Dr. Melissa Faye Blair
Associate Teaching Professor
College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
She/Her/Hers/Herself
About
Melissa Blair studies the history of architecture, landscapes, and material culture. Her research and teaching relate to the cultural and architectural history of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America and to the field of public history. She is co-author of Washington and Baltimore Art Deco: A Design History of Neighboring Cities (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014). Prior to joining the Department of History, she worked for more than 15 years as an architectural historian and historic preservationist for a variety of public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Her current research focuses on the Mid-Atlantic region’s rural buildings and landscapes, the farming patterns that shaped them, and their preservation. She is the current director of the Public History program at UMBC.Research interests
Cultural Landscapes and Vernacular Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic, Historic PreservationTeaching interests
Public History, Architectural History, Nineteenth-Century United StatesEducation
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Ph D, Preservation Studies
— University of Delaware (2014) Landscapes of Work: The Domestic Outbuildings of Central Maryland, 1769-1929
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MA, Public History
— University of South Carolina (2002) "Where People Learn to Live Better": The Prescriptive Nature of Early Federal Public Housing
- BA, American Studies — Grinnell College (1997)