Brianna Kirk, a first-year history Ph.D. student at UVA studying the Civil War and Reconstruction under the direction of Nau Center Associate Director Elizabeth R. Varon, has recently been named one of two graduate research associates at the Civil War Governors of Kentucky (CWGK) papers project. CWGK is a freely-accessible online collection of historical documents associated with Kentucky’s chief executives from 1860-1865. The project is based out of the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfurt and is directed by Patrick W. Lewis.
A 2015 graduate of Gettysburg College, Kirk’s research interests focus on the immediate post-war period and Civil War memory. After graduating from Gettysburg, Kirk entered the public history world and worked at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia. Her master's thesis examines the Norfolk Race Riot of April, 1866, and its implications for the course of Reconstruction.