Hello and welcome to the website of Zara Anishanslin!

I'm a scholar who specializes in telling stories about the past through things forming them into narrative essays.

I’ve got my dream job as a professor, but I also believe passionately in spreading historical knowledge to the wider public. I've worked in museums and historic preservation, and when I'm not researching, writing, or teaching, you can sometimes find me talking history on a podcast or TV show (especially, of late, on the Travel Channel).

In addition to all things eighteenth century, I have a love for Lapsang Souchong tea, the city of London (especially Spitalfields), the rocky beaches of Bainbridge Island, fashion from the ZARA store, the Oxford comma, and (last but obviously not least), my two children. I'm also (somewhat more shamefully) slightly addicted to Twitter, good period dramas and sci fi (Poldark, Outlander, and Dr. Who rank high), and—when writer’s block strikes—I’ve been know to nibble on a Cool Ranch Dorito or two. You'll often find me and my children dancing in our kitchen to the soundtrack from Hamilton! The Musical.

At the moment, I’m beyond excited that my first book—Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World—is coming soon from Yale University Press.

Thanks for stopping by, and please stay in touch.

With best wishes,

Zara Anishanslin, PhD

Featured

Apr 10, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

Meet Professor Anishanslin

Apr 10, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

I am assistant professor of history at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. I hold a PhD in the History of American Civilization from the University of Delaware, and held postdoctoral fellowships at Johns Hopkins University and the New-York Historical Society. But history is more than just a job to me.

Image: At the New-York Historical Society, 2015. Photo by Christine Moncrief.

Apr 10, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

May 24, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

Portrait of a Woman in Silk

May 24, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

“This dazzling book discovers within one small canvas a brilliant array of lives, trades, circuits, and empires. Written with verve and insight, Anishanslin’s Portrait of a Woman in Silk paints a global early America in vivid color. It will astonish.” - Jane Kamensky, author of A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley

Image: © Yale University Press, 2016.

May 24, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

May 10, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

Outside the Classroom

May 10, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

I believe knowledge should not stay confined to the academy. In addition to taking my students to archives, museums, and public history sites, I'm active in communicating history to audiences through public talks, podcasts, and television appearances. Before I became a professor, I worked in the museum and historic preservation fields (and that's where I really began my love affair with material culture). Stay tuned for updates on future exhibition and public history projects I've got in the works.

Image: Thomas Jefferson insisted we take a selfie, Williamsburg, VA, 2015.

May 10, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

May 24, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

A Thing for Things

May 24, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

History isn't just written on paper. In my scholarship, I explore how people from all walks of life used objects, both extraordinary and mundane, to communicate who they were and what they did. I uncover the histories hidden in things, histories that reveal how the long dead people who made, bought, and owned these objects hoped, struggled, and lived. And everywhere we look, we can see the similar power objects still have today. This is just one of the things I blog and tweet about. Take a look.

Image: Interior of Anna Maria Garthwaite’s townhouse, Spitalfields, London. View of Christ Church from the second floor, © Zara Anishanslin.

May 24, 2016 Leonard Sadosky

Banner image: adapted from Anna Maria Garthwaite, watercolor on paper, damask silk design for Simon Julins, 1743, T. 391–197, p. 55. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.