Marla Miller, distinguished professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has received the 2025 Distinguished Artist Award from the St. Botolph Club Foundation in Boston. The annual award is presented to a New England-based individual for their exceptional diversity of accomplishments and outstanding contributions as a teacher, mentor, or activist in their field. Dr. Miller is the first-ever historian to receive the honor.
A scholar of U.S. women’s history, work, and material culture, Dr. Miller has published numerous articles, collections, and books, including The Needle’s Eye: Women and Work in the Age of Revolution (University of Massachusetts Press, 2006). Her scholarly biography of Betsy Ross, Betsy Ross and the Making of America (Henry Holt and Co., 2010), was named to the Washington Post’s “Best of 2010” list.
At UMass Amherst, Dr. Miller serves as associate dean for strategic initiatives in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Since joining the university’s faculty in 1999, she has taught a wide range of courses on public history, American material culture, museum and historic site interpretation, and history communication. Earlier in her tenure, she directed the public history program.
Dr. Miller received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.