Marla Miller is an American
public historian Public history is a broad range of activities undertaken by people with some training in the discipline of history who are generally working outside of specialized academic settings. Public history practice is deeply rooted in the areas of historic ...
.
Career
Miller's scholarship focuses on the work of women in the United States prior to
industrialization
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
, with a focus on material culture and craft. She holds a PhD from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Miller is well known for her work on
Betsy Ross which challenges popular narratives about Ross' involvement with the creation of the
United States flag
The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...
.
Miller served from 2001 to 2021 as the Director of the Public History Program at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Miller was elected vice president/president elect of the
National Council on Public History
The National Council on Public History (NCPH) is an American professional membership association established in 1979 to support a diverse group of people, institutions, agencies, businesses, and academic programs associated with the field of publ ...
Board of Directors in 2016. Her term as NCPH president concluded in 2020. She is a speaker in the
Organization of American Historians
The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad inc ...
Distinguished Lectureship Program.
In addition to her academic work Miller has worked as both an editor and a public history consultant. She has sat on the editorial board of ''
The Public Historian
''The Public Historian'' is the official publication of the National Council on Public History. It is a quarterly academic journal published by University of California Press, with the journal's editorial offices housed in the History Department, ...
,
Journal of the Early Republic
The ''Journal of the Early Republic'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal which focuses on the early culture and history of the United States from 1776–1861. The journal is published by the University of Pennsylvania Press
The Uni ...
'', and the ''
New England Quarterly
''The New England Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal consisting of articles on New England's cultural, literary, political, and social history. The journal contains essays, interpretations of traditional texts, essay reviews and book r ...
.''
She is the founding editor of the University of Massachusetts Press series "Public History in Historical Perspective." Miller's co-authored 2012 report ''Imperiled Promise: The State of History in the National Park Service'' which won the National Council on Public History prize for Excellence in Consulting in 2013.
Publications
* ''The Needle's Eye: Women and Work in the Age of Revolution,''
University of Massachusetts Press, August 2006.
* Editor. ''Cultivating a Past: Essays in the History of Hadley, Massachusetts'', University of Massachusetts Press, 2009.
* ''Betsy Ross and the Making of America,'' Holt, 2010.
* ''University of Massachusetts Amherst: A Campus Guide.'' Princeton:
Princeton Architectural Press
Princeton Architectural Press is a small press publisher, specializing in books on architecture, design, photography, landscape, and visual culture, with over 1,000 titles on its backlist. In 2013, it added a line of stationery products, including ...
, 2013; with Max Page.
* ''Rebecca Dickinson'' (Lives of American Women series). Boulder, CO:
Westview Press/Perseus, 2013.
* Co-Editor with Max Page, ''Bending the Future: Fifty Ideas for the Next Fifty Years of Historic Preservation in the United States,'' University of Massachusetts Press, 2016.
* ''Entangled Lives: Labor, Livelihood, and Landscapes of Change in Rural Massachusetts,''
Johns Hopkins University Press
The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publi ...
, 2019.
Awards
* Costume Society of America's
Millia Davenport
Millia Crotty Davenport (March 30, 1895 – January 18, 1992) was an American costumer, theater designer, and scholar, known for her 1948 work ''The Book of Costume''.
Biography
Millia Davenport was born March 30, 1895, in Cambridge, Massachus ...
Publication Award for the best book in the field, 2007. For ''The Needle's Eye''
* H.F. DuPont Winterthur Museum and Library research fellowship, 2008
* Patrick Henry Fellowship,
C.V. Starr Center for the American Experience, 2009-10
* Finalist,
Cundill Prize in History at
McGill University, 2010. For ''Betsy Ross and the Making of America.''
* Strickland Distinguished Visiting Scholar,
Middle Tennessee State University, 2012
* Samuel F. Conti Faculty Fellowship, UMass Amherst, 2014-2015
References
{{authority control
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
21st-century American historians
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni
University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty