Katherine C. (Kasey) Grier will speak in the Brown Bag Lunch series on Monday, October 12, 2015. Her talk is entitled, “From Pets to Plastics: The Material Culture of Everyday Life.”

Katherine C. (Kasey) Grier is Professor of History and Director of the Ph.D. Program in American Civilization and the Museum Studies Program at the University of Delaware. A graduate of Princeton University (B.A. 1975), the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Historical Museum Studies (M.A. 1980), and the University of Delaware (Ph.D. American Civilization, History, 1988), Professor Grier is a specialist in material culture studies whose research interests lie in the history of everyday life in the United States, especially household routines, domestic interiors, and foodways. Her book, Pets in America: A History (University of North Carolina Press, 2006) grew out of her interest in the history of animal-human interaction. Her current research interests in this field include the development of the pet food industry, the lives of animals in American cities, and selective breeding of small animals for ornamental purposes. She is also the author of Culture and Comfort: Parlor Making and Middle-Class Identity, 1850-1930 (Rochester, N.Y.: Strong Museum, 1988), and former Executive Editor of Winterthur Portfolio.