U.S. History: Musical Instrument History (organology), Ethnomusicology, Public History
Jayme Kurland is a Ph.D. student in History at George Mason University. Her research interests include U.S. History with concentrations in digital public history and American music. Her dissertation project will explore the essential roles women have played in the histories of musical instrument manufacturing. Prior to embarking on her Ph.D., Jayme was an adjunct professor of ethnomusicology at GMU.
Jayme has spent the last decade working as a music historian in museums and libraries. From 2018-2019, she was the inaugural Robbin Collection Music Cataloger at Georgetown University Libraries, working with a collection of over 900 music manuscripts and letters. From 2013 to 2017, Jayme was the Curatorial Research Fellow in Musical Instruments at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. From 2009 to 2011, Jayme worked at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ as a curatorial assistant.
Jayme is currently a Graduate Research Assistant at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, working on the digital history project Hearing the Americas, which aims to contextualize the transnational roots of early recorded music in the Americas.
Jayme is an elected board member of the American Musical Instrument Society (AMIS), where she serves as the editor of the ethnomusicology section of their blog, Of Note. As a member of the Society for Ethnomusicology, she founded and co-chairs the Organology Special Interest Group, and serves as the official AMIS liaison to SEM.
"Streamlined and Sonic: Harmonicas and Accordions Designed by John Vassos," Archives of American Art Blog, Smithsonian, April 30, 2019.
MUSI 103: Musics of the World
Master of Arts in Music History and Literature, Arizona State University, 2015
Bachelor of Arts in Music History and Literature, University of Oregon, 2009