Responsible for: Supporting all curatorial activity across the Scottish Modern and Contemporary History Section.

Research Interests: Scottish antiquarianism; Scottish disability histories; museum and collecting histories; Scottish social and cultural history and Scottish performing arts history.

Julie is responsible for supporting all curatorial activity across the Scottish Modern and Contemporary History Section. In 2021, Julie completed an AHRC-funded PhD at National Museums Scotland in collaboration with the University of Glasgow. Her thesis title was ‘Collecting the Nation: Scottish History, Patriotism and Antiquarianism after Scott (1832-91)’. Julie’s research critically examined the interface between the development of the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and wider Scottish historiography in the period 1832 to 1891. It aimed to establish the relationships between collecting, displaying and writing about the Scottish past within the Society and its museum, and consider the ways in which objects contributed to Scotland’s national narratives. Julie has previously worked at Kellie Castle, National Trust for Scotland, and was a tutor/teaching assistant at the University of Glasgow in the History, Economic and Social History, and Information Studies departments.

Current research interests include representing disability histories in museums; Scottish antiquarianism; museum and collecting histories; Scottish social and cultural history and Scottish performing arts history. In particular, Julie is interested in bringing the histories of people in the past (and present) with impairments, bodily differences, or were disabled, neurodivergent, or D/deaf, into the museum’s galleries and online platforms.