RESEARCH INTERESTS

Nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. history; Chicago and the Midwest; spoken performance; urban culture and reform; children and education; gender; immigration; history of the book.

DISSERTATION

Democratic Ensembles: Spoken Art and Politics at Chicago Settlement Houses, 1890-1920

BIOGRAPHY

Fiona Maxwell studies nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. history. Her dissertation explores the ways in which volunteers and participants at Chicago settlement houses used the spoken arts to bridge social boundaries and develop a collaborative approach to democracy. Fiona received her BA in History and Theatre from Northwestern University with a module in Theatre for Young Audiences. She works as an oral communication specialist and career advising and writing intern at UChicagoGRAD, and she has contributed to public history projects at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, the Center for Women’s History and Leadership’s Frances Willard House Museum, the David Rubenstein Forum, and the Newberry Library. She has also taught youth improv and story theatre classes at the Piven Theatre Workshop and performed in storytelling venues across the Chicago area.

PUBLICATIONS

“‘Expression is Power’: Gender, Residual Culture, and Political Aspiration at the Cumnock School of Oratory, 1870-1900.” Gender & History (2024).

“Site of Social Justice Advocacy, or Home of Godly Women? Interpreting Women’s Work at the Frances Willard House Museum.” Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals (2024). Focus Issue: “Women and Museums,” edited by Juilee Decker, guest edited by Holly O’Farrell and Alice Twemlow.

INVITED TALK

“‘Expression is Power’: Chicago Settlement Houses, the Cumnock School of Oratory, and the Progressive Era Prehistory of Creative Drama.” Winifred Ward Symposium, Northwestern University, June 1, 2024.

CONFERENCE PAPERS

“‘Just a Bunch of Merry Maids’: Girls’ Play and Politics at Chicago Settlement Houses, 1890-1920.” Girlhood Studies Collective Symposium, “The Mundanity of Girlhood: Pleasure, Play, and the Everyday,” Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, New Jersey, April 4, 2024.

“‘Upward with Aspiring Aim’: Working Girls’ Clubs, Spoken Art, and Political Aspiration at Chicago Settlement Houses, 1890-1920.” Gender and Joy in Feminist History Symposium, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia, September 28, 2023.

"'Each Member a Reporter': Youth Participants, Club Newspapers, and Collaborative Democracy at Chicago Settlement Houses, 1890-1920." Society for the History of Childhood and Youth Conference, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, June 8-10, 2023.

"'Expression is Power': Gender, Speaking, and Parlor Democracy at the Cumnock School of Oratory, 1871-1901." British Association for American Studies Conference, Keele University, Keele, England, April 13, 2023.

"Site of Feminist Activism, or Home of 'Godly Women'? Opposing Interpretive Visions for the Frances Willard House Museum." Women and Museum Collections Conference, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands, March 18, 2022.

"From Chicago Settlement Houses to the Zoom Room: Process-Oriented Youth Drama, Social Democracy, and Building Ensemble in Times of Crisis." Performing Childhoods Conference, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, November 25, 2021.

"Bringing Literature to Life: Literary Performance in Post-Civil War Evanston." Conference on Illinois History, Springfield, IL, October 8, 2021.

"Training for Social Democracy: Elocutionary Education, Parlor Culture, and the Beginning of the Chicago Settlement House Movement, 1870-1900." Organization of Educational Historians Conference, October 2, 2021.

MEDIA APPEARANCE

“Chicago’s last Phyllis Wheatley House in Washington Park in danger of demolition.” Invited television interview for ABC7 Chicago, February 3, 2021. 

PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP

Research Consultant, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Radical Craft: Arts Education at Hull-House, 1889-1935. Exhibition catalogue essay: "“The Old and the New: Immigrant Women and Intergenerational Connection at the Hull-House Labor Museum."

Designed and led "Improv and Democracy" workshop and women's suffrage bus tour for the Chicago Center on Democracy.

SELECTED BLOG POSTS

“Opening the Door to Knowledge: Frances Willard’s College Days.” Frances Willard House Museum and Archives Blog. November 3, 2022.

“Knowledge is Power: Frances Willard’s Early Education.” Frances Willard House Museum and Archives Blog. August 21, 2022.

“‘Look Up and Off, and On and Out’: Frances Willard and Women’s Oratory.” Frances Willard House Museum and Archives Blog. August 31, 2021.

“The Activism and Artistry of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.” Frances Willard House Museum and Archives Blog. July 24, 2020.

STORYTELLING PERFORMANCES

“Childhood, Friendship, and Memory.” Storytelling performance at DePaul University, January 22, 2023.

“Chicago Storytelling in Bughouse Square.” Storytelling performance at Newberry Library, July 30, 2022.

“A Pleasant Sunday Afternoon: Recreating a Nineteenth-Century Literary and Musical Entertainment.” Storytelling performance at Frances Willard House Museum, July 25, 2021.

COURSE DESIGN AND CO-TEACHING

Performing Democracy (Autumn 2022). New undergraduate History and Theatre and Performance Studies course co-designed and co-taught with Professor Jane Dailey.

AWARDS

The Anna Award, Recognizing Extraordinary Service and Dedication to the Center for Women’s History and Leadership

Debra Mesch Doctoral Fellowship for Research on Women's Philanthropy