Megan Crutcher, Ph.D.
I'm a maritime historian and archaeologist writing and teaching about how African sailors shaped the history of the Atlantic World.
As the 2025-2027 Ann Plato Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at Trinity College-Hartford, I teach courses in maritime archaeology, West African and Atlantic history and archaeology, and conservation and preservation of cultural heritage. I earned my Ph.D. in Anthropology (Nautical Archaeology Program) from Texas A&M University in 2025. I also hold an M.A. in Public History from Duquesne University and a B.A. in History from Grove City College.
My research interests, broadly, lie in historical archaeology, postmedieval archaeology, public history, maritime archaeology, and maritime history of the Atlantic and African coasts, and I have a long-term research focus on Liberia. I also maintain professional interest and experience in conservation and collections care, museum studies, material culture studies, and heritage and memory. My interdisciplinary writing has appeared in the Journal of Social History, International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Critical African Studies, the Journal of African History, Maritime Studies, and other outlets, and has won several research awards.
As the 2025-2027 Ann Plato Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at Trinity College-Hartford, I teach courses in maritime archaeology, West African and Atlantic history and archaeology, and conservation and preservation of cultural heritage. I earned my Ph.D. in Anthropology (Nautical Archaeology Program) from Texas A&M University in 2025. I also hold an M.A. in Public History from Duquesne University and a B.A. in History from Grove City College.
My research interests, broadly, lie in historical archaeology, postmedieval archaeology, public history, maritime archaeology, and maritime history of the Atlantic and African coasts, and I have a long-term research focus on Liberia. I also maintain professional interest and experience in conservation and collections care, museum studies, material culture studies, and heritage and memory. My interdisciplinary writing has appeared in the Journal of Social History, International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Critical African Studies, the Journal of African History, Maritime Studies, and other outlets, and has won several research awards.
In Liberia, I am co-principal investigator and co-direct the Kru Coast Heritage Initiative, an archaeological and oral history project investigating materiality and constructions of Kru heritage, archaeology, and identity in Sinoe County, Liberia. My dissertation explored how Indigenous West African sailors like the Kru of Liberia resisted colonization and overlapping global processes of racialization and labor exploitation during the long eighteenth century. I have also collaborated with international teams from several countries to complete archaeological excavations, historical archival research, monitoring of archaeological sites, and curation/analysis of material culture across Europe, the Americas, and Africa. I am a PADI-certified Rescue Diver.