Dr. Megan Scallan holds a Ph.D. in Atlantic History from Florida International University; an M.A. in History from the University of Alabama in Huntsville; a Graduate Certificate in Museum Collections and Preservation Care from George Washington University; a Certificate in Women’s Entrepreneurship from Cornell University; and a B.A. in History and Art History from the University of North Florida. Her expertise spans material and visual culture; gender and sexuality; and the intersections of race and politics. She has presented in the United States and Europe, including at the American Historical Association and the Bavarian American Academy.
Scallan’s research uses goods, objects, and the built environment as historical evidence to illuminate how people buy, trade, and live their everyday lives. Her M.A. thesis and Ph.D. dissertation examine how patriotic imagery, symbols, and media shape political attitudes, influence public opinion, and cultivate collective consciousness. By tracing how images are produced, circulated, consumed, and interpreted, she shows how individuals and communities forged and sustained a shared—often diffuse—sense of national identity across emerging regional differences, varied cultural traditions, and diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds.
Experience
Over the years, I have worked on more than 60 permanent collection exhibitions, traveling shows from other institutions, and created engaging exhibits that feature artwork from living artists. As a historian, my work specifically addresses stories from typically underrepresented communities, aiming to highlight the importance and relevance of diverse perspectives. My work encourages audiences to reflect on their own lives and experiences in relation to the presented narratives. The most successful of these projects are thought-provoking, innovative, and educational; they challenge conventional ways of interacting with the past in the present and ensure the preservation of those vital stories for future generations to appreciate and learn from.
Since the start of my museum career, I have been committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion. I have given tours and taught art classes to people with low vision, autism, and from low-income areas. I have included stories about women, racial minorities, and immigrants in programs and exhibitions. I have found funding and written grants to support these programs, and I have trained and mentored diverse interns and staff.
I began at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, working with the Weaver Family Foundation Fund’s “Cummer in the Classroom” program, which brings art education to elementary schools with many low-income students in North Florida. I also led tours and art classes for visitors with low vision through “Touch Tours” and “Women of Vision.” At the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, I taught art camps for children with autism through the Rainbow Artists program.
As Director of the Weeden House Museum, we added stories about enslaved people from Maria Howard Weeden’s art and poetry and built a partnership with Alabama A&M, a historically black university in North Alabama. While earning my PhD in Atlantic History, I taught at Florida International University, a large Hispanic-Serving Institution, and worked with museums in historically black neighborhoods to record oral histories and preserve photos, objects, and archives for public use.
I have worked with many institutions and private clients on digital projects, training interns and staff to help at different stages. At the Huntsville Museum of Art and Peabody Essex Museum, I managed moving data from old to new databases. As curator and collections manager for the Weeden House, Black Police Precinct & Courthouse Museum, Historic Hampton House, Florida Keys History & Discovery Center, and Key Largo Anglers Club I researched and recommended affordable database options to the board and built collection databases with different public access levels. Each project included moving object records into databases, photographing, editing, uploading images, and rehousing the collections properly.
As Director of the Weeden House Museum, I managed the restoration of Alabama’s oldest house museum to its mid-19th century state. As Curator and Collections Manager at the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society, I helped protect the structure of the Bradford House over several years. I also developed tours and exhibits that highlighted the Bradford daughters and their remarkable stories. In June 2018, the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society won an Award of Merit from the American Association of State and Local History for the “Re-imagine Bradford” project.
I am incredibly enthusiastic to bring these skills to a new communities, private individuals and institutions. The range of my professional experiences within museums allows me to uniquely understand the needs of various departments while finding new and innovative ways to work with the communities.
