Mount Vernon’s 18th-century experts are available for media interviews, podcasts, press, and speaking engagements.
Our team is available to speak on George Washington, the presidency, the American Revolution, and slavery in the 18th century, as well as a host of additional topics.
Available Speakers
Dr. Douglas Bradburn
John and Adrienne Mars President and CEO
Dr. Douglas Bradburn is an award-winning author and a well-known scholar of early American history. He is the author and editor of three books and numerous articles and book chapters with a specialty in the history of the American founding, leadership, and the history of American citizenship. He joined Mount Vernon in 2013 when named the founding director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon and became the 11th director of George Washington's Mount Vernon in 2018.
Dr. Bradburn earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago and his B.A. in history and economics from the University of Virginia
Expertise: George Washington, the Constitution, Systems of Government, Constitutional Theory
Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky
Executive Director, George Washington Presidential Library
Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky is a presidential historian and the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. In this role, she leads the Library’s scholarship and public programs, fostering research and civic engagement around George Washington, the early Republic, and the presidency.
Dr. Chervinsky earned her B.A. from the George Washington University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. She is the award-winning author of The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution and Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic, and co-editor of Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture.
Expertise: U.S. Presidency, George Washington and the Early Republic, Political Culture, Presidential Cabinets, Public History
Dr. Susan P. Schoelwer
Executive Director, Historic Preservation and Collections and Robert H. Smith Senior Curator
Dr. Schoelwer directs Mount Vernon’s curatorial, architecture, archaeology, viewshed, horticulture, and livestock teams. She has led numerous exhibitions and Mansion room restorations and edited publications on Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington’s World and The General in the Garden: George Washington’s Landscape at Mount Vernon. She holds a PhD in American Studies from Yale University, MA from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, and BA in History from the University of Notre Dame.
Expertise: George Washington portraiture, Martha Washington, Mansion room renovations and furnishings, Lives Bound Together exhibition, history of Mount Vernon, history of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 18th and early 19th-century needlework, tavern signs.
K. Allison Wickens
Vice President for Education
Allison Wickens leads the Education and Guest Services division at Mount Vernon and oversees the history and civics learning goals for the institution’s onsite, offsite, and digital outreach programs. She played a leading role in the development of Mount Vernon's exhibition George Washington: A Revolutionary Life.
She regularly presents to K–12 teacher audiences through Mount Vernon’s George Washington Teacher Institute and regional programs, and has presented at the American Association for State and Local History. Her writing on museum-based learning has appeared in the Journal of Museum Education. She received an M.A. in History and a certificate in Museum Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder and a B.A. in history from Grinnell College.
Expertise: Museum Education; K-12 Learning in Museums; Relationship of History and Civics to Museums; Teaching George Washington, the Founding Era, and Slavery in K-12 Classrooms
Dr. Dana John Stefanelli
Curator of Special Collections, Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon
Dr. Stefanelli is an experienced writer, editor, and college teacher. He has worked as an editor of George Washington’s presidential and Revolutionary War papers. Dr. Stefanelli’s publications include articles on the history of Washington, D.C., and book chapters on American political and economic history. He has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in history and political science from Florida State University. Prior to joining the historical profession, he served as a legislative aide on Capitol Hill.
Expertise: General, books and manuscripts, Washington, D.C. history, American political economy and business history, Congress & the Presidency
Adam T. Erby
Executive Director of Historic Preservation and Collections
Adam T. Erby oversees the preservation and research of Mount Vernon’s historic structures, curatorial collections, historic interiors, special exhibitions, and conservation program. He also serves as The Martha Washington Chief Curator. Erby curated the permanent exhibition Mount Vernon: The Story of an American Icon and Lives Bound Together: Slavery at Mount Vernon, and he has overseen the restorations of numerous Mount Vernon rooms and outbuildings. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and earned his M.A. through the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture at the University of Delaware.
Expertise: George and Martha Washington’s Collections, American Decorative Arts, Historic Preservation, Museum Exhibitions
Thomas A. Reinhart
Director of Preservation
Thomas Reinhart leads the ongoing effort to research, restore, and interpret Mount Vernon's architectural and landscape legacy. He has spent his career studying architecture, archaeology, and social history of the Chesapeake region and the British Atlantic world. At Mount Vernon, he has led the architectural restorations of the New Room, the iconic cupola, the Front Parlor, the landmark Mansion Revitalization Project, and the ongoing preservation of over a dozen original structures.
He is an editor and author of Stewards of Memory: The Past Present, and Future of Historic Preservation at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. He holds a B.A. from The College of William and Mary, M.A. in Classical Archaeology from Florida State University, M.A. in architectural history/historic preservation from The George Washington University.
Expertise: Mount Vernon’s Architecture and its Free and Enslaved Builders, 18th-Century British Atlantic Architectural Exchange, George Washington’s Architectural Legacy, Colonial and Early Federal American Architecture, and Architectural Technology
Mary V. Thompson
Research Historian
Ms. Thompson is a long-time member of the Mount Vernon staff, where she has served in the Interpretation, Curatorial, and Library departments. She is the author of three books, including the 2019 definitive work on slavery at Mount Vernon, and has contributed chapters to over fifteen books, in addition to writing numerous articles, blogposts, and encyclopedia entries. Ms. Thompson earned an M.A. in History from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in History, with a minor in Folklore, from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.
