2000, won the Professional Service Award at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Museums Council. The meeting was held at Old Salem, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Whitman Grice is the Director of the Onslow County Museum in Richlands, North Carolina.

Lisa Whitman Grice poses with other North Carolina Museums Council award winners.
Whitman-Grice is third from the right in the second row.

Andrew Duppstadt, MA 1999, continues to serve as the Assistant Site Manager at the CSS Neuse State Historic Site in Kinston, North Carolina.  For more information about this site which preserves and interprets a Confederate ironclad vessel, visit http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hs/neuse/neuse.htm.

Rebecca Sawyer, MA 2001, is currently employed as an interpreter at the Fort Fisher State Historic Site in Kure Beach, North Carolina, which preserves and interprets a Civil War coastal fort at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. For more information, visit http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/Sections/HS/fisher/fisher.htm.

Jenny Edwards, MA 2003, has recently taken the position of Director of Development with SPCA-Triad, based in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Carrie Davenport, BA 2004, has enrolled in the Museum Studies Program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  Since graduation, Carrie has been employed at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.

December 2005

Jenny Edwards, MA 2003, has taken a job doing fundraising at WHQR, Wilmington’s National Public Radio affiliate. Jenny previously served as a program officer at the North Carolina Humanities Council.

October 2005 – LuAnn Mims, MA 2003, is currently employed as the Archivist at the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society and in the Special Collections at UNCW’s Randall Library. To learn more about the Lower Cape Fear’s Library and Archives, visit http://www.latimerhouse.org/archives.shtml

August 2005 – Jennifer Lancaster Peña, MA 2005, has started a new job as Chief Curator at the Wilkes County Heritage Museum in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The address for the museum’s website is:  http://www.wilkesheritagemuseum.com/index.htm

May 2005 - Jennifer Lancaster-Peña received the Cashman Award from the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society for best history M.A. thesis written at UNCW this year. Entitled “Chinqua-Penn Plantation: A Permanent, Practical House,” Peña’s work provides an architectural and material culture analysis of an early twentieth-century country home built in North Carolina’s northern piedmont.

UNCW Public History Program

Completed Public History M.A. Theses

1996

Webb, Ann Margaret - Incorporating African Americans Into The Public Identity Of The South Via Museum Exhibits

1999

Duppstadt, Andrew Earl – Maximizing the Advantages and Minimizing the Disadvantages: The Committee of 100 and its Role in the Economic Development of Wilmington and the Immediate Vicinity

Williams, Amelia Gail - Interpretation On The Plantation: Interpretive Projects And Public History At Cane River Creole National Historical Park

2000

Whitman-Grice, Lisa Rae - The Water And The Wood: The History Of Onslow County Creating A Local History Exhibition From Concept To Evaluation

2001

Sawyer, Rebecca L. - The Delgado-Spofford Textile Mill And Its Village: The Fabric Of Wilmington's 20th Century Landscape

2003

Edwards, Jennifer Josephine – A Color Line in the Sand: African American Seaside Leisure in New Hanover County, North Carolina

Mims, Luann Margaret - Rural Preservation In An Urban Setting: Advocating Historical Significance Of The Martindale Farm As A Representative Of New Hanover County Agriculture

2005

Barnes, Jeanne Lynn - Deconstructing Tryon Palace: Exploring The Colonial Revival In Twentieth Century New Bern, North Carolina

Pena, Jennifer Lancaster - Chinqua-Penn Plantation: A Permanent, Practical House

2007

Mary Katherine M. Abbott - The Legacy of Paternalism: Mill Town Preservation in Carrboro, Edenton, Raleigh and Kannapolis, North Carolina

Michelle Cicero - Rocketing into Your Daily Life: Life Magazine, the Postwar Advertising Revolution, and the U.S. Space Program, 1957-1966

2008

Thomas, Alicia L. – Pushing Past the Romantic : Preservation and Interpretation at Historic Lighthouses in North Carolina

Vance, Mona K. – Fighting the Wave of Change: Cultural Transformation and Coeducation at Mississippi University for Women, 1884 to 1982