奥础厂贬滨狈骋罢翱狈听鈥斕�This summer, the internet exploded when the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History announced it was looking to fill a new position: beer historian.
Washingtonian called it the 鈥渂est job ever鈥�; The Huffington Post鈥檚 headline read 鈥渄ream job alert.鈥� But few were as excited to see the posting as Theresa McCulla.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 believe that this kind of position existed,鈥� said McCulla, who is graduating with a doctorate in American studies from Harvard University in May.
(McCulla won鈥檛 be commuting from D.C. to Cambridge in the meantime. She said she already defended her dissertation and just needs to write her bibliography.)
In addition to working as a historian, McCulla has a passion for food and its connection to culture. She has a culinary degree from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts鈥� Professional Chefs Program and was active in the food scene at Harvard where she directed the Food Literacy Project for Harvard University Dining Services and managed two farmers markets.
And of course, she knows a thing or two about beer. As a child, McCulla used to help her father homebrew in their kitchen.
While 鈥渂eer鈥� is in the job title, McCulla says consuming the beverage won鈥檛 be part of her daily tasks 鈥斕齛t least between the 9 to 5 hours. 听
鈥淎s I like to say, beer and archives don鈥檛 mix,鈥� she said.
Instead, she鈥檒l be combing through the archives at the museum to see what it already has related to American brewing. Next, she鈥檒l travel around the country to collect artifacts and oral histories from brewers, hops farmers and others in the industry. Finally, she鈥檒l share her work with the public at the annual and a few other events.
A special focus of McCulla鈥檚 collecting will be on homebrewing, which she traces back to the 1960s.听
鈥淗omebrewing was really where craft brewing began. We would not have what we call craft beer today without homebrewing,” she said.听
Those interested in McCulla鈥檚 work will have to follow her on the museum鈥檚 , since a permanent exhibit is not part of the three-year project.
鈥淔or now, we鈥檙e focused on the collecting angle,鈥� McCulla said.
