Steven Lubar

Steven Lubar

Fellow: Awarded 2015
Field of Study: Anthropology and Cultural Studies

Competition: US & Canada

Steven Lubar is a professor in the departments of American Studies, History, and the History of Art and Architecture at Brown University. He teaches and advises in Brown’s public humanities program, which he directed from 2004-2014.

Before coming to Brown, Dr. Lubar was chair of the Division of the History of Technology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. At the Smithsonian for over twenty years, he helped build collections in the history of work, industry, technology, and transportation. He co-curated numerous exhibits, including “Engines of Change,” “Information Age,” and “America on the Move.” Publications authored or co-authored include InfoCulture, History from Things, The Philosophy of Manufactures, Engines of Change, and Legacies: Collecting America’s History at the Smithsonian, as well as many articles in the history of technology and public history.

Dr. Lubar’s interests include the history of museums and memorials, material culture studies, nineteenth and twentieth century of history of technology, and digital humanities. He is working on a book on museums and museum history.

At Brown, Dr. Lubar teaches a range of course in public humanities. “Introduction to the Public Humanities” considers the theory of the public humanities, focusing on issues of history and memory, culture and community, and presentation and representation. “Methods in the Public Humanities” considers the field in a more practical way, addressing the work of museum curators and others who preserve and interpret culture. Other courses address memorials, museum collecting practices, museum exhibition, the history of museums and digital humanities.

Recent service to the university includes membership on the Information Technology Advisory Board, the Slavery and Justice memorial committee, and Brown’s 250th Anniversary Committee.

Dr. Lubar continues to consult on museum work. Recent projects have included the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 92 exhibition, the Rochester Museum and Science Center’s exhibition on invention, the National Museum of American History’s “American Enterprise” exhibit, strategic planning for the Wagner Free Institute of Science and the National Park Service’s Boston National Historical Park, and collections planning for the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Follow this link to view Dr. Lubar’s blog.

Dr. Lubar on Twitter

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Profile photograph courtesy of Brown University.

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