Rebecca S. Graff, associate professor of anthropology and chair of museum studies at Lake Forest College in Illinois, was recently honored at the annual gala of the Society of Architectural Historians. The professional organization recognized Dr. Graff’s “commitment to literally unearthing and telling the stories of Chicago’s varied urban neighborhoods and houses.”
As a historical archaeologist, Dr. Graff studies the relationship between temporality and modernity, consumerism and material culture, and contemporary heritage and urbanism. In 2010 and 2015, Dr. Graff led archaeological excavations at the Charnley-Perksy House in Chicago. The excavations uncovered artifacts and features from the building’s historical “midden,” an onsite dump for domestic waste. Dr. Graff’s findings at the Charnely-Persky House are featured heavily in her book, Disposing of Modernity: The Archaeology of Garbage and Consumerism During Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair (University Press of Florida, 2020). Notably, these excavations created valuable research opportunities for students from several local colleges and universities in the Chicago area.
A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Graff holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.