Smithsonian Journeys Experts

Sally O’Driscoll has a doctorate in Comparative Literature from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) and was a professor for thirty years at Fairfield University before retiring. Her research and publications have focused on forms of ephemeral popular literature in Britain from the 18th century onward, and have drawn attention to the complex ways that texts and images complemented one in another in once-common printed works like broadsides and pamphlets. She has published several edited volumes or journal issues on print culture and public space. Sally has taught courses in 18th-century and modernist British literature along with contemporary World Literature, with an emphasis on setting the stories in their cultural contexts. In addition, she works as an editor with the authors of popular and scholarly books, articles, and catalogues, helping to bring inspired first drafts to the publication stage, in fields ranging from American art history to nonfiction books on current issues.

In addition to Great Britain, Sally’s research has taken her to Continental Europe, where she travels frequently, including to hike the Camino de Santiago. She has also lectured on ephemeral print and gender studies internationally, most recently in China, and in Turkey where she was a keynote speaker at Koç University, Ankara. Sally has received many research grants, has been a fellow at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, and has taught at the CUNY Graduate Center.