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alexander.craghead@gmail.com
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About / Contact

I am a curator, photographer, essayist, and historian who writes about the intersection of technology, representation, and landscape. My work has appeared in several regional and national publications, notably Boom: A Journal of California, California History, Railroad Heritage, and The Smart Set. I am also the author of The Railway Palaces of Portland, Oregon: The Architectural Legacy of Henry Villard (The History Press, 2016). I teach for the Program in American Studies at UC Berkeley, and hold a Ph.D. in architectural history, also from Cal.

Research Interests

I am interested in visual culture, design, and architectures and infrastructures. My specific project areas vary, but some key ideas throughout my work involve architecture as media, the urban imaginary, and cities as cultural landscapes. I often research and write about land use and transportation; the intersection between the arts and the history of the U.S. and Canadian West; and North American cultural geography. I am intrigued by nostalgia, restoration, and preservation as manifested in the built environment, and the tensions between memory, history, and policy.

As a prolific writer, text is my primary medium, however I am also an educator, both in the academy, and as a frequent public speaker. Additionally, I produce, edit, and curate works of public history, both within and without traditional institutional boundaries.

Education

Doctorate of Philosophy in Architecture: History, Theory & Society
University of California, Berkeley

M.S. Architecture
University of California, Berkeley

Bachelors of Science, Communications
Marylhurst University

Certificate in Conflict Resolution and Mediation
Marylhurst University

Curriculum Vitae

PDF | Last updated April 21, 2021.