Kathryn Wilson CV

Kathryn E. Wilson

Associate Professor
Georgia State University
kewilson@gsu.edu

 Education

PhD, Folklore and Folklife, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 1996

MA, Folklore and Folklife, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 1991

BA, History, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 1986

Scholarship and Professional Development

Publications

Book
  • Between Milltown and Model City: Place, Identity, and Memory in Suburban Atlanta, manuscript under development
  • Ethnic Renewal in Philadelphia’s Chinatown: Space, Place and Struggle (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2015).
Articles and book chapters
  • From Peopling to Postethnic: Pennsylvania Pluralism Reconsidered,” with Rosalind Beiler, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 140 no. 3 (October 2016), 257-270.
  • “Same Struggle, Same Fight”: Yellow Seeds and the Asian American Movement in Philadelphia’s Chinatown,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 140 no. 3 (October 2016), 423-425.
  • “Reflections on Engaging Immigrant Communities in Museums,” with Jill K. Stein and Cecilia Garibay, Museum and Social Issues vol. 3 no. 2 (Fall 2008), 179-195.
  • “Crafting Community-Based Museum Experiences: Process, Pedagogy, and Performance,” in Transforming Practice: Selections from the Journal of Museum Education, 1992-1999, ed. Joanne Hirsch and Lois Silverman (Museum Education Roundtable, 2000), 110-118.
  • “Commodifying Craft, Creating Community: Women’s Vernacular Dress in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia,” in The Culture of Sewing: Gender, Consumption, and Homedressmaking, ed. Barbara Burman (Berg Publishers, 1999), 141-156.
Public History writing
Encyclopedia entries
  • “Chinatown,” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia (peer-reviewed), 2015. [http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/chinatown/]
  • “Robert Purvis,” The Early Republic and Antebellum America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, ed. Christopher Bates (ME Sharpe, 2010), 856-858.
  • “Ethnicity,” in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures: The Mid-Atlantic Region, ed. Robert Marzec (Greenwood Press, 2004), 97-132.
  • “Costume.” In Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art, ed. Thomas Green (ABC-CLIO, 1997/Reprinted in second edition, 2010), 314-319.
  • “Folk Costume.” In American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, ed. Jan Harold Brunvand (Garland Publishing, 1996), 341-346.
Scholarly Conference Proceedings
  • “Rebuilding Philadelphia’s Gold Mountain: Themed Space and Living Community in Transition,” Pioneer America Society Transactions (PAST) 35, 2012. [http://www.pioneeramerica.org/past2012/past2012artwilson.html]
Book Reviews
  • Book Review, The Power of Objects in Eighteenth-Century British America, Jennifer Van Horn, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017), Journal of American History 106 no.3 (December 2019), 735-736
  • Review Essay, “Complicating Chinatowns” Journal of Urban History 45 no.5 (September 2019), 1089-1092.
  • Book Review, The Chesapeake House: Architectural Investigation by Colonial Williamsburg, ed. by Cary Carson and Carl. Lounsbury (University of North Carolina Press, 2013), Buildings and Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum 23 no.2 (Fall 2016), 129-30.
  • Book Review, Global Philadelphia: Immigrant Communities Old and New, ed. Ayumi Takenaka and Mary Johnson Osirim (Temple, 2010), Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 135, No. 2, (April 2011), 218-219.

