Staff
Staff
Director
Peter-Christian Aigner is an historian of twentieth-century America (PhD, The Graduate Center, CUNY). His first book explores the life and career of Daniel Patrick Moynihan as a view onto the strains of American liberalism between the New Deal and the present century. The manuscript is contracted with Simon & Schuster, and will be the first scholarly biography to date of the national political / intellectual figure and New York City icon. He’s begun research on a second book, interrogating the structural dimensions of American exceptionalism and re-conceptualizing local and national history from a modern global perspective.
Dr. Aigner has published essays in The Nation, The Atlantic and The New Republic, presented original research on a variety of topics before numerous professional academic associations, worked for several years as the Journal of the History of Ideas's assistant editor, and hosted a podcast on urban history for the New Books Network. Prior to being named The Gotham Center's acting director (2016-2019), he served as the organization's administrator, during which time he spearheaded the redesign of its website and the creation of several new features, including the noted semiweekly digital publication Gotham.
As head of the Gotham Center, he leads all programming. At his initiative, the organization has introduced a variety of new programs, including the establishment of its first research grant and writing fellowship programs, the award-winning Sites & Sounds and other podcast series, its online adult education program GothamEd, and NYC Revolutionary Trail, a multimedia walking tour and educational resource that will soon be an interactive, immersive app.
Programming Assistants
Rachel Pitkin is a PhD student in US History at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Her current research interests include public and social history, the development of social welfare, and women, gender and sexuality in the twentieth century United States. Rachel holds MA degrees in History and in Museum Studies, and has a background in education, teaching History and Social Studies. She is originally from Buffalo, New York, and her spare time is spent road-tripping throughout New York State.
Andrew J. Lang is a PhD Candidate in US History at The Graduate Center, CUNY. His dissertation studies the antislavery movement, organized opposition to racial discrimination, and popular political conflict in the US between the American Revolution and the Civil War. His research especially focuses on the way the politics of slavery shaped and was shaped by electoral and legislative struggles over ideas of equal rights, political equality, equal citizenship, and practices of African American political participation. He is a graduate of Marian University in Wisconsin and has taught history courses at Queens College.
K-12 Education Director
Julie Maurer is an art, history, and museum educator who specializes in architecture and design education. For thirty years, she has been designing programs, publications and exhibitions for cultural institutions and community groups in New York City and the tri-state area. Her work combines disciplines to create innovative programs for all ages. Some highlights include developing Henry Street Settlement’s "Architecture & Design and Community Studies Project,” which received the 2000 President’s Art and Humanities Award for Youth, and "City of Neighborhoods: Bridging School and Community," a nationwide program awarded an independent grant from the Architecture, Planning and Design Program of the New York State Council on the Arts in 1998. She is the author of My Preservation Journal, an architecture, design and preservation book for children, and co-writer of the Historic District Council’s "Community As Classroom," as well as other K-12 curricula with museums and arts organizations. Before coming to the Gotham Center, Maurer served as Director of Education at the South Street Seaport Museum and the Central Park Conservancy.