I’m a historian of travel based at Newcastle University. I look at narratives of conversion, persuasion, and personal devotion on the road, along with souvenirs and household objects used in hospitality. I work primarily in early modern Europe, although I’m also interested in how people thought about and traveled to the so-called “Holy Land” after the Crusades and into the present day. I’ve recently begun exploring Jesuit-Puritan encounters in early America. Further, having worked in museums before and during my graduate studies, I examine how public history can be used to illuminate the devotional practices of the past.
I currently hold a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship at Newcastle. My project, “Conversation, Consumption, and Conversion in Early Modern Europe, c. 1580-1700”, looks at how British Protestants defended their confessional stances while traveling through Catholic Europe, with a particular focus on conversations held over meals.
I received my doctorate in 2020 from the University of Michigan. My research concerned the cult of the Holy House of the Virgin in the decades surrounding the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in England, Scotland, and Italy. I argued that Europeans continued to use the physicality of the sacred sites of the Levant— their measurements, their position in the landscape, and their fabric—to authenticate the newer shrines even as the practice of Holy Land pilgrimage was reformed.
The study of devotion and its materials—how objects elicit powerful emotions and forge meaningful connections to the past— informs my teaching and my work in public history. I have designed exhibits on, among other things, early 20th century college scrapbooks, women ‘s political expression through quilt-making, and what 19th century steamboat passengers packed for their journeys. Please feel free to contact me to discuss my past and current projects, or if you’ve collected an unusual souvenir you think I’d enjoy. (No, for real: please send souvenir pics.)