Conference and Lecture Presentations

Panels
  • Panelist, Roundtable, “What Can I Do with a History Degree? Making Connections Between College and Career,” Georgia Association of Historians, 2023
  • Moderator and Organizer, Roundtable, “Threading Immigrant Stories: Reweaving the Fabric of Southern Heritage,” National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, 2020
  • Panelist, Roundtable, “Weaving Community Projects in Georgia,” National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, 2020
  • Panelist and Organizer, Roundtable, “Past Exclusion/Present Inclusion: Preserving, Sharing, and Interpreting the Chinese American Experience,” National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, 2016
  • Panelist, “Public History and Asian Pacific American Studies,” Association for Asian American Studies, 1999
Papers
  • “Race and Cultures of Property in Twentieth-Century Suburban Atlanta,” Atlanta Studies Symposium, 2025
  • ’We can’t afford history’: Dilemmas of public history, heritage preservation, and community development in immigrant Philadelphia,” Immigration, Migration, and Memory in Public History, National Council on Public History Mini Conference, Texas State University, 2015.
  • “‘Being part of progress, not the sacrificial lamb’: Developing Philadelphia’s Chinatown 1960-1990,” Urban History Association, 2012
  • “Rebuilding Philadelphia’s Gold Mountain: Themed Space and Living Community in Transition,” Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts and Landscapes (PAS: APAL) Annual Meeting, 2011
  • “Ethnic Renewal: Place, space and struggle in Philadelphia’s Chinatown,” Public History and Gentrification Working Group, National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, 2011
  • “Space, struggle, and memory in Philadelphia’s Chinatown,” Oral History Association Annual Meeting, 2010
  • “Ethnic Renewal: Production and Representation in Philadelphia’s Chinatown,” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Annual Conference, 2010
  • “Informed Engagement: Museums and Immigrant Communities,” American Association of Museums, 2009
  • “Thinking History, Teaching History: Engaging Students and Teachers with the Historiographic Process,” Pennsylvania Historical Association, 2005
  • “Demystifying Difference: Dialogism and Mediation in Immigrant Oral Histories,” American Folklore Society, 2004
  • “Process and Politics: Reciprocity and Action in Applied Ethnography,” American Folklore Society, 2002
  • “No More Huddled Masses: Representing Recent Immigration as a Usable Past,” Social Science History Association, 2002
  •  “’What about the dot?’ Engendering Ethnic Embodiments in Public Folklore Practice,” American Folklore Society, 2000
  • “Salsa, Sex and Spectacle: Performing Gender in Latino Social Dance,” Crossroads of Cultural Studies, Third International Conference, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, 2000
  • “‘…And I’m still a man’: Hybrid Masculine Embodiments in Latino Social Dance,” American Anthropological Association, 1998
  •  “Salsa, Sex and Spectacle: Expressions of Machismo in Latino Dance,” American Folklore Society, 1997
  • “Sewing Circles: Femininity, Fashion, and Vernacular Dress in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia,” American Folklore Society, 1996
  • “‘To be respected as a body’: Adornment and Uplift in African American Philadelphia,” American Folklore Society, 1994
  • “Crimes of Fashion: Gender, Class, and Clothing Theft in Antebellum Philadelphia,” American Folklore Society, 1993
  • “Tightlacing and Transgression in Victorian America,” American Folklore Society, 1990
  • “The Housewife Unbound: Dress Reform and Home Wear, 1830-1890,” Graduate Women’s Studies Conference, University of Pennsylvania, 1990
  • “Mother Hubbard Takes it to the Street: Gender, Dress and Domesticity,” American Folklore Society, 1989
Invited Presentations
  • “’Scientifically Planned and Soundly Restricted’: Race, Space, and Planning in Early Twentieth-Century Atlanta Suburbs, 1915-1930,” The Scopes Trial at 100: Religion, Modernity, and the Culture Wars, Humanities Research Center, Georgia State University, 2025
  • “Black and white spatial imaginaries in 20th century DeKalb County: Notes toward space, race, and place,” Research Colloquium, Department of History, 2024
  • “Getting Started with Oral History,” Milton Historical Society, Milton, GA, 2022
  • Author discussion, “Ethnic Renewal in Philadelphia’s Chinatown: Space, Place, and Struggle,” Continuing Education Program in Historic Preservation, Mid Atlantic Center for the Humanities, Rutgers University – Camden, 2020
  • Moderator, “Chinatown Past and Present,” Historical Society of Pennsylvania, November 2012
  • “Philadelphia’s Chinatown,” Preservation Studio, University of Pennsylvania School of Design, November 2012
  • “Philadelphia and the Fugitive Slave Act,” Philadelphia Civil War Consortium Summer Teacher Institute, 2010
  • “Immigration and Ethnicity,” Planning Workshop, The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, April 2009
  • Panelist, “Practicing History in the Town Square,” Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, 2008
  • Panelist, “Planning for the Civil War Sesquicentennial in Pennsylvania: Statewide Perspectives,” Pennsylvania Historical Association, 2007
  • Moderator, “Collaboration for Sustainability,” Tri-State Coalition of Historic Places, Philadelphia, 2006
  • “Virtual History: A Sample of Historians’ Websites,” An Embarrassment of Riches: Evaluating the Quality of Historical Information on the Web, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2002
  • “Anti-Immigrant Sentiment: Then and Now” and “Housework as History: Ethnic Women’s Perspectives on the Past,” Commonwealth Speaker, Pennsylvania Council for the Humanities, 2002-2003.
  •  “Making History: Collections and Communities at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies,” Tri-State Coalition of Historic Places, Philadelphia, 2001
  • “Chameleon Culture(s): Essence and Hybridity in Contemporary American Public Culture,” The Politics of Culture Conference, Delaware State University, Dover, DE, 2000
  • “The Dance of Self and Other in Ethnographic Writing,” Harvard University, 1998
  • “Salsa, Sex, and Spectacle: Hybrid Embodiments in Latino Social Dance,” Latin American Studies Program and Women’s Studies Program, Colby College, 1998
Conference Comments
  • Commenter, “Generative Scholarship, Libraries, and Atlanta Spatial Histories,” Organization of American Historians, 2014
  • Commenter, “Religion and Citizenship in the American Colonies and Early Republic,” Atlanta Graduate Student Conference in US History, Emory University, 2013
  • Commenter, “Deconstructing Public Space,” The Place of History: A Graduate Student Conference, Georgia State University, 2013
  • Panelist, Roundtable: “Bodies in Space,” The Place of History: A Graduate Student Conference, Georgia State University, 2013
  • Commenter, “Public Space,” Graduate Student conference, Georgia State University, 2012
  • Commentator, “Hearing Landscape Critically: Interdisciplinary Investigations in U.S. Cultural History,” Atlanta Graduate Student Conference in U.S. History, Emory University, 2012
  • Comment, “Embodying” panel. Possible Pasts: Critical Encounters in Early America, Philadelphia Center for Early American Studies/Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1994

