Professional Experience
Curator, Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, 2016–
Assistant Curator of American Coins and Currency, American Numismatic Society, 2014–2016
Visiting Fellow, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney, 2014–2015
Postdoctoral Fellow, Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Material Culture, Design History, 2010–2013
Education
Ph.D., American Culture, University of Michigan, 2010
Master of Arts, History, University of Colorado–Boulder, 2001
Bachelor of Arts, University of Colorado–Boulder, 1999
Books
Barnum’s Imperium: American Entertainers and the Nineteenth-Century Pacific (forthcoming).
“Coining Liberty: The 1794 US Silver Dollar,” in A Superpower is Born: the Rise of the Dollar. Samlerhuser Group B. V., 2016. 80 pp. ISBN: 9788299945325
Circus and the City: New York, 1793-2010, by Matthew Wittmann. New Haven: Published by Yale University Press for the Bard Graduate Center, 2012. 208 pp. ISBN: 9780300187472
The American Circus, ed. by Susan Weber, Kenneth L. Ames, and Matthew Wittmann. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. 459 pp. ISBN: 9780300185393
Exhibitions
Houghton Library, September 6, 2022 to January 6, 2023.
This exhibition traces the evolution of American drag, calling attention to the ways in which it both reflected and inspired changing perceptions of femininity, masculinity, and sexuality. The photographs, ephemera, and other materials on display showcase the range of styles and talents that went into the making of modern drag and highlight the genre’s shifting and expanding appeal for American audiences.
Treading the Borders: Immigration and the American Stage.
Houghton Library, September 4 to December 15, 2018.
Much of the richness and vitality of the performing arts in the United States derives from creative talent originating elsewhere. This exhibition looks at how successive waves of immigration transformed the American stage, highlighting the virtuosity and resilience of a diverse group of actors, artists, and entertainers from the colonial era to the present day.
American Numismatic Society, March 15, 2016 to June 1, 2017.
An exhibition tracing the history of coins and currency in the Americas from the foundation of the Mexico City mint in 1535 through the present.
Circus and the City: New York, 1793–2010.
Bard Graduate Center Gallery, September 21, 2012 to February 3, 2013.
This exhibition used New York City as a lens through which to explore the extraordinary history of the circus in the United States, bringing together over 225 objects and images from museums and collections around the country. For reviews and media coverage, go here.
Awards, Fellowships, and Grants
Numismatic Literary Guild Award (Best Blog), 2015 and 2016
Choice Outstanding Academic Title (The American Circus), 2013
Victorian Society New York Exhibition and Catalogue Award (Circus and the City), 2013
Dissertation Fellowship, Sweetland Writing Center, University of Michigan, 2008
Fellow, Global Ethnic Literatures Seminar, University of Michigan, 2007
Fulbright Award, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 2006–2007
Research Fellow, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, 2006
W.M. Keck Foundation and Mayers Fellow, The Huntington Library, 2005
Kate B. and Hall J. Peterson Fellow, American Antiquarian Society, 2005
Regents Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2001–2004