Elizabeth Lay

- Title:
- Adjunct Professorial Lecturer of Decorative Arts & Design History
- Email:
- [email protected]
Bio
Elizabeth Lay is a Textile Historian and the Curator at Montgomery History’s Beall Dawson House and Stonestreet Museum in Rockville. Lay has worked as a textile designer, holding a license for her needlework designs with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, in addition to 9 years as Executive Director for city and county arts organizations. As a contractor she has worked with the collections at the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, The U.S. State Department Diplomatic Reception Rooms, and the Fashion Museum in Bath. She is a regular instructor at Smithsonian Associates on the topics of textiles, fashion, and American furniture.
Current Outside Position
Current clients include: Dumbarton House Museum, Germantown Historical Society, Peerless Rockville, Smithsonian Associates Study Tours, and Curator at Montgomery History, Beall Dawson Museum and Stonestreet Museum.
Current Research & Projects
Lay is currently the Project Coordinator for the Women in Preservation Symposium sponsored by the National Society of Colonial Dames, and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, October 19-21, 2020.
Education
BA in Art History and Business Administration, University of Kentucky
MA in History of Decorative Arts, Smithsonian-George Mason University
Professional Organizations
- American Alliance of Museums
- American Association of State and Local History
- Small Museum Association