Dr CYNTHIA
ART & MATERIAL
Erin Chin
CULTURE HISTORIAN
about //
Cynthia E. Chin, PhD (Cynthia McGinnis Riddle Chin) is an early American art and material culture historian specializing in dress, textiles, identity, and collecting. She holds a PhD in art history (University of Glasgow), a doctorate in early American material culture (Georgetown University), and an M.A. in poetry (The Johns Hopkins University). She was a 2023-2024 Winterthur Fellow and a 2020-21 Washington Presidential Library Research Fellow. Her writing has been published in literary journals.
Research
Her PhD thesis (University of Glasgow), Collecting Eighteenth-Century Dress, Textiles, and the Creation of Early America: Gender and Curation in Twentieth-Century Colonial Revival Museums traces how gender and the growing professionalization of dress curation impacted the development of early American dress and textile collections in twentieth-century Colonial Revival museums, and how dress and textiles were used by Colonial Williamsburg, Winterthur Museum, and Historic Deerfield to shape specific visions of early America.
In addition to this work, Cynthia continues to research and write on the dress of Martha Washington and the enslaved seamstresses who lived and labored at Mount Vernon. In 2024, after eight years of study of the original object, she recreated Martha Washington'z purple silk gown (NHHS) to how it would appear "off the dressmaker's needle." The gown was on view in "New Nation, Many Hands" at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut from 2 July 2024 - 8 November 2024.
Professional Experience
Formerly on staff at George Washington's Mount Vernon/The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, Cynthia also served industry and public sector clients as a strategy & analytics consultant at Deloitte Consulting LLC (Monitor Deloitte), working on AI capabilities as their government and private sector marketing lead. She has worked independently for PwC and continues to consult for corporate clients, non-profits, and public-private partnerships. Her current focus is helping higher education institutions develop and implement clear AI guidelines for student research and how to ethically use AI as an effective scholarly tool.
When she's not researching, writing, or consulting, you can find her designing welcoming historic interiors, traveling with her husband, studying traditional Scottish kiltmaking, and training in Scottish Highland Dance.
Forthcoming Publications
Winterthur Portfolio, "Contemplating Eastern Cherokee Baskets and the Self: Creation, Adaptation, and Representation", late 2026.
Replication of Martha Washington's purple silk gown, 2024, Cynthia E. Chin. Original in the collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society.
historic interior design //
CYNTHIA CHIN
historic interiors
Cynthia specializes in stunning and sensitive interior design for public and private historic homes. From selecting and installing wall coverings, fabricating window draperies and bed hangings, sourcing antiques and textiles, to designing and project managing complete bath and kitchen renovations, Cynthia creates enveloping, immersive period rooms that harmonize modern lifestyles or institutional needs with archival and material research. She has worked with companies such as Adelphi Paper Hangings, the Gainsborough Silk Weaving Company, and deVOL Kitchens to deliver fresh, inspiring, preservation-minded spaces.
publications //
Materializing Race //
Cynthia co-founded Materializing Race with Philippe Halbert, PhD (Montreal Museum of Fine Arts/MMFA), a virtual community committed to fostering nuanced interpretations and meaningful dialogue on historical constructions of race and their legacies. Through a series of virtual “un-conferences," scholarship on the intersections of identity and material culture in #VastEarlyAmerica are discussed and shared. Materializing Race has been generously supported by the Society of Winterthur Fellows and the University of Glasgow. Follow Materializing Race on on Instagram: materializingrace, and on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @material_race.
