Areas of Expertise

Architectural preservation and research staff at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation are responsible for the care and scholarly interpretation of buildings in the Historic Area. This work includes preservation and stewardship of historic structures, design of new reconstructions, historic interiors, curation of the architectural collections, and ongoing research on the city's built and cultural environment.

Program Lead: Matthew Webster, executive director, Grainger Department of Architectural Preservation and Research

Bio: Matthew Webster oversees the preservation of 604 structures in Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area, the Foundation’s 18,000-piece architectural fragment collection, architectural research, and historic interiors. Prior to Williamsburg, he served as Director of Preservation at Drayton Hall (1754) in Charleston, South Carolina. He also served as Director of Restoration for George Washington’s Fredericksburg Foundation in Fredericksburg, Virginia where he oversaw the restoration of Kenmore (1770). Webster sits on the board of Falmouth Heritage Renewal in Falmouth, Jamaica, and on the advisory boards of Preservation Virginia, Stratford Hall and Menokin, in Virginia and Drayton Hall in South Carolina. He has consulted on projects throughout the eastern United States as well as internationally and lectures frequently on preservation, architecture, and history topics.

Expertise: architectural preservation, Williamsburg Bray School, First Baptist Church, Powder Magazine, reconstruction, restoration, 18th-century architecture, historic architecture, historic buildings

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Archaeologists continue to explore Williamsburg's 301-acre Historic Area more than 85 years after the first excavations began at the site of the Capitol. This work fuels new research, producing the data to examine 17th- and 18th-century life from fresh perspectives. Once out of the ground, artifacts are taken to the archaeological lab where they are washed, cataloged, analyzed, and interpreted. Colonial Williamsburg's archaeological lab is home to a collection of more than 60 million artifacts—and counting. This collection is a valuable resource for Colonial Williamsburg staff, archaeology students, and outside scholars.

Program Lead: Jack Gary, executive director, Archaeology

Bio: Jack Gary leads all aspects of archaeological research within Colonial Williamsburg’s Department of Archaeology. He oversees a department of 30 professional archaeologists engaged in historical research, field excavation, laboratory analyses, and documentation of Colonial Williamsburg’s archaeological resources. He is an expert in the field of environmental and garden archaeology, community engaged approaches to archaeology, and material culture studies. The Foundation’s archaeological collection of over 60 million artifacts falls under Jack’s responsibility.

Expertise: archaeology, First Baptist Church, Custis Square, community-engaged archaeology, artifacts, Colin G. and Nancy N. Campbell Archaeology Center, Custis Garden, descendant outreach, environmental and garden archaeology, historic landscapes

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Everywhere you look on Colonial Williamsburg’s 301-acre campus, you encounter history. What guests might not realize is that nearly a century of collective scholarship has culminated in their personal encounter with Colonial Williamsburg’s unparalleled interpretation of 18th-century life. Every persona, program, and publication are products of years of inquiry by historians who have been building on the work of predecessors. Yet all these devoted scholars are not working toward some finite end when all the research will be complete. At The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, history is alive and ongoing.

Program Lead: Dr. Peter Inker, director, Historical Research

Bio: Peter Inker leads Colonial Williamsburg’s team of research historians and has worked at the Foundation for 17 years, including as Executive Director of Guest Experience. He holds a PhD from Cardiff University, Wales, and speaks at conferences around the world. He serves as Chair of EXARC open-air museum global network and Executive Board member Rumšiškės Market Town Museum in Lithuania.

Expertise: Public history, museum and heritage studies, World history, museums, American democracy, 18th-century Virginia, Lord Dunmore’s Rebellion, 18th-century Williamsburg history, domestic workers, Virginia Bill of Rights, British government, law, death ways, mental health, religion, African American history, slavery, Indigenous history, Indigenous culture, Brafferton Indian School

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Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios is building the world’s largest virtual museum about early American history. The expansion of Colonial Williamsburg’s online presence will enable millions of people to explore and learn more about early America and the founding of the United States from anywhere in the world.

Program Lead: Mia Nagawiecki, The Royce R. and Kathryn M. Baker vice president of Education Strategy and Civic Engagement

Bio: Mia Nagawiecki directs Colonial Williamsburg’s educational outreach programs, civics initiatives, and digital presence. Previously, she served as the Center for Civic Education’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and Vice President for Education at the New-York Historical Society. Mia conceived and directed the Women & the American Story project, the first-ever comprehensive digital U.S. women’s history curriculum.

Expertise: civic engagement, The John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, education, The Bob and Marion Wilson Teacher Institute, teacher resources, professional development for teachers, student resources, history.org, educational partnerships

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Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Trades and Skills team uses 18th-century tools and techniques to apprentice in and eventually master more than 20 historic trades and skills. These world-renowned experts not only make goods and provide services to support the Foundation’s historic buildings, they also consult and produce for other cultural institutions around the world. You will not find a trades community with so many experts in one place anywhere else.

