2019
BROOKE BAERMAN
Brooke Baerman spent her childhood in New Hampshire and coastal
Maine. She was an avid reader of novels and mysteries, and admired the
detectives who solved them. As she matured, she found a way to become
a sleuth herself through research and writing. She graduated Phi Beta
Kappa and summa cum laude from Syracuse University with degrees
in art history and philosophy. In her Honors thesis, which was awarded
Best Capstone in the Humanities, she studied works of art as objects in
the context of the first American sculpture garden. This inspired her to
explore the narratives derived from the close examination of material
culture. After graduating, Brooke studied and worked in museums
throughout Massachusetts, including Historic Deerfield, the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum, and the New England Quilt Museum. Most
recently, she was the Manager of Curatorial Affairs at the Whistler
House Museum of Art, where she coordinated exhibitions, events, and
public programming. At Winterthur, Brooke looks forward to continuing
her investigation of objects, particularly rare books and ephemera.
KATE BUDZYN
Kate Burnett Budzyn grew up touring historic houses and walking the
woods and farmlands of the lower Hudson Valley. She graduated Phi
Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia
University, where she studied English and Art History and served as
Anna Quindlen Writing Fellow. Kate worked in publishing, pastry
and reproductive healthcare before becoming a vintage and antique
clothing dealer, an occupation which has inspired her daily to ponder
the sociological and ecological imperatives—as well as the pure
aesthetic joy—of recycling the material past into our everyday lives.
She comes to Winterthur interested in studying textiles and exploring
the ways in which clothing works simultaneously as a tool of oppression
and expression, especially of female identity. She and her partner are
currently fixing up a late-Victorian row house in Philadelphia, where
they live amongst their many collections with three long-haired cats.
KATIE FITZGERALD
A native of New England, Katie Fitzgerald grew up in a family with
an avid interest in early American culture. She spent many weekends
exploring historic houses and museums throughout the region. An avid
traveler, Katie studied Italian, Spanish, and German to better understand
objects, people, and how they intersect in a global community. Her desire
to understand people and culture through objects led her to a double
major in Art History and Italian Studies from Tufts University. After
graduation, she worked for Skinner, Inc., most recently in Appraisal and
Auction Services and Oriental Rugs and Carpets. These roles allowed
Katie ample opportunities to study objects in a variety of areas as well
as discuss their histories with specialists, collectors, and interested
members of the public. As a Winterthur fellow, Katie looks forward to
researching utilitarian and decorative roles of objects including clocks,
silver, and painted furniture. In her free time she enjoys rowing, biking,
and cooking—from homemade pasta to ice cream.
CARRIE GREIF
Carrie Greif is interested in the preformative experience of decorative
arts. From making to using, she is drawn to the way that objects build
and represent communities. She graduated from George Washington
University in 2012, with a BA in History and Philosophy, and minor in
Dance. After graduating she worked in the education field while living
in South Korea, New Zealand and Washington, D.C. Upon returning to
the United States, she began to pursue her interest in Art History and
Material Culture. She interned at the Smithsonian American Art Library,
the Hirshhorn Museum, and the Chrysler Museum of Art. In fall of
2016, she presented a lecture at the Corning Museum of Glass on the
aesthetic resonance of the Blaschka’s 20th century glass sea-invertebrate
models. From 2016-2017, she worked at Hirsch Glass Curatorial
Research Fellow at the Toledo Museum of Art where she assisted in the
development of exhibitions and the acquisition of new objects. While at
Winterthur she is hoping to garner a deeper understanding of the distinct
stories early American objects tell about American culture. In her spare
time Carrie is an avid yoga practitioner, runner, and lover of cats.
ELIZABETH HUMPHREY
Elizabeth Humphrey became fascinated by objects while living in her
Mississippi home town. She studied the folk art and crafts found at
the local gallery and various things in her great-grandmother’s home.
While in Spain, she encountered cathedrals with Islamic architecture
and calligraphy and developed her interest in acculturation. Her
undergraduate studies at Bowdoin College focused on the relationship
between non-Western and Western art, but she also acquired historical
and social context from other disciplines. To gain experience, she
interned at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art where she created
tours and family programming; she also conducted research for
exhibitions on Surrealist photography and American portraiture. After
receiving her B.A. in Art History and Visual Arts, Elizabeth interned at
the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and
Culture. She contributed to the documentation of unidentified subjects
found in H. C. Anderson’s Greenville, Mississippi, photographic series.
At Winterthur, Elizabeth hopes to continue exploring how objects can
serve as evidence of cross-cultural interactions and shared identities.
RJ LARA
A native of Torrington, Wyoming, Richard “RJ” Lara discovered his
love for American history while exploring small-town museums in the
Rocky Mountain region. His work on a ranch owned by a harness maker
and antique collector further encouraged him to study American history
through objects and traditional American craftsmanship. RJ received his
B.A. at the University of Wyoming, majoring in Secondary Education
and History with a minor in Museum Studies. He was a member of
a research team that studied the repatriation of cultural objects looted
from Cambodia. With this team, he traveled to Cambodia to study
Khmer art, architecture, museums, and cultural heritage. RJ has held
the positions of Vice President of the Albany County Historical Society;
Curatorial Assistant at the Laramie Plains Museum; and Collections
Assistant at the University of Wyoming Art Museum. At the latter, he
had the pleasure of co-curating the exhibition, Identity and Gender
Roles: The North American Indian Photographs of Edward S. Curtis.
RJ looks forward to pursuing his interest in leather craftsmanship and
horse-drawn transportation at Winterthur.
ALEXANDRA ROSENBERG
Alexandra Rosenberg grew up in Northern Virginia. Her passion
for anthropology, archaeology, and history was fueled by learning
opportunities in Washington, D.C., and visits to Colonial Williamsburg
and Jamestown. She earned a B.A. from the College of William &
Mary, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with high
honors in Anthropology. Her degree had two concentrations, biological
anthropology and historical archaeology. She minored in colonial
American history, and earned a certificate in public history from the
National Institute of American History and Democracy. Internships
and field schools at Mount Vernon’s South Grove and Slave Cemetery,
Colonial Williamsburg, The Fairfield Foundation, and Eyre Hall shaped
her experience in archaeology, historic preservation, conservation,
architectural history, public history, public interpretation, and material
culture. Alexandra’s true love, ceramics, stems from uncovering them
during archaeological excavations. At Winterthur, she hopes to utilize
her multidisciplinary background to explore the social life of these
pieces in global and cultural contexts. In her free time, she enjoys dance,
theater, and playing the violin.
ELIZA WEST
Eliza West grew up among the hills and valleys of Vermont. Extensive
childhood explorations of the Shelburne Museum and early forays into
the clothing-making arts amplified her passion for history and design.
She pursued both these interests at University of King’s College in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she earned a combined honors degree in
Early Modern Studies and Historical Costuming. Through coursework
on early-modern science and technology, she became interested in
comparing how people designed and invented things in the past and the
present. Eliza has interned at Colonial Williamsburg and worked at both
Shelburne Museum and Fort Ticonderoga, where most recently she was
Head of Costume. In this role, she researched and produced historically accurate garments for the site’s staff, and helped her colleagues use that
clothing as an interpretive window into the past. In her spare time, Eliza
enjoys contra dancing, and creating both historical and modern clothing
for herself. At Winterthur, Eliza is excited to explore the nexus of craft,
technology, and design.