About Me


I am an historian and American studies scholar specializing in children's rights and activism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I have published research on child labour, child welfare campaigns, and specific organizations including the Young Pioneers of America and the Junior KKK. I have also published research on historical theory and method concerning the interpretation of historical children's drawings. For more detail, please see the publications page. 

I was awarded my PhD by the University of Northumbria, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in January 2022. I currently teach at the University of Roehampton, London, and was the 2021 recipient of the Scottish Association for the Study of America's Ellen Craft Prize. 

I am available for media work and historical consultancy. I have contributed to various international news publications and new media formats including podcasts regarding my research and related current issues including children's rights and public policy in the United States.

Current Research Projects: 

I am currently working on a monograph provisionally entitled Young Reds in the Big Apple which builds on my research of the Young Pioneers of America recently published in New York History

I am also working on a journal article project examining the politicization of Christmas during the Great Depression as well as writing up a chapter for an edited collection under contract with the University of London Press examining the history of children, adult prisons, and capital punishment in the United States.