The Public Square: Sarah Leavitt

You’re invited to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library for an exploration of the history of Jewish Washington, DC. Join us as we uncover the narratives and legacies that have profoundly influenced the identity of the capital city.

Presenter

Sarah Leavitt, PhD, Curator of the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library proudly presents this opportunity to learn more about Jewish history in the DC region, featuring curator Sarah Leavitt, who has spent the last several years writing this history for the new museum. Together, we will trace the varied stories of Jewish Washingtonians as grocers, government workers, agitators, developers, community builders, and more.

Following the lecture, an interactive conversation led by Arno Rosenfeld, Enterprise Reporter at The Forward will take place. He’ll deep dive into the discussed topics and facilitate audience participation through Q&A sessions.

About Sarah Leavitt

Sarah Leavitt is the Curator at the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum. She holds an MA in Museum Studies and a PhD in American Studies from Brown University and has worked in museums for over 30 years. Since moving to the DC area in 2000, she has worked at the museum of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and for 13 years at the National Building Museum in DC. Her previous exhibitions have covered a wide range of subjects from women’s sports, to the history of the parking garage, to the border wall between the US and Mexico. She curated the inaugural permanent exhibitions at the Capital Jewish Museum. Sarah’s publications include several books and articles that explore themes such as the history of the home pregnancy test, America’s first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill, the history of domestic advice manuals, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the television program Veronica Mars. Sarah has a goal of visiting every museum in the DMV, a project she works on just about every weekend.