Catharine Dann Roeber teaches graduate courses in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture and holds the position of Assistant Professor of Decorative Arts and Material Culture. Previously, Catharine held diverse roles at cultural institutions in the Collections, Development, and Registration departments. In addition, Catharine has taught at William and Mary and Villanova as well as acted as Assistant Director of a Culinary Tour company. She holds a PhD in History and a BA in Anthropology from the College of William and Mary, and received her MA from the Winterthur Program. Her dissertation as entitled Building and Planting: Material Culture, Memory, and the Making of William Penn’s Pennsylvania, Catharine’s background includes work with historical archaeology, rare books libraries, museum collections, and local arts organizations in addition to her work on exhibitions, cataloguing projects, public programming, fundraising, and other activities at Winterthur.
Catharine’s research interests include Decorative Arts and Material Culture of the Americas from 17th-20th centuries with particular attention to landscapes and architecture, foodways, and the role historical memory in shaping the material world. While her work and teaching reflect a generalists approach to understanding material culture, she has an affinity for printed materials, ephemera, ceramics, and vernacular objects, buildings and landscapes. She lectures and writes on topics ranging from busks, to maps, to early Pennsylvania architecture. Exhibits she has curated include Tiffany: The Color of Luxury (co-curated), Bein’ Green: The History of a Color, Body + Art (at the Oxford Arts Alliance),Table Talk: Philadelphia in the New Nation, Seeing Red: Southeastern Pennsylvania Redware from Winterthur (at the Brandywine River Museum and Winterthur), Amelung Glass, and she contributed to the re-installation of the Prints and Paintings and Textiles galleries at Winterthur.