Public History

Community and collaborative projects
  • Avondale Estates Centennial Oral History Project, project lead, 2026-2027
  • Chattahoochee Brick Company Descendants Coalition, social media and website content development, 2023
  • Westview Historic Signage Project (funded by NEH as “Once Divided, Reunited,” collaborative with Atlanta Beltline, Atlanta History Center, and New Georgia Encyclopedia) 2018-2020, Consultant
  • Interpretive planning (with HIST 7040 students), project director
  • Wells Brown House/Stone Mountain Historical Society, 2014
  • Central of Georgia Railroad Depot, Madison, GA, 2015
  • Commemorative Air Force Dixie Wing, 2016
  • City of Avondale Estates, 2017
  • Capitol Highlights Program, Georgia Capitol Museum, 2018
  • Office of Student Engagement, Georgia State University, Hidden Histories, 2020
Digital projects
  • “Planning Atlanta: A New City in the Making,” (digital mapping project) Georgia State University, 2013-2015, Co-Investigator/Oral history coordinator
  • “From Slavery to Freedom” (digitization of Pennsylvania Abolition Society papers with K-12 education resources), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2005-2008, project director
  • “Exploring Diversity through Pennsylvania’s Ethnic History” (K-12 lesson plans and digital sources), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies/Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2000-2008, project director
Exhibitions and Programming
  • “Filadelfia Latina: Nuestros Caminos, Nuestras Comunidades / Latino Philadelphia: Our Journeys, Our Communities” (Exhibit, programs, education), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2002-2004, project director
  •  “Extended Lives: The African Immigrant Experience in Philadelphia” (Exhibit, programs, education), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 2001-2002, project director
  •  “Ethnic and Immigrant Stereotypes from The Balch Institute Collection” (Exhibit), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 2001, curator
  • “Ahlan wa-Sahlan! Welcome to Our Home! Philadelphia’s Arab Americans” (Exhibit and programs), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1999-2000, project director and program coordinator
  • “A Sense of Self: Contemporary Ethnic Women Artists” (Exhibit and programs), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1998, curator and program coordinator
  • “Live Like the Banyan Tree: Images of the Indian American Experience” (Exhibit and programs), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1998-1999, program coordinator
  • “The Heart Mountain Story” / “An American Diary: The Paintings of Roger Shimomura” (Exhibit and program series), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1998, program coordinator
  • “Building the Gold Mountain: Philadelphia’s Chinatown” (Exhibit and programs), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1998, co-curator and program coordinator
  • “Common Ground: Philadelphia’s Neighborhoods” (Exhibit), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1992, co-curator
  •  “Extreme Makeovers: Histories of Self-Fashioning in the Mid-Atlantic,” The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2006, symposium organizer
  • “Pennsylvanians Behaving Badly: Violence, Disorder, Transgression,” The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2005, symposium organizer
  • “Pan-American Philadelphia,” The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2003, symposium organizer
  • “Pennsylvania Frontiers,” The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2003, symposium organizer

