began September 2014
Michael
J. Emmons, Jr. is an architectural historian with a master's degree in
historic preservation (University of Delaware, 2014) and a master's in
history (University of Connecticut, 2004). During his master's studies in
historic preservation, Michael worked at the Center for Historic
Architecture and Design (CHAD), where his preservation-related projects
included extensive field documentation, historic district surveys,
National Register nominations, photo documentation of historic sites,
AutoCAD drawing, and research and writing of evaluative reports. In
addition to his year-long masters capstone portfolio, Michael embarked
on a major research project evaluating American country house
architecture, the du Pont family, and their influence on Wilmington’s
residential landscape. To support his research, Michael was selected as a
DelPHI Summer Fellow (2013) through the Center for Material Culture
Studies.
Michael’s background in public history, preservation,
and vernacular architecture is wide ranging, including three years of
teaching college history, government, and geography at NSCC in Ohio,
five years as a real estate agent selling historic properties in
Connecticut, and many years of blogging about historic architecture,
preservation, and real estate at www.HistoricHouseBlog.com. While
at the University of Connecticut, he worked as a guide at Old
Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts and The Mark Twain House in
Hartford. Michael was also selected for a competitive archival
internship at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, where he trained in
collections processing and accessioning. Michael chaired the graduate
student committee during the search for the current Connecticut State
Historian. In Ohio, he set the agenda and was facilitator at the first
meeting of the State of Ohio’s Commission for the Commemoration of the
War of 1812. Michael’s public history internships as an undergraduate
included living history portrayals at the “Canal Experience” in Toledo
and Historic Sauder Village.
Michael passed his exams in April 2016, and his proposal presentation in December 2016, and is now working on his dissertation. His dissertation committee members are: J. Ritchie Garrison, Chair (Director, Winterthur Program in American Material Culture), Sandy Isenstadt (ARTH), Martin Brueckner (ENG), Lu Ann DeCunzo (ANTH) and external member: Robert Saint-George (UPenn).
TOPIC: "Marking" and Inscribing in Early America