Fiona Maxwell

Director

Fiona Maxwell is a historian of the long nineteenth-century United States specializing in urban history and spoken performance. Her first book project, Democratic Ensembles: Spoken Art and Politics at Chicago Settlement Houses, uncovers how working-class, immigrant, and Black community members used verbal expression to rehearse a participatory civic culture. She has published in Gender & History, Lilith: A Feminist History Journal, Collections, and Youth Theatre Journal; presented her work at local and international conferences and in invited talks; contributed to C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists Podcast; and consulted on public history projects at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Center for Women’s History and Leadership, and Newberry Library. She is also a theatre artist with training in storytelling, acting, and improv, and the Piven Theatre Workshop has long served as her artistic home. Maxwell received her PhD in History with distinction from the University of Chicago and her BA in History and Theatre from Northwestern University. She will start a tenure-track appointment as Assistant Professor of History at North Central College in fall 2026.