Welcome!

I am a Michigander by birth and an adopted Kansas and Okie by choice. After I earned my B.A. and M.A. degrees in history from Western Michigan University, I moved to Kansas in 1997. Since that time I have worked as a professional historian in various capacities. A history instructor (at the two and four year college levels), living history interpreter, author, public lecturer, and photographer, I founded my own historical consulting company- Discovering History LLC- to combine my greatest passions.

 

I have served as an on air historical expert, consultant, and field producer for numerous television documentaries. My work has aired on History Channel, PBS, NatGeo, Investigation Discovery, and the American Heroes Channel.

 

As a living history interpreter I have volunteered my time and expertise at various units of the National Park Service and state historic sites including Fort Scott National Historic Site and Fort Larned Historic Site (Kansas), Wilson's Creek National Battlefield (Missouri), Pea Ridge National Military Park (Arkansas), Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site (Kansas), Constitution Hall State Historic Site (Kansas), the Bartlesville Area History Museum (Oklahoma) and Woolaroc (Oklahoma). 

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In addition to my work with these historic sites I served as the Director/Historian of the Little House on the Prairie Museum in Independence, Kansas. The site was home to the Charles Ingalls family from 1869-1871 in the midst of the Osage Diminished Reserve lands in Southeastern Kansas.

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In 2015 I embarked on my doctoral studies at the University of New Mexico in the Department of History. I graduated with highest honors in May 2022. My academic and public history work seeks to restore marginalized voices excluded from mainstream historical narratives.