Libby O’Connell is a cultural historian and author of The American Plate: A Culinary History in 100 Bites. She is Chief Historian Emeritus at HISTORY and former SVP, Corporate Social Responsibility at A+E Networks. Dr. O’Connell produced over 60 on-site films for the Smithsonian, Statue of Liberty, and Gettysburg, and received four EMMYS. Before joining A+E in 1993, she taught history at Long Island University and worked in historic preservation.
Dr. O’Connell serves on several boards including the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, and the Kitchen Cabinet at the National Museum of American History, where she is an alumna of the museum board of directors. In 2014, President Obama appointed her a Commissioner on the US World War I Centennial Commission, where she chairs the education committee.
Dr. O'Connell received her M.A. and Ph.D. in American history from the University of Virginia after graduating from Tufts University magna cum laude.
Sessions in which Libby Haight O'Connell participates
Friday 3 April, 2020
Go inside some of the nation’s greatest cultural institutions to explore how museums, historians, educators and others are leading the charge—and “flipping the script”—in presenting a more inclusive and diverse narrative of America’s cultural past.Libby O’Connell, chief historian emeritus at HISTORY, moderates this thought-provoking discussion featuring Christy Coleman, the first woman and first African American to lead Richmond’s American C...
Saturday 4 April, 2020
When was the tomato introduced to North America? What was really on the menu at the “First Thanksgiving?” And how did something as simple as the mason jar change the way we eat? In this fast-paced journey through our culinary past, we’ll dish out the backstories behind the American plate.