Awards and Fellowships

  • Honorable Mention for the 2026 G. Wesley Johnson Award, National Council on Public History
  • Visiting Faculty Fellow, Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry, Emory University, 2026-2027
  • Research Intensive Semester (RISe), Georgia State University College of Arts and Sciences, 2026 (deferred to 2027)
  • Internal Research Grant, Georgia State University, 2026
  • Maymester writing fellow, Humanities Resource Center, Georgia State University, 2022
  • Penn Humanities Forum Mellon Regional Cultural Research Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania
  • “Consuming Culture: Exploring word, image, and embodiment in 19th century fashion culture,” 2005-2006
  • “‘I was never black the way I am here’: Nomadic racial identities in immigrant experience,” 2006-2007 (declined)
  • Nomination for Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, 1995, 1996
  • Chimicles Fellow in the Teaching of Writing, University of Pennsylvania, 1994-1996
  • Dissertation Fellow in Women’s Studies, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, 1992-1993

Teaching

University teaching

Associate Professor, Department of History/Heritage Preservation Program, Georgia State University, 2008-present

  • HIST 2110 Survey of U.S. History
  • HIST 3210 U.S. in the Nineteenth Century
  • HIST 4225 Immigrants in America
  • HIST 4325 Introduction to Public History and Historic Preservation
  • HIST 4330/6920 Oral History
  • HIST 7040 Issues and Interpretations in Public History
  • HIST 8740 Material Culture
  • HIST 8750 Public History Education Planning and Practice
  • HIST 8800 Directed Study in Public History (MHP Capstone)
  • HIST 8900 Directed Readings – Independent Study
  • African American Folklife and Material Culture (Summer 2026)
  • Advanced readings in public history (Spring 2013, Summer 2025)
  • Memory, History, Commemoration (Summer 2016, Summer 2017, Summer 2024)
  • Oral Histories and Refugee Communities (Summer 2022)
  • Ethnic Foodways and Identity (Fall 2020)
  • Civil War Memory and Commemoration (Summer 2018)
  • Southern Foodways History (Summer 2018)
  • Atlanta Women in the New South (Summer 2018)
  • Chinese American Histories (Summer 2017)
  • Indigenous Foodways (Summer 2017)
  • Gender and Material Culture (Summer 2013)
  • Material Culture and Art Education (Summer 2013)

Adjunct, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA, 2000

Lecturer, College of General Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 1991-1996

Instructor and Writing Advisor, Writing Across the University, University of Pennsylvania, 1994-1996

Curriculum development

  • Gullah Geechee Sacred Lands project, oral history course and youth workshop development, 2025-present
  • College to Career: Career Readiness through Everyday Competencies Quality Enhancement Plan, Department of History. Developed module on museums as part of “Real World Historians,” 2021-2022

Workshops and Trainings

  • “Building Chinatown, Claiming Chinese America,” Becoming US: the Immigrant Experience Through Primary Sources NEH Summer Institute, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2023
  • Teacher Workshop, “Worldviews in Contact, Cooperation, Conflict,” Revolution to Republic: Philadelphia’s Place in Early America, SHEAR-NEH Landmarks Workshop for Community College Faculty, 2010
  • Oral History training, Asian Arts Initiative Oral History Project, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA, 2000, 2008
  • Teacher Workshop, “Teaching National History Day 2008: Conflict and Compromise in History,” Pennsylvania History Day, 2007
  • Guest Lecturer, Introduction to Public History, Rutgers University-Camden, 2006-2008
  • Teacher workshops (topics included Irish immigration, abolition movement and Underground Railroad, Native American/European colonial contact, nineteenth-century nativism, Japanese American internment/redress), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2002-2008
  • Instructor, Summer Teacher’s Seminar, “Immigration and Ethnicity,” Rutgers University – Camden/Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH), 2004
  • “Understanding and Teaching with Objects,” Rosenbach Museum and Library Docent Training, Philadelphia, PA 2003, 2005, 2007
  • Service

Internal

  • Leader, Hidden Gems Implementation Team, 2024-
  • Subcommittee head, 1996 Olympic 30th Anniversary, 2025-
  • Undergraduate Studies Committee, Department of History, 2022-present
  • Heritage Preservation Program Committee, Department of History, 2008-present
  • Executive Committee, Department of History, 2023-2025
  • Advisor, Hidden Histories, Office of Student Engagement, 2023-24
  • Mentor, Humanities Inclusivity Program, 2020
  • Acting Interim Director, Heritage Preservation Program, Department of History, 2018
  • Chair, Director of Heritage Preservation Program Search Committee, Department of History, 2017-2018
  • Academic Program Review Committee, Department of History, 2017-2018
  • College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Planning Cities Group, 2017
  • Chair, Events Committee, Department of History, 2016- 2018
  • Program presenter, National Welcoming Week, GSU Multicultural Center, 2015
  • Panelist, Cities Strategic Initiative Internal Grants Review Panel, 2013
  • Panelist, Cities Strategic Initiative Internal Grants Review Panel, 2012
  • Ad Hoc P&T Manual Committee, Department of History, member, 2012
  • Visiting Lecturer Search Committee, Department of History, chair, 2012
  • Cities Strategic Initiative, Council of Cities, member of Human Capital Development Working Group, 2011-2014
  • Library Media and Technology Committee, Department of History, member, 2009
  • Advisement Committee, Department of History, member, 2009-2015
  • Graduate Studies Committee, Department of History, member, 2008-2009

