ANNA L. WEISSMAN, PHD
Bienvenue! Witam! Welcome!
ABOUT ME
I am a social historian and trained social scientist. I completed my doctorate in Political Science at the University of Florida, with additional coursework in anthropology, museum studies, history, and gender studies. My specialties are in gender analysis and the politics of identity.
I have 8 years of experience in advanced curriculum design and development, scholarly research, and post-secondary teaching as an instructor at the University of Florida and Santa Fe College (Gainesville). I published several works, including an edited volume by Oxford University Press (2020), the first book-length treatment to provide a comprehensive interrogation of motherhood and maternality in global politics. I also published a refereed book chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Gender and Security (2018), a peer-reviewed article which considers three case studies in identifying differences in support between same-sex marriage and same-sex couple adoption (2016), as well as several book reviews.
Prior to my time in academia (and also within it as fundraising director of my department for 2 years), I worked for five years in fundraising, business-to-business sales, and account management, developing revenue-generating campaigns, working with clients daily, and managing multiple, ongoing projects.
Over the last three years, I have found that public history is the best application of my unique skill sets and abilities, and has become a true passion. I have found that in this field, I am able to take advantage my academic rigor, outgoing personality, and attention to detail and planning.
I worked in curation and programming at the Matheson History Museum, the Panama Canal Museum Collection (Special Collection at the University of Florida), the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and currently, at the Historic Barker Mansion in Michigan City, Indiana. I love what I do!
For more specifics on my background, expertise, and experience, check out my resume.
Current focus
I am currently a Curator at the Historic Barker Mansion in Michigan City, IN.
I am applying my social history expertise to material culture and the intersections of politics, social history, and domestic objects of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
I am interested in how our identities are made, remade, reified, and questioned by normative conceptions...how can this be seen through objects--especially domestic objects? Domestic objects seem non-political, but they are actually vital in (re)constructing one's identity--both as an individual and as a member of one's community, nation, or perceived class.
I am fascinated by the politics of the everyday, and how the construction of these objects, their uses and adornment are the product of so many levels of interaction amongst different social, political, economic, and cultural streams.
And we are at the center of this.
1908 Library, Barker Mansion
BARKER MANSION, MICHIGAN CITY, IN
July 2020 -
Operations
Management of $1.5-million dollar site improvements and development projects, structural repairs, and restoration (fall 2020-summer 2021)
Management of historic garden renovation (fall 2020-spring 2021)
Exhibits
Design and implementation of a 3,000 square foot permanent exhibit on historic factory (Spring 2022) and full programming schedule
Design and implementation of permanent "living exhibit" on historic garden (Spring 2022) and full programming schedule
Management of Mansion support staff and contractors
Refurnish Plan Project Curator
Performed comprehensive object-based and archival research on the artifacts, architecture and historic spaces of the 38-room Gilded Age historic home including historic garden and Haskell & Barker factory (1871-1922)
Produced full-length, multi-stage project plan including interpretative objectives, analysis of primary source documentation, site description, profile of occupants, description of each floor (4), rooms (19), objects and furnishings in each room, recommendations for new use/position of objects and rooms, and recommendations for supporting materials and media (signage, exhibits)
Overhauled digital database and performed comprehensive inventory on entire collection (~2,000 items)
Complete restructuring and reorganization of archive
Community Outreach
Serve as content expert for public community events, including public lectures on material culture and the Mansion’s collection and a public library panel on local history
Coordinating with local institutions for partnerships and joint programming
Developing and implementing local-history-based public programming, events, and activities relating to mansion’s mission
SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY (NMAH), WASHINGTON, D.C.
