Program: Public History MA

Email: aodegaard@luc.edu

Faculty Advisor: Elizabeth Fraterrigo

MA, Loyola University Chicago, 2016 (expected)

BA, Kenyon College, 2014

Graduated Highest Honors in History, Magna cum laude

Honors Thesis: “Unity Under the Cross: Norway’s Christianization and State Formation in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries”

     My research interests, though diverse, reflect my interest in how religion and culture influence larger social and political changes. During my undergraduate career I examined how religion shaped politics in Middle Ages and in the Early Modern period, and while I primarily focused on Christianity I also wrote about Islam.  My senior honors thesis examined how the Christianization of Norway in the tenth and eleventh centuries fundamentally altered the social and political life of the Norwegian Vikings, and how this change helped kings Olaf Tryggvason and St. Olaf Haraldsson unify Norway under their rule.

     In the field of Public History, my research interests have focused on material culture, daily life, and living history. In particular, I am interested in textiles and the socio-cultural constructs which surround their perception and use. I helped archive and digitize the textile collection of the Lake County Discovery Museum, where I frequently worked with nineteenth century garments. For this reason much of my research has been focused on nineteenth century dress and mourning culture in America. I also sew period recreations of nineteenth century, Medieval, and Elizabethan dress, which I wear at living history events. 

2014, Phi Beta Kappa, Kenyon College

2012-2013 Alan G. Goldsmith Memorial Prize for excellence in the study of history

Assistant Editor, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Gambier, OH  -  August 2013 - May 2014

Volunteer Intern, Lake County Discovery Museum Archives, Wauconda, IL  -  Summers 2012-2014