US History & Culture, Film history

Jenna Simpson is a fifth-year PhD student interested in modern American history and popular culture. Her current research deals with the evolution of living history/reenactments and US national identity in the 20th century.  She also has a strong interest in film history, and wrote her MA thesis on the creation, reception, and use of the 1957 film Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot. She received her BA in History and English Literature from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2005 and her MA in American Studies at the College of William and Mary in 2007.