Public Historian. Preservationist. Museum Professional.

and Public History Ph.D. Candidate at Middle Tennessee State University

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Hello, I’m Kate!

I’m a Public Historian and Preservationist with a passion for people, places, and pottery.

(plus 18th-century paneled walls, and a plethora of other things, if I’m sticking with the alliteration!)

Photograph of Kate in the American Wing reference library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is smiling and leaning on a table strewn with books about 19th-century ceramics from Edgefield, South Carolina.

Glad you’re here!

Here’s a little bit more about me:

Katherine “Kate” Hughes is a museum and design professional with a passion for public history and preservation. She believes in inclusive and accessible history, environmental sustainability and equity, and that community engagement should be at the forefront of any preservation project.

She is currently working towards her Ph.D. in Public History with Dr. Van West at Middle Tennessee State University, where she is a research assistant with the Center for Historic Preservation. Her research focuses on the 18th- and 19th-century material culture and decorative arts of the American South, with an emphasis on exploring marginalized and ignored histories through objects, architecture, and place.

A native New Yorker, Kate has lived and worked all over the Southeast, including Virginia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. Her professional experience ranges from interior design and auction houses to research and curatorial work at organizations including the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Historic Charleston Foundation, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In her free time, she loves reading, walks in nature, and music of all kinds.

Want to know more? Check out my CV below!

Kate's CV

Kate working in the reference library of the American Wing at The Met in 2018. Photograph by Kayli Rideout.

My Mission

To assist communities in telling inclusive and balanced people-focused history through objects and place.

 

Speaking Engagements

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Check back soon for upcoming engagements!

Past:

Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts Conference:

The South Carolina Midlands

Columbia, South Carolina
September 15-17, 2022
more info here

American Ceramic Circle Symposium

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
October 27-30, 2022
more info here

Wilton House Museum Lecture Series

Richmond, Virginia
November 18, 2021

6 pm Eastern

more info here