About the Speakers
Pamela Dorazio Dean
John Grabowski, Ph.D.
Chad Malkamaki
Sean Martin, Ph.D.
Derek E. Moore
Ann K. Sindelar
John Vacha
Pamela Dorazio-Dean
Associate Curator, Italian American History
Pamela Dorazio-Dean has been the Associate Curator for Italian American History at WRHS since 2006. Since her start at WRHS, Pamela has grown the Italian American History Collection to include over 230 linear feet of manuscripts and photographs and over 80 artifacts. She has had a number of articles published in the Northeast Ohio Italian newspaper, La Gazzetta Italiana, and has been instrumental in successfully raising funds to support the Italian American History Collection. Pamela holds a B.A. in History and Philosophy and an M.A. in History with a concentration in Public History, both from Kent State University. She studied Italian as an undergraduate and maintains a reading proficiency in the language. Pamela’s graduate studies included a focus on material culture. Her thesis is titled “A space for everyone and everything: the evolution of the American residential recreation room, 1920s-1960s.” She served as the Material Culture Research Graduate Intern on the exhibit “Designing Domesticity: Decorating the American Home Since 1876” which appeared at the Kent State University Museum in 2002. In addition to her studies at Kent State, Pamela has studied early American decorative arts at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. Prior to her employment with WRHS, Pamela worked for over 10 years at the American School Health Association as the Administrative Assistant to the Executive Director and Board of Directors.
John J. Grabowski, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President for Research and Publications
Krieger-Mueller Historian
Krieger-Mueller Associate Professor of Applied History, CWRU
John J. Grabowski, serves as the editor for the on-line edition of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. He began at WRHS in 1969 as a page in the library & moved to fulltime status in 1971. His positions at WRHS have included Ethnic Archives Specialist, Picture Specialist, Associate Curator of Manuscripts, Curator of Manuscripts, Acting Director of the History Museum, Director of Research, and Interim Library Director. He holds bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees from Case Western Reserve University. In addition to his work at WRHS and CWRU, he has also taught courses at Kent State, Cuyahoga Community College and Cleveland State University. He twice served as a Fulbright Senior Lecturer at Bilkent University at Ankara, Turkey. He maintains a close connection to Bilkent and is currently writing a history of that institution and its place in the development of higher education in Turkey. John is the author, editor, or co-editor of a number of works relating to regional and/or immigration/ethnic history.
Chad Malkamaki
WRHS Public Programs and Education Department
Chad Malkamaki has been at WRHS since November 2001 in several capacities. He was Museum Educator 2001-2004, Shandy Hall Interpreter 2001-2008, HFV Underground Railroad Interpreter 2003 and 2004, Timeslider/Educator 2004-2007, and is currently the Education Technology Manager. He attended Bowling Green 1997-2001 concentrating first in Pre-Physical Therapy 1997-1998 and then Secondary Education with minors in History and Political Science 1998-2001.
Sean Martin, Ph.D.
Associate Curator, Jewish American Archives
Sean Martin joined the WRHS in 2005. As Associate Curator for Jewish History at the WRHS, he oversees the Cleveland Jewish Archives, collecting and preserving material related to the Jewish history of Northeast Ohio. He also serves as part of the curatorial staff for the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, Ohio. Dr. Martin is originally from Weirton, West Virginia. He holds an MA degree in history, an MA degree in Yiddish language and literature, and a PhD, focusing on East European Jewish history, from The Ohio State University. Sean has received grants from the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (Fulbright Scholar Program), the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association, and the YIVO Institute of Jewish Research. His work on Jewish Cracow was published as Jewish Life in Cracow, 1918-1939 (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2004). He has written about Cleveland Jewish history for The Jewish Daily Forward and about Polish Jewish history for several academic journals. He reads, speaks, and translates Polish and Yiddish. Dr. Martin lives in the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland, where he is actively involved with the Mill Creek Falls Neighborhood History Center. He also serves on the Editorial Board of the Forum, the newsletter of Cleveland’s Polish-American Cultural Center, and as President of the Greater Cleveland Chapter of the Association of Jewish Libraries.
Derek E. Moore
Frederick C. and Kathleen S. Crawford Curator of Transportation History
Derek E. Moore has a B.S. in History from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan and is currently working on his M.S. in Technology Studies at Eastern Michigan University as well; he has also studied Museum Studies at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan and Automotive Restoration at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Prior to joining the staff at WRHS, Derek was a Conservation Specialist for Transportation Collections at The Henry Ford (Henry Ford Museum) in Dearborn, Michigan. He is a sitting member of the Board of Trustees for the National Automotive Heritage Collection at the Detroit Public Library in Detroit, Michigan and a member of the Advisory Council for the Automotive Restoration program at Ohio Technical College in Cleveland.
Ann K. Sindelar
Reference Supervisor
Ann was appointed Library Reference Supervisor in 1987. Between 2000 and 2002 Ann took on several special projects for WRHS. She served as Acting Site Manager for the James A. Garfield National Historic Site (Lawnfield) in Mentor and next for Shandy Hall in Harpersfield, Ohio. In the spring of 2002, Ann rejoined the WRHS Library as Reference Supervisor to coordinate the arrival and access to the 1930 U.S. Federal Population Schedules. With over 20 years experience with the WRHS, Ann’s primary responsibility along with her staff is to link researchers with the rich WRHS Library collections. Ann coordinates daily activities in the Reference Division and Library Reading Room. This includes working with incoming library visitors on a wide range of research topics, answering telephone and email inquires, implementing photographic image duplication and permissions research and requests. Ann works closely with the WRHS Education Staff providing specialized programming for Hawken School, Montessori School, Cleveland Public School and WRHS “Roots” and Elder programs. Ann also works with the WRHS collections staff assisting with access to WRHS Library materials for use in exhibitions. Ann gives class talks and lecturers on family history/genealogy topics and WRHS Library special collections. Ann also serves on several; committees including the WRHS Genealogical Committee, and has been a member of the East Blvd Design Team, Strategic Planning Committee and several Library fundraising committees.
John Vacha
District 3 History Day Coordinator, Volunteer
John Vacha has been serving as the Coordinator of District 3 History Day since the office was moved from CWRU in 2007. His assignment includes disseminating information about the yearly event to area teachers and schools. In addition he makes all the arrangements for each event and supervises the big day every Spring. He is a retired Cleveland Public School teacher, formerly instructing journalism and history classes. He also is a writer, working on pieces relating to Cleveland and Ohio history. His most recent accomplishment is “Meet Me at Lake Erie, Dearie, “ a book about the Great Lakes Exposition.