Hello! My name is Elizabeth Urbanczyk, and I am thrilled to join the Research and Engagement team here at the Rockefeller Archive Center as Writer. In this position, I’ll be diving into the RAC’s collections to produce content for our online publishing platform RE:source, among other responsibilities. I’m excited to collaborate across departments to develop relevant and valuable content for our public audiences.
I joke that I found a secret side-door into the field of Public History, as someone who longed to work in museums but who only had a BFA in Musical Theater and ten years of experience as an excellent NYC barista. Fortunately, these skills and passions fed right into a job as a tour guide for Museum Hack, an unorthodox tour company that gave fast-paced, irreverent tours of the country’s greatest museums. I spent four years researching The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collections, writing original tour content, and facilitating storytelling/public speaking workshops for museum professionals. This work was both creatively fulfilling and intellectually challenging, and it inspired my decision to go back to school for my MA in Public History from the University at Albany, where I focused on fine-tuning my research skills and expanding my storytelling toolbox to include documentary filmmaking, podcasting, and social media.
Since then, I have developed and presented online lectures about art and culture, hosted team building events, produced and edited two history-based podcasts (one of which I host: Vanity Veritas, where me and my two colleagues uncover the origins of historic beauty standards), and given tours of the New York State Capitol building, downtown Albany, and Empire State Plaza. It has always been my goal to bridge the divide between academia and public audiences, and it is my greatest joy to make content that is engaging, accessible, and emotionally impactful.