Education
Ph.D. History and Women’s Studies (joint program), University of Michigan, 2020
M.A. Cultural Heritage Studies, University College London, 2011
B.A. History, Macalester College, 2009
Professional Appointments
Assistant Professor, joint appointment in History and Women’s and Gender Studies, The University of the South (familiarly known as Sewanee), 2020-present
Publications
Books
Brookfield, Molly. Watching the Girls Go By: A History of Street Harassment in the United States. Under contract with University of North Carolina Press, expected publication fall 2026.
Refereed Journal Articles
Brookfield, Molly. “The Girl Watcher: Celebrating a Man’s Right to Look in the Post-War USA.” Gender & History 37, no. 1 (2025): 315–32.
—. “From American Girls into American Women: A Discussion of American Girl Doll Nostalgia.” Girlhood Studies 5, no. 1 (Summer 2012): 57-75.
Book Chapters
Brookfield, Molly. “From American Girls into American Women: A Discussion of American Girl Doll Nostalgia.” In Deconstructing Dolls: Girlhoods and the Meanings of Play, edited by Miriam Forman-Brunell, 55-73. New York: Berghahn Books, 2021.
Book Reviews
Brookfield, Molly M. “Beyond Urban Reform: Women’s Activism in the City before and after Suffrage” (review essay). Journal of Urban History 48, no. 6 (November 2022): 1431–38.
—. Review of The Wages of History: Emotional Labor on Public History’s Front Lines by Amy M. Tyson. Public Archaeology 14, no. 1 (February 2015): 75-77.
Fellowships and Awards
External
| 2022-24 | Summer Writing Stipend, Associated Colleges of the South |
| 2023 | Alternate for Postdoctoral Fellowship, American Association of University Women |
| 2020 | Samuel and Marion Merrill Travel Grant, Organization of American Historians (awarded, not used – conference canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 2018 | Margaret Storrs Grierson Fellowship, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College |
| 2018 | Newberry Library Short-Term Fellowship, Newberry Library in Chicago |
| 2018 | Mary Lily Research Grant, Sallie Bingham Center, Duke University |
Internal
| 2025 | Research Grant for book manuscript, The University of the South |
| 2023-24 | Faculty Research Leave, The University of the South |
| 2021 | Faculty Summer Research Stipend, The University of the South |
| 2020 | ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award, University of Michigan |
| 2020 | Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, University of Michigan |
| 2019-20 | Predoctoral Fellowship, Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan |
| 2019 | Community of Scholars Fellowship, Institute for Research on Women & Gender and Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan |
| 2017-18 | Research/Study/Travel Grant, History Department, University of Michigan |
| 2017-18 | Humanities Dissertation Fellowship, Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan |
| 2016 | Dorothy McGuigan Prize for Best Graduate Essay on Women, University of Michigan |
| 2016 | Pre-Candidate Research Grant, Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan |
| 2015 | Mellon Public Humanities Fellowship, University of Michigan |
| 2014-16 | J. Frederick Hoffman Award, History Department, University of Michigan |
| 2010 | Institute of Archaeology Masters Award, University College London |
Conference Participation
Panels Organized
| 2025 | “Learning to Be a Man: How Culture Shaped Masculine Norms in the First Half of the Twentieth Century,” Organization of American Historians, April 3-6 (co-organized with Dalen Wakeley-Smith) |
| 2023 | “New Scholarship in Histories of Sexual Harassment and Violence,” Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities, June 28-July 2 |
| 2022 | “Making and Policing Masculinity in Public Space,” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, March 31-April 3 |
| 2020 | “Historicizing Sexual Harassment in the Age of #MeToo: Emerging Scholarship and Methodological Questions,” Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities, May 28-31 (canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 2020 | “Women and Public Space in the Urban United States,” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, April 2-5* (Endorsed by Women and Social Movements in the U.S., 1600-2000 journal and digital archive) |
Papers Presented
| 2023 | “‘I hate walking past a group of boys’: Teenage Girls’ Experiences of Street Harassment in the 1970s United States,” Urban History Association, October 26-29 |
| 2023 | Roundtable panelist, “The Future of History at Liberal Arts Colleges, Part 2: Creating an Inclusive Classroom,” American Historical Association, January 5-8 |
