Students
Morgan Condrey
Graduate Research Assistant
Morgan has a Bachelor's degree in History and Anthropology with a certificate in Cultural Heritage from Coastal Carolina University and a Master's degree in Public History from MTSU. As an M.A. student, she was a GRA for the Center and worked on the Cemetery School (Rutherford County) exhibit and National Register Nomination, as well as the "Two Families, Two Revolutions" exhibit at the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County and the "Lasting Legacies: Butte's Black History" exhibit in Montana.
Morgan is interested in ethnic conflict studies, community-based preservation projects, public interpretation of genocide through memorials and monuments, and the preservation of family collections and archives.
Elizabeth Webb
Graduate Research Assistant
Elizabeth is in her first year with the Center. She began working on the Teaching with Primary Sources-Southern Region program in the summer of 2025. Elizabeth creates content for the monthly newsletter and the TPS Teachers Network, and assists the program in a variety of other areas.
Elizabeth received her B.A. in History from MTSU in 2025. Her research interests include women's history, craft history, socio-economic history, and history education.
Graduate Research Assistant
Zoë is pursuing her M.A. in Public History while working as a Graduate Research Assistant with the CHP. She started her work in the Teaching with Primary Sources – Southern Region over the summer, after finishing her internship with the Library of Congress and its TPS team.
Zoë graduated with a B.A. in History from Agnes Scott College, where she discovered a passion for researching late 19th-century English, Irish, and American culture and gothic literature, a subject she continues to focus on now that she is at MTSU. For more, check out her LinkedIn profile.
Outside of academics, Zoë enjoys creative writing, video games, and all things gothic horror.
Nicole Zamora-Wilson
Graduate Research Assistant
With a B.S. in Anthropology and Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Utah and an M.A. in Public History Museum Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Nicole has joined the Public History Ph.D. Program at MTSU. She will be working with the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area.
Nicole's research interests are in the Cold War, labor history, and the interpretation of difficult history.
Joshua Brown
Graduate Research Assistant
Joshua is a graduate of Anderson University, where he majored in History and Spanish. He is currently assisting with a historical assessment of the Morton Funeral Home in Columbia, Tennessee. Joshua's research interests are in African American history, slavery, and Caribbean history.
Joshua's LinkedIn profile can be found
here.
Nicole "Nicki" Messer
Graduate Research Assistant
Nicki has a B.A. from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga , where she majored in Political Science with a concentration in American Politics. She will be working on historic preservation projects at the Center.
Nicki's research interests are in political history and women's history. She will likely do her thesis on Lyncoya. Visit Nicki's LinkedIn profile.
Aisha Karamustafic
Graduate Research Assistant
Aisha is a graduate of MTSU, where she majored in History. Now in her second year at the Center, she has worked on an African American history tour for the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County and a walking tour of Red Boiling Springs. She has also contributed to the Lytle Cemetery Preservation Plan and the William Clark House Historic Structure Report. She participated in a HistoriCorps restoration project at the Homeplace Barn 1850. She is working on the Civil War exhibit update at the Heritage Center. Aisha's research interests are in local history, women on the home front during World War II, and the Bosnian War. You can learn more about her here:
https://ak8a11.wixsite.com/aisha-kara.
Blaine Howard
Graduate Research Assistant
Blaine graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2024 with a major in Law, History, and Society and a minor in African American and Diaspora Studies. She is currently working on a variety of projects with Drs. Gatson and West. Her research interests include African American women's history and racialized sexual violence in the 20th century.
Lily Brown
Graduate Research Assistant
Lily is a graduate of Cape Fear Community College and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where she majored in History. She is based at the Heritage Center and will be working on projects for the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area.
Lily's research interests are in mid-to-late twentieth-century American social history, with a focus on the cultural impact of the Vietnam War. She is also interested in furthering accessible history education through engaging and innovative public programs and institutions. Find her on LinkedIn.
Rose Doyle
Graduate Research Assistant
Rose graduated from Mississippi State University with majors in History and Philosophy. She is working on the Trail of Tears Program, developing new exterior exhibit panels for Brainerd Mission Cemetery in Chattanooga.
Rose's research interests are in women's history, the American Revolution, historical memory, and the history of emotions.
Hannah Walton
Graduate Research Assistant
Hannah is a recent graduate of Averett University, where she received her B.S. in History with a concentration in Education and received her teaching license. She is working on historic preservation projects, including contributing to the National Register Nomination for the Seay School in Wilson County.
Hannah's research interests are in mental health and the idea of death during the Civil War. Find her on LinkedIn.
John Barber
Graduate Research Assistant
John graduated from the University of Minnesota-Morris, where he majored in History. He will be working on cemetery projects, including surveys of Wickham Cemetery (Macon County) and Darnall-Hamilton Cemetery (Sumner County). He will also be assisting with a cemetery preservation workshop at the Haysville Cemetery.
John's research interests are in cemetery preservation, Jim Crow segregation, the impacts of American Indian boarding schools, architectural history, and race, class, and gender. Find him on LinkedIn.
Ashli Townsend
Graduate Research Assistant
Ashli has a Bachleor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a focus on History and English, from Cumberland University. In 2025-26, she was the History Day graduate research assistant and worked on the regional Middle Tennessee competition held at MTSU. She is now working with the Trail of Tears Program, developing interpretive panels about the Bell Route. The panels will be installed at the Townsend Cultural Center in Winchester, Tennessee, which is on the Trail of Tears.
Ashli's research interests are in American history through Reconstruction, African American history, Civil War history, and memory studies.
Shelby Trout
Graduate Research Assistant
Shelby is a graduate of MTSU with a B.S. in History. She is working out of the Heritage Center in downtown Murfreesboro and her primary project is working on the Merrill Williams House, located in downtown Franklin, Tennessee.
Shelby's research interests are in women's history, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and social and cultural history.
Faith Godwin
Graduate Research Assistant
Faith is a recent graduate of MTSU, where she double majored in History and Anthropology. In the summer of 2026, she traveled to Butte, Montana, for an internship through the Center. She documented the preservation history and adaptive reuse of a historic synagogue. As an M.A. student of Dr. Stacey Graham's, she has worked on preservation reports for the Old Rock Jail (Bedford County) and New Hope Baptist Church and Cemetery (also in Bedford County). Faith is working on Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area projects at the Heritage Center.
Faith's research interests are in the ethics surrounding educational institutions like museums.
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