Alumni Voices

I am the collections and projects coordinator at the Florida Historic Capitol Museum. We just staged the exhibit Rightfully Hers, which featured the National Archives pop-up exhibit panels on American woman suffrage alongside contemporary artifacts on loan from Mr. Ronald L. Book and Senator Lauren L. Book.

In Fall 2018, I graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Women’s Studies. Doing a double major allowed me to focus on women’s history specifically and approach history from an intersectional perspective. This has greatly influenced the way I conduct research and work in the museum field.

I graduated with an MA in Public History this spring, and less than a month later found a job with direct ties to the internship I did with the Cultural Resources Office at the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) the summer before.

Upon graduation from the Historic Administration and Public History program at FSU (2018), I began working at the State Archives of Florida. I worked for a little over a year as an archivist in collections management before moving to the Museum of Florida History (MFH) team.

In mid-June I began a career as part of the Bureau of Health Care Practitioner Regulation in the State of Florida’s Department of Health, Division of Medical Quality Assurance.

My name is Lauren Thompson and I am an Assistant Professor of History at McKendree University, a small liberal arts college located 20 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri.