RESEARCH MILESTONES AND INTERESTS
History of Illustration
I was Associate Editor on this six-year project led by Professor Susan Doyle (RISD), 2012-2018. This is the first textbook for the field. It has over 30 contributors, 29 chapters, 600 pages, and 900 images. It won the 2019 John G. Cawelti Award for Best Textbook or Primer, from the Popular Culture Association.
Journal of Illustration
I have been an Associate Editor of the Journal since its founding in 2013 by the UK-based Illustration Research Network. Over the years I have edited four issues, originated the themes of two conferences (The Theoretical Turn and Blindspots), and assisted with peer review. I have also trained grad students as editorial assistants.
Olive Allen and the Graphic Nonchalance of the Modern Girl, Illustrated.
This chapter appears in Nineteenth-Century Women Illustrators and Cartoonists, edited by Joanna Devereux. Manchester University Press. It examines Olive Allen's early illustrations for girls in the context of progressive British schools and emerging women's rights.
Magazine Digest
The now-obscure Magazine Digest is unique in Canadian periodical publishing. Unlike better-known titles such as Maclean's, and against the common knowledge that it was impossible for Canadian publishers to break into the US market, Magazine Digest circulated in the US far more than it did in Canada. My research on it reveals that it was also an important talent incubator for Jewish people who in the mid-20th century were often shut out of journalism, publishing, and the arts. My research appears in Magazines and Modern Identities: Global Cultures of the Illustrated Press, 1880–1945, edited by Tim Satterthwaite and Andrew Thacker.
ID: An Illustrator Dataset
I have compiled data on which illustrators are mentioned in what texts (1830-1970) and by whom; and used Tableau to make interactive visualizations for exploring the data. It's a giant interactive index for 142 history books that shows you how people's fame climbed or died over time, sortable by gender and specialization. Special attention is given to women's presence in the profession. Read the full details and download the bibliography.
This research has now been published!
“Illustrator Identity in the Historical Record, 1830-1970: A Quantitative, Bibliographic Inquiry into Canon and Renown,” Nathalie Collé and Monica Latham, gen. eds. and dirs. Sophie Aymes, Brigitte Friant-Kessler and Maxime Leroy, guest eds. Illustrating Identity-ies / Illustrer l’identité. Vol. 10. Collection Book Practices & Textual Itineraries. Nancy: Presses Universitaires de Nancy – Éditions Universitaires de Lorraine, 2020. 246 pages. ISBN : 978-2-8143-0580-9.
My research interests
Primarily my work is about preserving, documenting, and analyzing historic illustration and illustrators. I also write on contemporary illustration and practice, visual communication, visual culture, national identity, and magazines.
I am an Associate Editor of History of Illustration, the first textbook to appear on the subject.
I am also an Associate Editor of the Journal of Illustration.
In 2008 I began the Index of Canadian Illustrators. Although the project has been on hold, additions and amendments to it are very welcome.
My 2014 dissertation, A Cultural Trade? Canadian Magazine Illustrators at Home and in the United States, 1880-1960, is about the ways nationalism was expressed in visual culture.
Illustrators I have published on or presented papers on include:
Anita Kunz
Oscar Cahén
Walter Haskell Hinton
Robert Weaver
Olive Allen Biller
Many Illustrators based in Victoria, BC
Canadian women who illustrated in Chatelaine in the 1930s
Arthur Heming
Arthur William Brown
Russell Patterson
CW Jefferys
Edited volume, 2018
Edited volume, 2023
In the Library by Elizabeth Shippen Green, 1905, Delaware Art Museum
A corner of the DB Dowd Modern Graphic History Library.
B. Cory Kilvert
Henri Julien