Miriam Forman-Brunell, Professor of History, (B.A., Sarah Lawrence College, 1977; M.A. Sarah Lawrence College, 1982; Ph.D., Rutgers University, 1990). Cultural and social history (including material culture) of children and youth (especially girls), women and gender in the U.S.  Author of Babysitter: An American History(2009); Made to Play House: Dolls and the Commercialization of American Girlhood, 1830-1930 (1993;1998); co-editor of The Girls' History & Culture Reader (forthcoming); editor of  The Story of Rose O’Neill: An Autobiography (1997); editor of Girlhood in America: An Encyclopedia, 2 vols. (2001); series editor of Children & Youth: History and Culture (Greenwood/Praeger). Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. Fellowships and research awards from the Woodrow Wlson National Fellowship Foundation; Schlesinger Library; Andrew Mellon Foundation; National Endowment for the Humanities; Smithsonian Institution, and others.

I am the Co-Director (with Kelly Schrum) of “Children and Youth in History," an educational web resource that provides college teachers with the materials and methods for integrating the history of children and youth into world, European, and U.S. history courses (http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/).  The National Endowment for the Humanities funded project currently in development is produced by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City,

My current research project American Girlhoods: A Multi-Cultural History aims to be the first historical synthesis in the field of girls' history.  Although the term "girlhood" is commonly used to refer to both a girl's childhood as well as cultural ideals, I argue that whether the term is used descriptively or prescriptively, girlhood has been neither static nor uniform.  Tracing the history of girls' lived experiences and culturally constructed ideals about girls, I examine how regional, religious, ethnic, racial, class, age, and ideological differences gave rise to distinct, co-existing, and often contending girlhoods with principles and practices reformulated by grownups and re-appropriated by girls. The dynamic interaction between the many culturally-constructed ideals and the everyday lives of American girls over the course of our nation's history produced commonalities, perpetuated continuities, and generated changes in girlhoods.