Lara Kelland is the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor in Museum Studies and Community History in the department of History. She earned her PhD in 2013 from the University of Illinois at Chicago in U.S. History.
Her book, Clio’s Foot Soldiers: Twentieth-Century US Social Movements and the Uses of Collective Memory (University of Massachusetts Press, 2018) traces the use of history in 20th century social movements, including Civil Rights, Black Power, Women’s Liberation, Gay Liberation, and American Indian Movements. In it, she argues that grassroots activists helped shape the field of public history and helped to cultivate the democratic practices embraced by many cultural organizations. Her second book project engages collective memory and the cultural power of heritage in Puerto Rico.
Prior to coming to UMSL, Dr. Kelland was an Assistant Professor of US and Public History and Comparative Humanities at the University of Louisville, where she also directed the Public History graduate concentration and certificate. In Louisville and in Chicago during graduate school, she worked on public history projects in various community-based and cultural organizations. She believes mightily in the power of history to shape and nurture community.
Desmond Lee Endowed Professor in Museum Studies and Community History
