Mary Borden lives in the Adirondacks within a 1920s log cabin on over 23 seclude acres – a beautiful place to draw! She teaches a variety of studio art/drawing studies as well as topics in art history, public history, and history.  Courses offered include: (ART) Body Art: The History of Tattooing; Communication for Peace: Graffiti; The Odd Couple of Art History: van Gogh and Gauguin; The Masters of the Renaissance; El surrealismo – Salvador Dali; Netherlandish Art; Studio Art – Drawing; Illustration and the Human Form; and A Sense of Place – Drawing from Nature; (PUBLIC HISTORY) Education and Interpretation in Museums; Museum Education – Curriculum Design; Oral History; and Public History. (HISTORY) History of Infectious Disease; Gender and the Cold War; Tourism, Cars & Geography: Marketing America; The American West; Global History from 1500; and Women in European History: Pre-history to 1500.  She has also taught within the International Program at ESC on several art-related topics. 


Mary continues to curate a variety of museum exhibitions for ESC, which showcase student, alumni, faculty, and individual artists from throughout the community and beyond.  With regard to research/writing, she holds a profound interest in World’s Fairs, presenting her research at state, national, and international conferences as well as to local organizations.  Her dissertation on the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair was highlighted by the New York Public Library as part of their 100th anniversary celebration within their journal Biblion. 

Degrees

  • B.A. in Art History from University at Albany - State University of New York
  • M.A. in History/Public History from University at Albany - State University of New York
  • Ph.D. in American History from University at Albany - State University of New York

Publications

  • 2019 - Mary Ann Borden, “Billy Graham: The Fifth Dimension at the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair,” in World’s Fair in the Cold War: Science, Technology and the Culture of Progress, eds. Scott Gabriel Knowles and Art Molella, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
  • 2017 - Review: World’s Fairs on the Eve of War: Science, Technology, and Modernity, 1937-1942, by Robert H. Kargon, Karen Fiss, Morris Low, and Arthur P. Molella. Journal of American History (Oxford University Press) Vol. 104, Issue 2: 529. https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jax254
  • 2013 - Review: Clanricard’s Castle: Portumna House, Co. Galway, by Jane Fenlon. Journal of Historical Archaeology 47(4):15-17.
  • 2011 - "Rediscovering the Fair at NYPL" Biblion, The Boundless Library, New York Public Library, New York – journal issue celebrating the NYPL’s 100th anniversary: http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/from-the-stacks