On the steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2011

I’m a Virginia native who has also lived in St. Louis, MO and Wilmington, DE. My love affair with history and museums began at an early age – I’m still not quite over my childhood crush on George Washington, or at least his house. Twenty years later, I have a master’s degree in American Material Culture and am making museums my profession.

As a scholar, I’m interested in collective memory, decorative arts, architectural history and the material culture of religion.  I have an equal fondness for ornate Rococo elegance and sleek modernist minimalism. I believe that houses of worship and their contents are important cultural artifacts. As a museum-goer, neither dinosaurs nor first-person interpreters scare me, but I am terrified of mummies.

This blog is a place for me to journal about the museums I visit and to observe how history can collide with everyday material life. Or with pop culture trivia.

You can find me on Twitter @ChasingClaudiaK,
or email me at ChasingClaudiaK@Gmail.com