Allison
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The Photographer Who Chronicled the Monumental and Ephemeral Land Art Movement
For the Winter 2022 issue of Fine Books magazine, I explored the legacy of photographer Gianfranco Gorgoni who captured many of the most significant Land Art works in the United States. The story is timed with a retrospective of his work at the Nevada Museum of Art: 50 years after Smithson completed the Spiral Jetty,…
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In Tombstones and Sculptures William Edmondson Allowed His Black Community to Be Seen
For Art & Object, I wrote about the sculptor William Edmondson who used discarded limestone in 1930s Nashville to create tombstones for the final resting places of neighbors, family members, and friends. His practice evolved into a major sculpture career including a solo show at MoMA. The story is timed with his first major museum…
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Hulda, the Witch of Sleepy Hollow
For the Hudson Valley – Times Union, I explored the legend of Hulda, a witch said to live near Sleepy Hollow who is referenced in Washington Irving’s famous 1819 tale. I interviewed people who are keeping Hulda’s memory alive, including the recent marking of what’s believed to be her final resting place: “I see Hulda…
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Before Audubon, there was Mark Catesby
For the Autumn 2021 issue of Fine Books magazine, I contributed a feature on Mark Catesby who visualized the vibrancy of North American nature a century before John James Audubon. I talked to historians, authors, and curators who have investigated his work and its impact: With the assistance of Indigenous guides, he journeyed through environments…
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A&E’s You Need to Know
I regularly work as a story pitcher and researcher for A&E, specifically its short video content for Biography channel. One of the latest series is “You Need to Know” which highlights significant yet often overlooked figures from history. The animated shorts now online include a feature on Osage dancer Maria Tallchief, America’s first prima ballerina.
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Fine Books Magazine Cover Story
The cover of the summer 2021 issue of Fine Books Magazine features my story on Lewis Hine and his photographs of American labor, particularly child labor in the early 1900s. The story is available in print: Hine spent 16 years traveling throughout the country, to the sardine canneries in Maine where children cut fish with…
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Great Trees of NY with Turnstile Tours
I joined Turnstile Tours for a conversation about some of the greatest trees in New York City in celebration of my new map with Blue Crow Media. It was wonderful to talk with fellow Prospect Park fans and have special on-the-ground coverage of its historic trees like the Camperdown elm and Osage orange. You can…
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Essay in Wildflowers of New York
I contributed an essay to Andrew Garden’s new book Wildflowers of New York City. It explores over 2,000 wildflowers that flourish around the five boroughs. These wildflowers are often overlooked and I love the way that Garn has captured their beauty with his photographs. The book is available from Cornell University Press and the New…
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Out Now: Great Trees of New York Map!
I’m thrilled to share that the Great Trees of New York Map that I authored and edited for Blue Crow Media is now available. It includes 50 of the oldest, rarest, strangest, and most historic trees across New York City’s five boroughs, from beloved street trees to over 300-year-old giants. I’ve been researching New York…
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Pet Cemetery Expert in New York Times
While I’ve spent a lot of time writing about cemeteries and interviewing other people about them, I don’t get interviewed too much myself so it was fun to share my pet cemetery expertise with the New York Times for “The Most Popular Pet Name of the Century (Maybe).” I find the places where people memorialize…
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The Mystical Drawings of George M. Silsbee (1840 – 1900)
I had the opportunity to write an essay on the really extraordinary charts by 19th-century Masonic artist George M. Silsbee for their first public exhibition at Ricco/Maresca in Chelsea. They are dense with symbolism and ciphers and were likely intended for some Masonic rite or ritual. There’s not much known about Silsbee except that he…
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Cemetery Symbols Talk with Morbid Anatomy
My first talk (online, as we are still in times of pandemic) of 2021 was on cemetery symbols with Morbid Anatomy. As I get the hang of these virtual lectures, one upside has been reaching a national (or even international) audience and then expanding these topics to look more globally at their origins and meaning.…
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The Public Domain Review: Selected Essays
My essay on the 19th-century photographs taken by Félix Nadar in the Paris photographs is included in The Public Domain Review: Selected Essays, Vol. VII! The new book features 12 essays (including one by Philip Pullman!) along with over 100 illustrations. Read all about how the catacombs were a solution to burial overcrowding, became an…
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Witchhassle Podcast
I joined Witchhassle, a podcast focused on witchcraft, magic, and other occult themes hosted by Cooper Wilhelm, to talk about cemetery symbolism and other death-related topics. Check out the episode on Soundcloud where you can find their whole archive of fascinating interviews with people exploring the arcane and wondrous in the world.
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Odd Salon Fellowship
I joined the virtual October Odd Salon, themed on “Shock & Art,” to share the story of Georgiana Houghton and her spirt-guided artwork. (You can read all about her enigmatic art in my 2019 story for the data visualization publication Nightingale.) As this was my third talk with Odd Salon, following ones on the Paris…
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JSTOR Daily: How Cremation Lost Its Stigma
In a short history post for JSTOR Daily, I wrote about how the 19th-century pro-cremation movement battled religious tradition as well as the specter of mass graves during epidemics: The cost and simplicity of cremation led to its rise in popularity through the twentieth century, supported in large part by its cultural acceptability. Now, as…
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Green-Wood Cemetery Talk
For the Halloween season I led another virtual talk for Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery on the language of flowers as it appears on tombstones, such as snapped roses for a life cut short, lotus flowers for rebirth, and poppies for sleep. I explored the Victorian-era rise of “floriography” and what these sometimes obscure symbols can reveal…
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Cooking with the Dead Zine
In a fun project, I created the Cooking with the Dead zine with two friends to try out recipes left on tombstones around the world. Carved and etched on granite gravestones, they dictate—sometimes hazily—the instructions for delicious fare such as cookies, cobblers, and bread. Scouring cemeteries and the internet, we collected and attempted seven of…
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JSTOR Daily: How Black Communities Built Their Own Schools
In a short post for JSTOR Daily, I wrote about how Black communities came together to build their own schools through the Rosenwald Fund that was established in 1917. The story also looks at how these historic sites are now in danger of being lost: When the National Trust for Historic Preservation released its annual…
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Fine Books: Photography’s Gilded Age
In the Summer 2020 issue of Fine Books magazine, I have a story on daguerreotypes from the Gold Rush: The 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill—a sawmill in Coloma, California—inspired thousands of people to uproot their lives and travel west to seek their fortunes. They arrived from across the country and abroad, from Chile,…