I am an associate professor of history at the University of North Alabama, and serve as the director of the UNA Public History Center. I am also a consultant for a variety of public history and cultural arts projects. My work focuses on the relationship between landscape and cultural identity, the connections between the arts and historical interpretation, and the process of helping communities tell more complete stories. Please email me in the Contact page if you have any questions or collaborative ideas. Here are some recent projects:
Johnny Cash: The Life in Lyrics
Role: Visual Curator
Publication: November 2023
Voracious Press
An Island of Trees
Role: Historian/Author
This project, “An Island of Trees Called Old Hickory: History and Place in the Mississippi Delta,” will be published as a chapter in the forthcoming book titled, Branching Out: The Public History of Trees (University of Massachusetts Press, 2024). This Digital StoryMap offers a short synopsis of the project.
“The Story of Wendell Wilkie Gunn”
Exhibit
Role: Project Director / Professor
University of North Alabama Collier Library
A collaboration between my Introduction to Public History Graduate course and Art Professor Chiong-Yiao Chen’s Art Professional Practices course, this exhibit interprets in narrative and visual form the life and impact of Dr. Wendell Wilkie Gunn - the first African American student to integrate the University of North Alabama in 1963. Art students - Michael Meigs, Peyton Bird, Jessilyn Cooley - and Public History Grad Student - Lauren McKinnon - were the lead student collaborators on this design. Graduate Student team members contributing to the overall project included: Jackie Childress, Tori Clemmons, Julia McGee, and Josh Grigsby.
Photo Credit: Zach Tonkins
“Music of the South & The Natchez Trace”
Role: Co-Author with James Startt
Peloton Magazine, March 2019
Music of the South & The Natchez Trace
This collaborative article and photo-essay interprets the music history and culture between the Shoals of Alabama and Tupelo, Mississippi. Using the Natchez Trace Parkway as the backbone route, photographer and writer James Startt and I followed a cyclist from Muscle Shoals and Florence to the Elvis birthplace in Tupelo. Along the way we captured the sites, stories, and landscapes that generated some of the most important art and culture in America.
Hidden Spaces of North Alabama
Role: Project Director/Consultant
Assistant Professor of History / Director of UNA Public History Center
University Of North Alabama
Hidden Spaces
An ongoing collaboration between the UNA Public History Center, the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, and photographer Abraham Rowe, Hidden Spaces identifies, displays, and interprets cultural landscapes, built environments, people, and natural features that highlight the inherent uniqueness and diversity of the greater Shoals region. This project produced two public exhibitions and a digital map, and we launched its third exhibition at UNA’s Gallery 126 in September 2020. Please visit our website.
Image: Abraham Rowe
Civil Rights Struggle in the Shoals - National Park Service Grant
Role: Co-Director
Assistant Professor of History / Director of UNA Public History Center
University of North Alabama
Civil Rights Struggle in the Shoals
In 2018 my colleagues, Dr. Ansley Quiros and Dr. Carrie Barske-Crawford, and I were awarded a National Park Service grant to conduct archival research and oral histories with graduate and undergraduate students, build a content-rich website, and partner with local teachers to incorporate historical civil rights narratives into the public school curriculum.
Nashville Music Archive
Role: Co-Founder / Interviewer
As a founding member of Nashville's legendary A-Team, Harold Bradley is arguably the most recorded guitar player in history. A towering figure in American music, Bradley played on countless sessions with artists including Elvis, Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison and Pee Wee King. With his famous brother, Owen Bradley, Harold started the first music studio on Sixteenth Avenue in Nashville, ushering in the primary infrastructure for what became known as Music Row. Harold is the inspiration for the Nashville Music Archive - a non-profit archival repository of filmed oral histories. We conducted this interview in 2012. Harold Bradley passed away in 2019.
Wilson Trade School Historical Marker
Role: Project Director / Researcher / Writer
Director of Communications and Brand Strategy
Wilson, Arkansas
Wilson Trade School
As part of our work on the revitalization project in Wilson, Arkansas, it was necessary to broaden the public historical narrative of this unique town and surrounding landscape. I worked with The Wilson Trade Alumni Association, local leadership, and the Wilson Trade Community Center Advisory Committee to re-envision this cultural landscape and produce a historical marker at the site. This project publicly commemorates and interprets the Wilson Trade School - an African American school between 1925 and 1970, originally financed by the local community, R.E.L Wilson, and the Rosenwald rural school project.
Delta Empire Documentary Film
Role: Director / Co-Producer
Director of Communications and Brand Strategy - Wilson, Arkansas
Associate Producer: John Faulkner
DP/Edit/Camera: Cole Cassell
Camera/GFX: Kyle Rippey
This documentary film explores the historical monograph, Delta Empire: Lee Wilson and the Transformation of Agriculture in the New South, by Dr. Jeannie Whayne.
Wilson Renewal Narrative Book
Role: Project Director / Co-Producer
Director of Communications and Brand Strategy
Wilson Book
A visual narrative describing the historical foundations of this town, providing a theoretical roadmap for modern revitalization efforts.
Collaborators: Josh Matas/Sandbox Entertainment, Nashville, TN.
Design Sensory/Design Agency, Knoxville, TN.
Wilson Arkansas Primary Website
Role: Project Director / Co-Producer
Director of Communications and Brand Strategy
Wilson Arkansas Website
To build a content hub and cohesive media presence, we directed and managed the creation of the official Wilson Website. This included all creative content and scripting, from concept to production, and it ensured the creation of owned digital assets for the client moving forward. It was essential to craft an authentic narrative that balanced local perspective and presence with content that advances the Wilson identity for external audiences.
Collaborators: Josh Matas/Sandbox Entertainment, Nashville, TN.
Design Sensory/Design Agency, Knoxville, TN.
Wilson Music Series
Role: Co-Producer
Director of Communications and Brand Strategy
Wilson Music Series
To build on the foundation of Delta music heritage, we produced a music series in Wilson that expanded the revitalization narrative, and brought national artists to town. Our focus was on Americana music, thus leveraging Wilson’s location on the historic Highway 61 and bridging the various styles of blues, rock, country, and bluegrass.
Collaborators: John Faulkner, Wilson Town Manager.
Josh Matas/Sandbox Entertainment, Nashville, TN.
Design Sensory - Poster Design.
White’s Mercantile Wilson Store Launch
Role: Co-Project Director
Director of Communications and Brand Strategy
White’s Mercantile - Wilson, Arkansas
The renovation of this historic gas station presented a key opportunity to further activate Wilson’s position on historic Highway 61. We worked with Holly Williams (Americana artist, and granddaughter of Hank Williams Sr.) and Josh Matas of Sandbox Entertainment, to launch White’s Mercantile in the renovated gas station. This was the first location for Williams’ store outside Nashville, TN and it reinforced a general association with an Americana and roots narrative, while generating solid media exposure.
Mississippi Encyclopedia
Role: Contributing Author
Mississippi Encyclopedia
Article: Highway 61/Blues Highway
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
Role: Contributing Author
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
encyclopedia articles interpreting various facets of Tennessee music history.