Thursday, July 29, 2021

July 29, 2021: AmericanStudiers to Highlight: Kathryn Ostrofsky

[This past weekend’s tribute to Daniel Immerwahr’s book reminded me that it’s been a while since I highlighted fellow AmericanStudiers. So this week I’ll share a handful of such voices and texts—I’d love to hear more scholars and works you’d add to the mix!]

Gotta frame this post with one of those “small world” kind of moments: one of the best students with whom I’ve worked in my 16 years at Fitchburg State, Rebecca Carpenter, worked for a time post-graduation as an archivist at the Dedham Historical Society & Museum (not far at all from my home in Needham); unrelatedly, over the last year and a bit I’ve become connected to Kanisorn “Kid” Wongsrichanalai, the Director of Research for the Massaschusetts Historical Society; and then, also unrelatedly (I thought), I connected on Twitter with Kathryn Ostrofsky, a historian and archivist who took over Rebecca’s position at DHSM and is married to Kid! But while all of that is pretty cool, it’s not nearly as interesting as Kathryn’s work, especially her in-progress book and podcast on the history of Sesame Street (for more on both of which, watch this space!). At times it can feel that media and cultural studies and the work of archives and archivists are separate and even potentially opposed on the public and scholarly landscapes—but Kathryn reminds us of how much they’re intertwined, and the role that both will have to play if we’re to move forward with a full understanding of our past and present, our culture and society, and our shared community.

Last highlight tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What do you think? AmericanStudies scholars or works you’d share?

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