About Nicole

I am an experienced public history professional and historian who has worked at and with a range of regional and national non-profits. I am an independent consulting public historian. I offer services for history and humanities non-profits related to editing; historical or material culture/object-based research, writing, and interpretation; disability history consultation and writing; access and inclusion planning for disabled people; volunteer management and adult training and education; project management; and program development. This website focuses on my scholarly work.

I earned my PhD from the History of American Civilization program in the Department of History at the University of Delaware. I am a historian of the material culture of disability (objects ranging from crutches and artificial limbs to adult cradles and easy chairs) in early America. I hold an M.A. from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture. I lecture and lead workshops regularly about disability history, material culture, and museum practice. I serve on the board of the Disability History Association and advise regularly on accessibility and inclusion for disabled people in public history settings.

Most recently, I was the Public Historian in Residence at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers University-Camden. There, I was Co-Editor of The Public Historian (the journal of the National Council on Public History and the flagship journal of the field) and NCPH’s Digital Media Editor, which involved managing the blog History@Work. I also directed MARCH’s Continuing Education Program in Historic Preservation. I am building on this work in new ways through my consulting practice.