Public history has been fundamental to my scholarly interest in studying the past. From a young age, I have been involved in presenting history to broader publics. I began as a Civil War reenactor in Michigan, where I developed an early appreciation for the intricacies of historical research and public engagement with the Civil War era. I also volunteered at Historic Fort Wayne in Detroit, Michigan, where I assisted with historical preservation initiatives.

My first experience with public history from an academic perspective came through an internship at the Johnston-Felton-Hay House in Macon, Georgia. I served as a docent, giving tours at one of Georgia’s most prominent historic house museums. I also photographed and catalogued material culture in the museum’s PastPerfect system. My photography supported the Hay House’s public events and lecture series, including its social media coverage. I also participated in conversations about acquiring donated furniture and helped transport objects between museum spaces.

At Virginia Tech, I completed an M.A. in History and a graduate certificate in Public History. As a fellow with the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, I helped plan, photograph, and participate in public programming. I also took part in the Civil War Traveling Trunk program (pictured right). In 2019, I collaborated with a team to develop Enacting Freedom: Black Virginians in the Age of Emancipation at the American Civil War Museum in Appomattox, Virginia.

In 2019, I worked as an intern in the Education Department at the American Civil War Museum. During my time in Richmond, I developed educational resources for K–12 teachers preparing classroom materials on Native Americans during the Civil War era. I also assisted archival staff with documenting primary source materials, helped plan public programs and speaking events, and helped organize Teacher’s Day as part of a summer symposium on teaching the Civil War era.

I embraced digital public history at George Mason University, where I trained with scholars in oral history and spatial history. Digital mapping has become central to my scholarly identity, and I have built award-winning projects that use geography to better understand the past, including Mapping Displacement. I also helped build historical polygons for Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America and cleaned data for Electing the House of Representatives, projects developed through collaborations between the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab and Virginia Tech faculty.

Now as a teacher, I incorporate digital public history into all of my courses at Loyola University New Orleans. I bring students to local museums across New Orleans to see how digital humanities work in public settings. My students and I have also developed numerous digital projects for www.publichistorytrail.com, a site that hosts collaborative student work in digital public history.