About
Daniel Gifford is a public historian who focuses on American popular and visual culture, as well as museums in American culture. He received his PhD from George Mason University in 2011. He holds additional degrees from the University of Missouri, Columbia and Washington University in St. Louis.
Dr. Gifford's career spans both academia and public history, including several years with the Smithsonian Institution. His scholarship on American popular culture - including holidays, leisure activities, museums, and visual culture - underpins his many public lectures, exhibits, and digital humanities articles. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky, and guest-curated their 2022 exhibit "Olde England on the Ohio: Louisville's Tudor Revival."
His most recent book explores the Filson's founding era and Louisville in the Gilded Age. Writing during the organization’s 140th anniversary, Dr. Gifford recreates a 360-degree view of the Filson’s first 15 years, 1884-1899. Benefactors of Posterity revises our understanding of key moments in Louisville and Kentucky history, and is an explicit and intentional reckoning with the Filson Historical Society’s past.
His other books include The Last Voyage of the Whaling Bark Progress: New Bedford, Chicago and the Twilight of an Industry. It retraces the voyage of the whaling bark Progress from New Bedford, Massachusetts to the Chicago World’s Fair, and explores questions of commemoration, historical memory, and what it means to transform a dying industry into “a museum piece.” His first book, American Holiday Postcards 1905-1915: Imagery and Context, examines deep divides at the height of the Progressive Era as expressed through holidays and holiday imagery.
Dr. Gifford’s popularity as an adjunct professor stems from his love of using popular culture in the classroom. His many courses include American History through its Holidays; 1980s America; American Visual Culture; The History of Travel and Tourism; and The Museum — which combines the history of museums with modern-day museum studies.
His expertise has been featured in numerous interviews and articles including the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, USA Today, Slate Magazine, Time, and Smithsonian Magazine.
