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Jonathan Olly

I’m drawn to how people craft a sense of history from the objects, media, and environment around them. Whether as artifacts in a museum, historic buildings and landscapes, or traditional foodways, my goal is to help preserve these historical touchstones and make them relevant to their communities. Currently I'm writing a dissertation that looks at how various groups reimagined New England's maritime history in the 20th century for tourism and commerce.

Education: A.B., History, University of Massachusetts-Amherst (2002), A.M., Public Humanities, Brown University (2008)

Research Interests: Northeastern U.S./Atlantic Canada history & culture (esp. fisheries), museums, public history, historic preservation, built environment, foodways, historical archaeology, cultural heritage tourism, environmental history, memory, material culture, and the eastern Canadian-U.S. borderlands. 

Courses Taught:
AMCV0190J: Old Salts and Sacred Cod: Culture, Environment and Food in New England, Spring, 2009

 Selected Professional Experience:
Volunteer Researcher/Fabricator, Westminster Stories project, The Museum On Site, Providence, R.I., 11/09-12/09
Curatorial/Educational Intern, Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport, ME., 6/07-8/07
Cataloging Assistant, National Heritage Museum, Lexington, MA., 11/05-7/06
Volunteer Researcher/Advisor, Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail, Great Barrington, MA., 8/05-8/06
Curatorial Assistant, Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA., 1/05-11/05
Kerr Center for Chesapeake Studies Intern, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, MD., 5/04-12/04
Sailing Apprentice, Sloop Clearwater Inc., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 9/03-10/03
L. Byrne Waterman Curatorial Intern, Kendall Institute, New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA., 8/02-8/03
Curatorial Intern, Armed Forces History Collection, National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., 6/01-7/01