Dr Emily Williams

Emily's first exposure to archaeological conservation was an undergraduate field school lecture in Carthage, Tunisia, which focused on how the conservation of lead curse tablets from the circus we were excavating had not only improved the legibility of the tablets but also led to new avenues of research into the social undercurrents in the Roman Empire and the horse-racing world. The marriage of practical methods, knowledge production and people-centered approaches to the study of material culture appealed to her and she was instantly hooked. Emily completed a Masters in the Conservation of Historic Objects at Durham University and had internships at the British Museum, Museum of London, Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Bodrum, and the Chrysler Museum of Art before being hired by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (CWF) as their archaeological conservator. During her tenure at CWF, she had opportunities to take short sabbaticals and work at the Western Australian Maritime Museum, the Bermuda National Trust, as well as the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and to work on sites in Syria, Belgium and Iraqi Kurdistan. Emily also taught Introduction to Conservation at the University of Mary Washington (2010-2017) and Approaches to Art Conservation at William and Mary (Spring 2018). In 2018, she completed her PhD through the University of Leicester. It focused on African American tombstones, US Civil War Monuments and the ways that identity, memory and preservation all impact historical narratives.

Affiliated research