Expertise: George and Martha Washington and their extended families; slavery; religion; foodways and hospitality; illness, death, and mourning; domestic animals and livestock; Native Americans; Mount Vernon in time of war (18th to 20th centuries)
Dr. Alexandra L. Montgomery
Manager, Center for Digital History
Dr. Alexandra L. Montgomery manages Mount Vernon's Center for Digital History and initially came to Mount Vernon to help create ARGO: American Revolutionary Geographies Online. In additon to her work in digital history and mapping, she has published and lectured extensively on topics relating to land, settler expansion, and imperial policy in colonial North America. She holds a Ph.D. in Early American History from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. and B.A. in History from Dalhousie University in Canada.
Expertise: Land Speculation, Native Americans, Seven Years' War, Digital History, 18th-century Maps and Mapping, Westward Expansion
Dean Norton
Director of Horticulture and Livestock
Dean began working at Mount Vernon on June 23, 1969 and never left. After receiving a degree in horticulture from Clemson University, he began his horticultural career as the estate's boxwood gardener in 1977. He was promoted to horticulturist in 1980 and is responsible for applying the latest plant science and management techniques of horticulture in a historic setting. For the past 35 years, Dean has devoted considerable time researching 18th-century gardens and gardening practices and contributed to several on-site garden restoration. Dean has served on several Historic Properties Boards including the Historic Properties Committee of Clemson University. He has received awards for conservation from the DAR and the Garden Club of America, as well as receiving the Garden Club of America’s Elizabeth Craig Weaver Proctor National Medal (2020) given for exemplary service and creative vision. He is a recipient of the American Horticultural Societies Professional Award, is past president of the Southern Garden History Society, and is an honorary member of the Garden Club of Virginia. He is an accomplished, compelling speaker that entertains while informing and has traveled across the country and internationally presenting to garden clubs and professional organizations.
Expertise: Landscape design, 18th-century farming, 18th-century greenhouses, historic gardens, historic trees
Steven T. Bashore
Director of Historic Trades
Steve Bashore oversees the interpretation, operations, and maintenance of George Washington's Distillery and Gristmill, as well as the Pioneer Farm and Blacksmith Shop. He is a traditional miller and distiller by trade and has been operating, interpreting, and repairing historic watermills for 27 years. Since 2007, he has been distilling at George Washington's reconstructed distillery producing rye whiskey, bourbon, single malt whiskey, rum as well as peach and apple brandy. He has been a spirits judge for the American Craft Spirits Association, and for World of Whiskies.
Expertise: Traditional Milling, Gristmills both Water and Windmills, Flour Production and Export in the 18th Century, George Washington as an Entrepreneur and Innovative Farmer, George Washington’s Distillery and Gristmill including its Operation and Reconstruction, 18th and 19th Century Distilling, Whiskey, Brandy and Other Spirits, 18th-Century Farming, 18th and 19th Century Economic History, Washington's Farming and Business Endeavors 1750s - 1799
Jeremy Ray
Senior Director of Interpretation
Jeremy Ray directs Mount Vernon’s front-line interpretation across the Mansion, grounds, and outlying sites. In this role, he oversees History Interpretation (Mansion and grounds tours); Trades Interpretation (the Farm, blacksmith’s shop, and spinning house); Living History Interpretation (Patriots Path military encampment and first-person character interpretation); Historic Costuming; and Historic Trades Production, including interpretation at the Gristmill and Distillery, as well as historic mill production and whiskey operations.
Jeremy has worked in interpretation, training, supervision, and leadership at Mount Vernon for more than a decade. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech.
Expertise: The Evolution of Historical Interpretation at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s Life and Military Career, Washington as an Innovative Farmer, and the History of Enslavement at Mount Vernon
Rebecca Baird
Archivist
Rebecca Baird is the archivist for Mount Vernon and the Washington Library. She is responsible for acquiring, organizing, and providing access to the institutional records of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.
Baird became a Certified Archivist (CA) in 2012 and a Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) through the Society of American Archivists in 2014. She received a master’s of library science degree (MLS) from Emporia State University and a BA in history and French from Texas Tech University. Before joining the staff at Mount Vernon, she was an archivist for another historic women’s organization, the Daughters of the American Revolution, for 8 years.
Expertise: The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association
Samantha Snyder
Research Librarian
Samantha Snyder has written and spoken extensively on topics in early American history, with a specialty in Early American women’s history. She is currently working on a biography of Elizabeth Willing Powel. She earned her Master’s of Library and Information Studies and B.A. in English literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and earned her M.A. in History at George Mason University.
Expertise: Early American Women’s History, George Washington, History of Mount Vernon
Thomas Plott
Interpretive Performance Manager
Tom Plott serves as Mount Vernon’s Interpretive Performance Manager and brings over 35 years of professional acting and directing experience to Mount Vernon. Tom has made a career of portraying historical characters, from Shakespeare to Da Vinci to John Wilkes Booth. He now uses his versatility and skills as a researcher to depict George Washington’s personal physician, Doctor James Craik, the first Physician General of the United States.
Expertise: Character/Costumed Interpretation of Dr. James Craik (Washington’s friend and physician), Character/Costumed Interpretation of James Anderson (Washington’s farm and distillery manager)
Dr. Sara Marie Massee
Manager of Historic Trades
Dr. Massee has many years of experience in the field of living history. Her particular passions are interpreting the enslaved community and conducting 18th-century cooking, baking, and textile demonstrations, using a combination of research and hands-on experience to illuminate daily life. She received her Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from George Mason University.
Expertise: Textile Production at Mount Vernon, Historic Cooking Techniques and Food Traditions, Foodways of the Enslaved
Kathrin Breitt Brown
Lead Historic Trades Interpreter
coming soon