Pronouns: she/her

Advisor: Thomas Brown

Education:  BA History (University of Maryland, May 2021) and MA Public History (University of South Carolina, May 2023)

Bio:

Gabrielle is a fourth-year History PhD Candidate also pursuing a Certificate in Women's and Gender Studies. Her dissertation analyzes middle-class American women's growing participation in recreational and competitive horseback riding from 1830 to 1890. She argues that horses, and women’s relationships with horses, allowed many women to challenge gender expectations, develop expertise in a historically male-dominated field, and construct female-dominated social networks. Her dissertation demonstrates how these various aspects of nineteenth-century horse(wo)manship enriched women's everyday lives. 

In addition to her dissertation, Gabrielle is also working on a public history project that uncovers the identities and stories of those who were enslaved at the historic Ross House in Frederick City, Maryland. She has published on this topic with the American Historical Association "Perspectives on History" and the "New York History Journal." She is also currently working as a Guest Curator for the South Carolina Historical Society on a temporary exhibit about the American Revolution in South Carolina. Her other public history experience includes a collections management internship at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, an exhibit design internship at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, and an education programming internship at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.

Gabrielle has been awarded a variety of scholarships for her research including the Wilfrid and Rebecca Callcott Award (2024), the R. Means Davis Fellowship in Southern Studies (2023), the National Society of the Colonial Dames Scholarship (2023), and the South Carolina Humanities Graduate Student Scholarship (2022).

When she is not conducting research, Gabrielle works as a Teaching Assistant in the History and Women's and Gender Studies departments. She has also served in a variety of leadership positions including serving on the Graduate History Association board for two years (2022-2024), acting as the Student Caucus Leader for WGS South (2024), and serving as the Committee Chair for the Department of Women's and Gender Studies Graduate Student Conference (2024).