Mary Mahoney is a historian, podcaster, writer, and cultural critic. She is most at home in moments when she can think with history about pop culture. Specifically, she loves thinking about the stories we tell about ourselves and the meanings behind our pop culture attachments. There is no better image of the inside of her brain than this tweet.
She is a co-host of the Dolls of our Lives podcast which revisits the American Girls series, book by book. This show, which has been featured in The New York Times , A.V. Club, Book Riot, The Paris Review, Podcast Review (A Los Angeles Review of Books Channel), and other outlets, investigates the historical stories offered by the brand for what they reveal about the eras in which they’re set and the decades that produced them (the 1980s/1990s). Stories can be fraught, empowering, and delusional at the same time. For proof of this, ask any millennial if they identify as a Kirsten, Samantha, or Molly.
In 2023, she released Dolls of Our Lives: Why we Can’t Quit American Girl. Combining history, travelogue, and memoir, Dolls of Our Lives follows Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney on an unforgettable journey to the past as they delve into the origins of this iconic brand. Continuing the conversations that began on their podcast, they set out to answer the lingering questions that keep them up at night. What did American Girl inventor Pleasant Rowland hope to say to children with these dolls? Was girl power something that could be ordered from a catalogue, described by a magazine, or modeled in the plot lines of books? And how – and why – did this brand shape an entire generation? This book has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, The New Yorker, Book Riot, Anne Helen Peterson’s Culture Study, The American Scholar, Library Journal, among other outlets.
Mary holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Connecticut and has a rich academic background that includes a notable dissertation titled “Books as Medicine.” After serving as an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Mary’s work now encompasses several roles including co-directing the Public Humanities Collaborative at Trinity College in addition to her work as a digital scholarship strategist and consultant. Her notable contributions include leading digital scholarship initiatives, authoring significant publications on bibliotherapy and American cultural history, and engaging in public humanities projects. Mary’s diverse skills are evident in her successful project management, digital exhibit design, and development of innovative educational resources. Her expertise and dedication to digital humanities and public history have made significant impacts in both academic and community settings.
When not writing or diving deep into some pop culture rabbit hole, Mary can otherwise be found exploring any house museum, watching all available reality tv shows, and chasing down new cereals and sneakers. She lives in Connecticut with her wife.