Program Leads

Karen Clancy, manager, Apparel Trades

Bio: Karen Clancy is Colonial Williamsburg’s master weaver and specializes in textile history. She has worked at Colonial Williamsburg since 1987. Clancy and her team can discuss the fashion trades at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Expertise: textiles, historic dress, leather breeches maker, milliner, mantuamaker, shoemaker, tailor, weaver, wigmaker, 18th-century fashion

C. Lynn Zelesnikar, manager, Metal Trades

Bio: C. Lynn Zelesnikar is Colonial Williamsburg’s master engraver and is knowledgeable in most forms of 18th-century engraving and modern engraving practices. She joined the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 1997. Zelesnikar and her team can discuss the metal trades at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Expertise: blacksmith, engraver, founder, gunsmith, silversmith, tinsmith, metal tools 

Bill Pavlak, manager of Wood and Building Trades

Bio: Bill Pavlak has is Colonial Williamsburg’s master cabinetmaker engaged in the study and building of 18th-century furniture with period-appropriate tools and techniques. His work can be found in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, and private homes. He also writes frequently about woodworking for publications like Fine Woodworking andMortise & Tenon Magazine. Pavlak has worked in the Anthony Hay Shop at Colonial Williamsburg since 2005. He and his team can discuss the wood and building trades at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Expertise: woodworking, cabinetmaker, carpenter, cooper, harpsichord maker, joiner, wheelwright, brickyard, hand tools

Additional areas of expertise: Apothecary, bookbinder, historic foodways, beer brewing, farm-to-table, 18th-century recipes, agriculture, gardening, Colonial Williamsburg Fifes & Drums, military programs, printer, farming, military music, 18th-century medical practices, rare breeds, heritage breeds, Cleveland Bay horses, Leicester Longwool sheep, American Milking Devons, American Cream Draft horses, American Milking Shorthorns, Dominique chickens, Nankin Bantams chickens, English Game Fowl

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Museum theater programming and historic interpretation play key roles in the education and civic engagement work of the Foundation. Through this programming, visitors experience the lives of those in the 18th-century and make connections to our society.

Program Lead: Robert Currie, executive director, Performing Arts and Signature Events

Bio: Robert Currie leads the planning and execution of the Foundation's most prominent events, including Grand Illuminations, July 4, Juneteenth, The Power of Place Capital Campaign Launch, and the VA250 A Common Cause to All. With over 17 years of leadership experience in live performance production, management, and design, Currie began working for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 2016. He serves as Chair of the Williamsburg Public Arts Council, as a board member for the Williamsburg Hospice House, and as an advisory board member for the Williamsburg Institute.

Expertise: Performing arts, museum theater, special and signature events, Kimball Theatre, evening programs, historic interpretation, founding generation and Nation Builders including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Martha Washington, Patrick Henry, Gowan Pamphlet

Explore the expanded and updated Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, featuring more of the collection on view than ever. Discover colorful and whimsical folk art made by amateur artisans in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum to objects that are useful as well as beautiful in the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum.

Program Lead: J. Grahame Long, executive director, Collections; Deputy Chief Curator

Bio: Grahame Long oversees all arts and antiques acquisitions at Colonial Williamsburg, and guides the development, implementation, and research of the Foundation's historic collections of decorative arts and material culture. He has a 28-year career as a curator and museum director. Prior to working at Colonial Williamsburg, Long was the Director of Museums for the Historic Charleston Foundation and the chief curator of the Charleston Museum.

Expertise: Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, decorative arts, folk art, curation, textiles, historic dress, painting, sculpture, drawing, furniture, mechanical arts, metals, numismatics, maps, historic interiors

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Before an artifact or antiquity reaches Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area or our Art Museums, it is analyzed, examined, treated, and documented by a team of conservation professionals, interns, and volunteers. The Conservation team, which includes eight discipline-specific labs, a materials analysis lab and a preventive conservation group, perform their duties in strict accordance with the Code of Ethics of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works. Housed in a 75,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art building on the Bruton Heights campus, conservators work hand in hand with curators to preserve the cultural property in Colonial Williamsburg’s collections.

Program Lead: Patricia Silence, director, Conservation Operations

Bio: Patricia Silence oversees a staff of 45 conservators, scientists, conservation technicians, aides, interns, and fellows conserve, analyze, document and care for the Foundation’s collections. These include hundreds of structures, thousands of fine, decorative, functional and folk art objects, and millions of archaeological finds. Silence has nearly 40 years of experience in the conservation field and has worked at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation since 1999.

Expertise: archaeological materials, material analysis, objects conservation, painting conservation, paper conservation, preventive conservation, textiles conservation, upholstery conservation, wooden artifacts

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The research center of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library advances knowledge of colonial British America, the American Revolution, the early United States, American decorative arts and folk art, and the Restoration and continuing story of Colonial Williamsburg. The library’s staff and collections support ongoing research that informs the creation of engaging and inspiring educational experiences in the Historic Area and at the Art Museums.

Program Lead: Emily Guthrie, Abby and George O’Neill Director of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library

Expertise: special collections, visual resources collection, corporate archives, media collections, photography archive, video archive, Virginia Gazette, York County project, decorative arts, material culture, history of the book

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