Anne Dobberteen
Anne Dobberteen
Graduate Research Assistant
Visual & Material Culture; Military History; Women’s History; History of Washington, D.C.; WWII Home Front
Anne earned her PhD in history at George Mason University in August 2025. Her dissertation establishes an aerial visual culture defense in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding region, during the World War II years.
As a public historian, Anne has curated exhibitions, conducted oral histories, managed collections, and done other public history and museum work at various organizations in Washington, D.C. She served as assistant curator of the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection at the George Washington University Museum from 2014-2018. Click here for specific work experience.
Selected Publications
Book Review, Dobberteen on Susan Grayzel, 'The Age of the Gas Mask: How British Civilians Faced the Terror of Total War,' H-War (September 2025), https://networks.h-net.org/group/reviews/20124003/dobberteen-grayzel-age-gas-mask-how-british-civilians-faced-terror-total-war.
Grants and Fellowships
Margaret S. Vining and Barton C. Hacker Fellowship in Women's Military History at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, 2025-2026.
Arts and Humanities Fellowship Grant, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, FY25.
Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Predoctoral Fellowship at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, 2023-2024.
Cosmos Scholar, and Gerson Nordlinger Meritorious Award in the Arts recipient, Cosmos Club Foundation, 2023.
Doctoral Research Scholars Award, Office of the Provost, 2022-2023; 2024-2025.
Summer Research Fellowship, Office of the Provost, 2022.
Kurt Andrew Dodd Scholarship, 2021.
Education
The George Washington University, BA, History 2010
The George Washington University, MA, American Studies 2012
George Mason University, PhD, History, 2025
Recent Presentations
Radford University. History 160: History & Boardgames, Dr. Tony Guidone’s class. “Spot-A-Plane Game: Women, Airplane Recognition and Spotting as Civic Duty in WWII.” Invited guest lecturer, virtual. April 14, 2025.
Radford University Center for Archives and Digital History Speaker Series. “The Eyes and Ears of the Air Forces: Using Text Analysis to Understand WWII Home Front Radio Propaganda on the East Coast.” Invited speaker, virtual. April 14, 2025.
DC History Conference. “A City Takes Cover: DC’s WWII Air Raid Drills.” Panelist in “Images of the City” panel, in person. April 4, 2025.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History Colloquium. “Gamifying the Visual Culture of Plane Spotting on the US WWII Home Front." Invited Speaker. September 10, 2024.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History Colloquium. “Gamifying the Visual Culture of Plane Spotting on the US WWII Home Front." Invited Speaker. September 10, 2024.
Popular Culture Association National Conference. "The Gamification of WWII Plane Spotting on the US Home Front." Panelist. March 30, 2024.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Seminar on Contemporary Science, Technology, and Culture. "Army Flash! WWII Women Plane Plotters & Aerial Visual Culture." Invited speaker. March 21, 2024.
American Historical Association Annual Meeting. "Army Flash!: WWII Female Civil Defense Workers in the Aircraft Warning Service." Poster session. January 2024.
DC Mondays at the Museum, George Washington University Museum | The Textile Museum. "Women Plane Plotters During WWII." Virtual Program. October 9, 2023.
University of Delaware History Workshop. "Visual Culture and WWII Women Plane Plotters." Invited speaker. October 17, 2023.
DC History Conference, “’Army Flash’: Female Civil Defense Workers at the Antiaircraft Artillery Command Center.” Panelist in “Evoking Memory” panel. March 2023.
Conference on Community Writing, "Mason Family Manuscript Account Book: A Digital Documentary Editing Project." Virtual panel. October 2021.
Oral History Coffee Chat: Heurich House Museum - Home/Brewed Oral History Project. October 18, 2021.
Chesapeake Digital Humanities Conference, "Challenges and Ethical Concerns of Contemporary Collecting for a Digital Public Archive." Virtual panel. February 2021.