Art and Design Historian. Communicator. Educator.
Molly Rottman discovers the rich histories beaneath the surface of art and design, delving deep into the narratives that shape our understanding of these fields. With a diverse academic and professional background, her insights illuminate the essential connections between education and cultural evolution.
Contact
mollyrottman@gmail.com
About
Dr. Molly Rottman is a writer and design historian whose work explores the intersections of education, aesthetics, and cultural identity. She holds a doctorate in Education from the University of Cambridge, where she completed her dissertation on Frank Alvah Parsons—Designing American Taste: Frank Alvah Parsons, Queer Pedagogy and the Development of Applied Art and Design Education in the 20th Century—making her the world’s leading expert on his life and work. A professionally trained design historian, Molly has spent the past decade researching The Tastemakers, her debut biography about Frank Alvah Parsons, William M. Odom, and Van Day Truex. She is represented by Lauren Hall at Folio Literary Management.
Before entering academia, Molly served as Director of Academic Communications at Parsons School of Design, where she began the research that sparked her current work. Her writing has appeared in Public Seminar and in the edited volume The International Politics of Fashion, where she co-authored the chapter “Fashion Take/s on Politics.” She has lectured and taught at the University of Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin University, and Parsons School of Design. She was formerly a project archivist with the Cape Cod Modern House Trust and just completed a residency at the Mary Heaton Vorse House in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
A true Cantabrigian, she now resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
