CONTRIBUTORS' BIOGRAPHIES

Kristen L. Anderson was recently named collections curator of Lakewood's Heritage Center, in Lakewood, Colorado. She enjoys interpreting the community's past through family histories. Previously, while working at Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum, in Rockford, Illinois, she formatted "Kids Telling Kids About Tinker," a kid-inspired, elementary-school-aged educational program that uses the Tinker family to teach Rockford's social history. She holds a master's degree in Historical Administration from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

Don Cavallini is a history/social science teacher at Lexington High School. He earned a B.A. in English and history at Illinois Wesleyan University and M.A. and D.A. degrees in history at Illinois State University. He also is a part-time reporter for the Bloomington Pantagraph and serves as a member of the board of trustees of Heartland Community College.

Paul Clifford Larson is an independent historian based in St. Paul, Minnesota. As executive director of the Gardner Museum of Architecture and Design in Quincy for four years, he instructed and guided numerous volunteers in extensive architectural surveys, two of which led to National Register district nominations. His continuing interest in local and regional history is reflected in his most recent books, Historical Quincy Architecture and Minnesota Architect: The Life and Work of Clarence H. Johnston.

Laura Crane Lewis holds a bachelor's degree in history from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. Her interest in the use of cultural artifacts to teach history led to a master's degree in museum education from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Having completed At Home in the Heartland Online, an online exhibit for the Illinois State Museum, she is currently writing a guide book for teachers about using the online exhibit in the classroom. She and her husband have founded Arachnerd.Com, a Web development business dedicated to creating fun, object-oriented, educational websites for children and adults.

Malcolm Moore has taught elementary and middle school students in the Decatur public school system for twenty-two years. A graduate of Millikin University with a B.A. in history, he earned a master's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has previously, published lesson plans on law and the Constitution through CRADLE (Center for Research and Development in Law-Related Eduation) at Wake Forest University School of Law. The Illinois state organization of the D.A.R. honored him in 1996 as its Outstanding Teacher of American History.

Michelle Oberly, formerly of Arlington Heights, Illinois, worked for many years in the education and museum fields. For nine years, she was a senior faculty at Ray College of Design (now the Illinois Institute of Art) Chicago and Schaumburg campuses, teaching fashion history and textiles. She also worked as consulting executive director for the Mt. Prospect Historical Society for six years. While living in Illinois, she lectured and organized workshops on the preservation of historic clothing and textiles for a number of historical organizations. In 1989-90, she served as guest curator of costumes for the Aurora Historical Society. Oberly currently lives in Yardley, Pennsylvania, where she works as a consultant.

Rod Sellers teaches American history, Chicago history, and law at Washington High School in Chicago. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Illinois and master's degrees in Urban Studies and Public Service from Governors State University. He has a special interest in local history and coordinates a muscology program for high school students that meets in the Southeast Chicago Historical Museum, which holds thousands of photographs related to family and community history.

Mary W. Turner, guest editor of this issue of Illinois History Teacher, has an abiding interest in history and material culture. For five years she has been Coordinator of the Illinois Association of Museums (IAM), a network of Illinois historical societies and museums. Before joining IAM she directed Birks Museum, a museum of decorative arts at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. She began her career as a high school teacher of world studies, government, and art history in St. Louis County, St. Louis, Missouri.

Larry A. Viskochil recently retired from the Chicago Historical Society where he served as chief research librarian from 1967 to 1977 and curator of prints and photographs from 1977 to 1995. He taught American and world history in Michigan schools before joining the historical society staff. He holds master's degrees in history and library science and bachelor's degrees in social science and photography. He is now an art appraiser and consultant to photographic archives in Chicago.

Janice Tauer Wass is curator of decorative arts at the Illinois State Museum. She came to Illinois in 1986 from Rochester, New York, where she worked as the curator of history at the Rochester Museum & Science Center. She has a master's degree in American history with an emphasis in social history and material culture studies. In the past twenty-three years she has organized many museum exhibits, including At Home in the Heartland.