The Life, The Legend …. The Truth?: Stitching Betsy Ross’ Story Together
Most visitors come to the Betsy Ross House with strong opinions on Betsy Ross’ place in American history, making her story a difficult one to tell. How do we as historians and museum professionals deal with the complicated legend – and real woman – that is Betsy Ross? This talk will highlight the new exhibit and interpretations at the Betsy Ross House – what we know, what we don’t know, and what we can learn from the woman behind the legend.
Kim Staub is the Collections and Exhibitions Manager at the Betsy Ross House, in charge of managing the collections and researching new exhibitions, programs, and interpretations. Since joining the Betsy Ross House staff in 2013, Staub has installed popular exhibits such as Stitching the Story Together and Historic Threads, and was a project lead on the AASLH award-winning exhibit Dressing the Bed: A Living Demonstration of 18th Century Needlework. She holds an M.A. in History from Virginia Tech, where she won the William Preston Society Master’s thesis award for best thesis in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences in 2012.