External

  • Humanities Scholar, Southeast DeKalb Driving Tour, DeKalb History Center, 2026
  • Peer Reviewer, Routledge, 2025
  • Board of Directors, DeKalb History Center, 2025-2028
  • Advisor, Chinatown history exhibit, Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, 2024-2025
  • Peer reviewer, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2024
  • Peer reviewer, Temple University Press, 2022, 2024
  • Panel reviewer, Museums, Humanities Initiatives at Colleges and Universities, Division of Education Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2023
  • Local Arrangements Committee, National Council on Public History 2020 Annual meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2018-2020; 2022-2023
  • Peer reviewer, The Public Historian, 2017, 2021
  • Teaching Public History Online Working Group, National Council on Public History, 2020
  • Panel reviewer, Landmarks of American History and Culture, Division of Education Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2020
  • Advisor, We Love BuHi Oral History Project, Atlanta, GA, 2019
  • Panel reviewer, Series and Podcasts, Public Programs Division, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2018
  • Student Project and Travel Awards Committee, National Council on Public History, 2017-2020
  • Peer reviewer, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 2018, 2019
  • Peer reviewer, Journal of Georgia Association of Historians, 2018
  • Peer reviewer, Planning Perspectives, 2018
  • Peer reviewer, Urban Geography, 2017, 2018
  • Peer reviewer, University of Georgia Press, 2106, 2017
  • Peer reviewer, Urban Studies, 2015, 2017
  • Peer reviewer, Princeton University Press 2014, 2016
  • Guest editor, Special issue on Immigration and Ethnicity, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 2013-2016
  • Panel reviewer, Museums, Libraries and Cultural Organizations, Public Programs Division, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2015
  • Humanities Advisor, “Chester County: A Place in History,” Chester County Historical Society, West Chester, PA, 2015-2017
  • Local Arrangements Committee, American Historical Association Annual Meeting, 2015
  • Associate editor, The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, 2010-2016
  • Strategic planning facilitator, Stone Mountain Historical Society, 2014
  • Peer reviewer, “Global America,” (history textbook), Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013
  • Panel Reviewer, Humanities Collections and Reference Resources, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2011
  • Community history consultant, “Uncovering Historic Chinatown: A Film Project,” Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, Philadelphia, PA, 2010-2011
  • Advisory Committee, 1968 Project, Minnesota Historical Society, 2009
  • Local Arrangements Committee, Oral History Association Annual Meeting, 2010
  • Panel reviewer, Advancing Knowledge: The IMLS/NEH Digital Partnership, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2008
  • Philadelphia Civil War History Consortium, Steering Committee (2007-2008) and Program Committee, 2006
  • Civil War Pennsylvania 150 Planning Committee, 2007-2008
  • Oral History consultant, Mural Corps, Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia, PA, 2007
  • Assistant Regional Coordinator and Judging Coordinator, National History Day Philadelphia, 2005-2007
  • Co-Chair, Local Arrangements Committee, American Historical Association Annual Meeting 2006
  • Advisor, Greater Philadelphia LGBT History project, 2005-2008
  • Consultant, Chinatown Oral History Project, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA, 2000-2002, 2004
  • Testimony before U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, “Historic Preservation of the Peopling of America,” May 20, 2004
  • Advisory Committee, “African Art African Voices,” Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2003-2004
  • Peer Review Panelist, Arts Services and Education, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, 2003-2006
  • Exhibit Consultant, Refugee Women’s Story Project, Institute for Cultural Partnerships, Harrisburg, PA, 2003
  • Consulting Editor, “Colonial Philadelphia,” October 2004 issue of Cobblestones, 2003
  • Commonwealth Speakers Program, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, 2002-2003
  • Board Member, Reel Voices, 2002-2007
  • Advisor, National Arab American Museum, Detroit, MI, 2001

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