Ray Sapirstein Assistant Professor Ph.D. American Studies, University of Texas, Austin M.A. American Studies, University of Texas, Austin B.A. SUNY College at Purchase 060E Social Sciences Department of History University at Albany, SUNY 1400 Washington Avenue Albany, New York 12222 Phone: (518) 442-5371 Fax: (518) 442-5301 rsapirstein@albany.edu

Current Research Interests: I am an interdisciplinary cultural and intellectual historian specializing in history of photography and 19th and 20th century visual culture. I regularly use visual materials (as well as other mass media) as primary historical documents. Other areas of expertise are in African-American cultural history, literature, the built landscape, American regional cultures, and race and ethnicity in American culture. My publications include essays on the illustrations in each volume of the Oxford Mark Twain, an essay in Icons of Design; The Twentieth Century, a history of industrial design, and a Summer 2007 article in African-American Review on Paul Laurence Dunbar'’s photographically- illustrated poetry, “Picturing Dunbar’ Lyrics.” I am currently in the process of turning my dissertation, Out from Behind the Mask; The Illustrated Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Photography at Hampton Institute, into a book manuscript, and researching a forthcoming article, on photographer Walker Evans’ investment in African-American subjects.