January 2020 - June 2020
Designed research on acquisition history, documentation, curatorial notes, exhibits pertaining to African American history 1963-1979; developed and implemented organizational methodology of division records
Exhibition team, “Girlhood: It’s Complicated” permanent exhibit (5,000 sq. foot gallery, June 12, 2020- January 2, 2022) and traveling exhibit (2023-2025)
Collection team, “New Paths to Change: Undocumented Immigrant Activism, 2000 to Present,” with the Smithsonian Latino Center and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
Spearheaded collections initiative across divisions regarding responsible, community-focused collection practices, African American and Native communities
Helped manage $40,000 for auction
Scholarly Advisory Committee, Division of Cultural and Community Life, NMAH
MATHESON HISTORY MUSEUM, GAINESVILLE, FL
Dec 2018 - Aug 2019
“McCarthy Moment: The Johns Committee at the University of Florida (1958-59),” Feb 2020 -Aug 2020
Planned exhibit and generated theme, storyboard, and content
Historical writing and interpretation and exhibition script, catalogues, and media for temporary exhibition
Included collections and curatorial work
Spearheaded microfiche research in local newspapers for inclusion as featured exhibition objects
Coordinated with local LGBTQ organizations to cultivate partnerships for objects donations and partnerships in public and on-site museum programming
“Trailblazers: 150 Years of Alachua County Women,” March 2020, for Celebrate Women 2020
City-wide celebration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment
Generated content and storyboarding
Communicated with local experts and organizations for exhibit development and programming partnership
Collections management
Accessioned and deaccessioned objects in museum collection
Updated condition reports via PastPerfect inclusive of digitization efforts
PANAMA CANAL MUSEUM COLLECTION, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, GEORGE A. SMATHERS LIBRARIES, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Feb 2018 - Aug 2019
Curator of exhibit “Fog of War? WWII Propaganda in the Panama Canal Zone,” March 2020
Researched, developed, and curated exhibition for 15 large cases
Created object list, curator’s statement, all interpretive text, exhibit layout, and exhibit press release
Worked with Curation and Collections Management teams in the Panama Canal Museum Collection and the Latin American and Caribbean Collection
Presented proposal to exhibit stakeholders for final stage approval
Collections management
Inventory for objects and developed and implemented new organizational system based on medium for objects of the Panama Canal Museum Collection
Coordinated projects in consultation with Head of Special Collections
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Aug 2013 - May 2015
Director of Fundraising
Originated creative strategies for maximizing fundraising for large department
Designed promotional items (mugs, tote bags, t-shirts, and koozies) and oversaw sales and marketing campaigns
Created website and social media profile for donation solicitation and sale of promotional materials
Increased awareness of organization through digital media campaigns via social media and website
Managed 5 fundraising volunteers
Presented monthly status reports to council
Planned and evaluated fundraising events in local establishments, negotiating with establishments for participation deals, special offers, and donation of partial proceeds
Researched and ensured legal reporting compliance
Developed communication and relationship with local promotional and printing companies
EDUCATION
PH.D., POLITICAL SCIENCE,
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
2019
GRADUATE CERTIFICATE, WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES,
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
2015
M.A., POLITICAL SCIENCE,
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
2014
B.A., INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS,
LAKE FOREST COLLEGE (LAKE FOREST, IL)
2010
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
curriculum development and instruction
INSTRUCTOR, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Department of Political Science
Politics of Eastern Europe, (CPO 3614/EUS 3930; Fall 2018)
2018 - 2019
INSTRUCTOR, SANTA FE COLLEGE (GAINESVILLE, FL)
2015 - 2019
Department of Behavioral Sciences
Introduction to American Politics (POS 2041; Fall 2015, Spring 2015, Summer 2015, Spring 2017, Fall 2017)
Introduction to Global Politics, (INR 2001; Spring 2017 - three sections)
GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Introduction to International Relations, (INR 2001; Fall 2014, Spring 2015, online Summer 2015)
Politics of World Economy, (INR 3034; Spring 2012)
2012 - 2015
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
TROUBLING MOTHERHOOD:
MATERNALITY IN GLOBAL POLITICS
Oxford University Press, 2020
Edited by Lucy B. Hall, Anna L. Weissman, and Laura J. Shepherd
"SEX, SEXUALITY, REPRODUCTION, AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY"
Handbook of Gender and Security Routledge, 2018
"REPRONORMATIVITY AND THE REPRODUCTION OF THE NATION-STATE: THE STATE AND SEXUALITY COLLIDE"
Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 13:3, 2017
LET’S CONNECT
847-890-2734