| 2021 | “‘Girl-Watching’ as Street Harassment in Mid-Twentieth-Century California,” Western History Association Annual Conference, October 27-30* |
| 2021 | “‘I Was Obliged to Walk All the Way Home’: Sexual Harassment and Women’s Mobility in the Urban United States, 1860-1880,” Urban History Association Conference, October 21-24 (canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 2020 | Roundtable panelist, “Whither the Spinster? Sexuality, Labor, and Race in Defining and Locating Women Alone,” Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History affiliate session, American Historical Association Annual Meeting, January 3-6 |
| 2019 | “The Stranger in the Street: Street Harassment in Feminist Anti-Rape Activism, 1968-1980,” National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference, November 14-17 |
| 2019 | “Watching the Girls Go By,” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, April 4-6 |
| 2017 | “Goo-Goo Eyes Not Permitted: Discourses of Street Harassment and Unwanted Looking in 20th-Century United States,” Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities, June 1-4 |
| 2017 | “Street Harassment as Surveillance: From Mashers to YouTube,” University of Michigan Graduate Student Conference in United States History, May 5-6 |
| 2016 | “Furtive Leers: Girl Watching as Pastime, Sport, and Site of Gendered Power in Cold War America,” Midwest Popular Culture and American Culture Association Conference, October 6-9 |
| 2016 | “Bold Glances: Etiquette and Harassment in the Twentieth-Century American Street,” University of Illinois Women’s and Gender History Symposium, March 11-12 |
| 2015 | “Ogling the Girls: Street Harassment and Unwanted Looking in Detroit, 1910-1946,” Upstate New York Women’s History Organization Conference, September 19 |
Campus Talks
| 2022 | “The Girl Watcher,” Faculty Flash Presentation Showcase, The University of the South, November 9 |
| 2021 | “From the Streets to the Sheets” event on the history of rape culture, Bairnwick Women’s Center, The University of the South, April 9 |
| 2019 | “Wolves, Sailors, and the Normalization of Street Harassment, 1930-1950,” Community of Scholars Symposium, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, October 25 |
Teaching
The University of the South
History
Before #MeToo: Sex, Power, and Work in the Modern U.S.
History of U.S. Popular Culture
Sex and the City
U.S. History II, since 1865
Women in U.S. History, 1870 to the Present
Women’s and Gender Studies
Classic and Contemporary Feminist Thought
Feminist Theory, Method, Praxis
Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
Independent study in Latina/e/x Feminisms and Media
Awards
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, University of Michigan, 2020
Teaching Interests
United States post-1865
U.S. Women’s and Gender History
Cultural History
Urban History
Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Selected Service
- Member, Volunteer Officers for Integrity, Compliance, and Equity (VOICE), Department of Equity, Equal Opportunity, & Title IX, The University of the South, 2024-present
- Website Coordinator, Coordinating Council for Women in History, 2024-present
- Member, Committee on Committees, The University of the South, 2022-present
- Co-organizer, Anita S. Goodstein Lectureship in Women’s History, History Department, The University of the South, 2021-present
- Reviewer, ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 2024
- Reviewer, American Historical Review, 2023
- Member, Coordinated Community Response Team for Campus Sexual Assault Prevention, The University of the South, 2021-23
- President, Phi Beta Kappa, Beta of Tennessee chapter, The University of the South, 2022-23
- Reviewer, Museums and Social Issues, 2022
- Member, VAP faculty search committee, History department, The University of the South, 2021
- Bargaining Team Coordinator, Graduate Employees’ Organization, AFT-MI Local 3550, 2019-2020
- Vice President, Graduate Employees’ Organization, AFT-MI Local 3550, 2017-2019
- Reviewer, Public Archaeology, 201
- Member, faculty search committee, Departments of History and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan, 2018-19
- Member, graduate admissions committee, Department of Women’s Studies, University of Michigan, 2017-18
- Co-Coordinator, Historical Approaches to Gender and Sexuality, Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop, University of Michigan, 2015-16
Professional Affiliations
American Historical Association
Berkshire Conference of Women Historians
Coordinating Council for Women in History
Organization of American Historians
Urban History Association
Western Association of Women Historians
Dr. Molly M. Brookfield 