Catharine Dann Roeber

Biography

Catharine Dann Roeber teaches graduate courses for the Winterthur Program, including American Interiors, Exhibitions and Interpretation, British Design History and additional field study courses. Her areas of research include decorative arts and material culture, culinary history, history of print and ephemera, and Pennsylvania material and architectural heritage.

In addition to teaching and leading the Academic Affairs team at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Catharine Dann Roeber is executive editor of Winterthur Portfolio: A Journal of American Material Culture and Director of Winterthur’s Research Fellowship Program. Her work centers supporting, advocating for, and participating in endeavors to build a more equitable and inclusive future for cultural heritage, decorative arts, and material culture studies, and conservation through exhibitions, programs, teaching, mentoring, and community collaboration. She recently co-edited The Cambridge Handbook of Material Culture. Roeber draws on her background of international experience with archeology departments, research libraries, museums and cultural non-profits in encouraging people to enjoy and study stuff. Other pursuits include researching built environments and landscapes, historic foodways, print culture, historic interiors, and collecting, collections and museums.
 

Education

• Ph.D., The College of William and Mary (History)
• M.A., University of Delaware (Winterthur Program in Early American Culture)
• B.A., The College of William and Mary (Anthropology)
   

Select Publications

• Co-editor with Lu Ann De Cunzo, Cambridge University Press Handbook of Material Culture Studies (2022)
• “Where William Penn Slept (and Why it Matters)” in The Worlds of William Penn (2019)
• “Beautiful Busks” Antiques and Fine Art (2011)
• “Decoding a Historic Map” Antiques and Fine Art (2009)

Select Exhibitions

• Curator, Transformations: Contemporary Artists at Winterthur, Winterthur Galleries (2024)
• Faculty Curator, Truths of the Trade: Slavery and the Winterthur Collection, Society of Winterthur Fellows Gallery (2018)
• Curator, Bein’ Green: The History of a Color. Winterthur Library Exhibit (2015)
• Co-curator, Tiffany: The Color of Luxury, Winterthur Fellows Gallery (2015)
• Curator, Table Talk: Philadelphia in the New Nation, Winterthur Galleries (2014)
• Curator, Amelung Glass, Case Exhibit, Winterthur (2011-present)
• Co-Curator, Dipped, Dripped, and Dug: English Industrial Slipware from Winterthur & Independence Historical Park, Delaware Antiques Show Loan Exhibition (2010)