About
Alexander Clayton is a PhD candidate in History. His research and writing explores the fields of animal studies, science and technology studies, performance studies, and environmental history.
His doctoral dissertation, "The Living Animal: Animating Nature in the Colonial Menagerie, 1750-1890" examines the trade, display, and influence of animal life in the long-nineteenth century Atlantic World. From paraded curiosities in commercial and circus menageries, to scientific specimens in the garden menageries of zoological societies, this influx of vibrant and observable animal life marked a radical shift in ways of seeing, understanding, and organizing the world. "The Living Animal" explores how such displays altered scientific questioning, colonial power, and racial taxonomies in Britain and North America. In exploring these themes, the project reveals the ways humans understood and manipulated living things as political symbols and scientific objects, as well as the ways in which biting, thinking, and acting animals came to shape human systems of knowledge and culture.
Before arriving at Michigan, Alexander worked as Assistant Curator of Theatre and Performance at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. At Michigan, he has worked on digital humanities projects such as "Michigan in the World" (2020) and has served as History's Public Engagement and Professionalization Coordinator (2022) where he launched the department's Public Engagement Workshop Series. He is also the co-coordinator of the Science and Technology Studies Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop.
Fields of Study
- Science & Technology Studies
- Animal Studies
- Atlantic World
- Postcolonial Studies
- Biopolitics
- Environmental History
Selected Publications
- "Primary Sources through a Digital Lens: Reflections on Remote Teaching with the Clements Collections," The Quarto: The Clements Library Journal, No. 53 (Winter-Spring 2021), pp. 6-7. Available online.
- with Henry Cowles & Gregory Parker, "When Every Box is the Last Box," Collections: A Publication of the Bentley Historical Library (Winter 2021), pp. 26-27. Available online.
Selected Exhibitions
- Graduate Coordinator, Mental Health at Michigan, Michigan in the World (2020). Available Online.
- Assistant, Censored! Stage, Screen, and Society at 50, Victoria & Albert Museum (July 2018-January 2019). Archived Description.
Awards
- Nathan Reingold Prize – History of Science Society, 2022. Awarded for the essay: "Wisdom Grunts: Pigs, Philosophers, and other Demi-Rational Animals in Enlightenment London."
- John Williams Prize for Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor in US History – University of Michigan, 2020.
- Clive Wainwright Memorial Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement – Royal College of Art, 2017.
Fellowships & Grants
- François André Michaux Fellowship, 2022 - American Philosophical Society
- Albert J. Beveridge Research Grant, 2022 - American Historical Association.
- Eccles Centre Visiting Fellowship, 2022 - British Library
- Jay and Deborah Last Fellowship, 2022 – American Antiquarian Society.
- Robert L. McNeil Jr. Fellowship, 2022 - Historical Society of Pennsylvania / Library Company of Philadelphia
- Beinecke Library Research Fellowship, 2022 – Yale University.
- New England Regional Fellowship Consortium Research Fellowship, 2022.
- Winterthur Library Research Fellowship, 2022.
- Rackham Humanities Dissertation Fellowship, 2021-22 – University of Michigan.
- Public Engagement and Professionalization Coordinator, 2021-22 – University of Michigan.
- Rackham International Student Fellowship, 2020 – University of Michigan.
- Digital Instruction Fellowship, 2020 – University of Michigan.
- Graduate Studient Liaison, 2019-2020 - Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies, University of Michigan.
- Rackham Conference Travel Grant, 2019 - University of Michigan.
- Friends of the V&A Scholarship, 2016-2018 – Royal College of Art and Victoria & Albert Museum.
