John M. Vlach

Professor of American Studies and Anthropology
Director, Folklife Program
E-mail jmv@gwu.edu
Office: 2108 G St., 103-A / (202) 994-7318

Dr. Vlach is a leading expert on American material culture, especially African American and Caribbean decorative arts, folk architecture, and historic preservation.

Research

John Michael Vlach is Professor of American Studies and Anthropology at The George Washington University and director of the University's Folklife Program. For more than 30 years, he has concentrated his scholarship on aspects of the African Diaspora by conducting field research in Africa, the Caribbean, and the southern regions of the United States. His 10 books cover numerous topics in American decorative arts, vernacular architecture, and rural landscape.

As guest curator or consultant to numerous museums, Dr. Vlach has developed exhibitions for art museums, historical societies, and libraries from coast to coast. Most recently, the exhibit "Landscape of Slavery," based on Prof. Vlach's books, opened at the University of Virginia Art Museum. he serves as an advisor to a Capitol Hill community oral history project and is a member of the Historic Preservation Review Board for the District of Columbia.

In 2006-07, Dr. Vlach worked with the outreach staff of the National Humanities Center at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina to develop an online curriculum for the improved teaching of African American history. For more on this curriculum, The Making of the African American Identity, 1500-1865, click here.

Selected Publications

Books

2003	Vlach, J.M. Barns. New York: W.W. Norton. Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks series. (Winner of the 2003 Kniffen Prize for Best Book on North American Material Culture).
2002	Vlach, J.M. The Planter's Prospect: Privilege and Slavery in Plantation Paintings. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
1993	Vlach, J.M. Back of the Big House: The Architecture of Plantation Slavery. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
1990	Vlach, J.M. The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts, revised ed. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

Articles and Book Chapters

2004	Vlach, J.M. "The mysterious Mr. Jenkins of Jenkins Hill: The early history of the Capitol site," The Capitol Done (spring). Washington: U.S. Capitol Historical Society.

Courses Taught

AmSt 145: Folk Arts in America
AmSt 160/Anth 130: Material Culture in America
AmSt 165/Anth 192: Introduction to Folklore
AmSt 256/Anth 296: Folklore Theory
AmSt 257/Anth 297: Seminar: American Folklife

Education

Ph.D. 1975, Indiana University
B.A. 1970, University of California at Davis

For more information, visit the American Studies site