Claire Jerry

Claire Jerry is a curator in the Division of Political History at the National Museum of American History where she specializes in political rhetoric, the material culture of 20th- and 21st-century campaigning, and the history of the presidency. She has curatorial responsibility for the exhibit The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden and was team lead for the 2020 digital project #votehistory which focused on campaign rhetoric.

Jerry's previous exhibits include serving as co-curator on the NMAH exhibit Elephants and Us: Considering Extinction and curator of From South Carolina to the World: Jimmy Byrnes and Political History (McKissick Museum), USC Goes to GTMO (McKissick), Tracing the Trumans: An American Story (Harry S. Truman Library and Museum), Moving Mountains: U.S. Presidents and the Panama Canal (Kansas City Public Library Truman Forum), and Paul Findley: A Congressional Office (Illinois College). Her work appears in The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Quotations (Smithsonian Books, 2024) and Smithsonian American Women: Remarkable Objects and Stories of Strength, Ingenuity, and Vision from the National Collections (Smithsonian Books, 2019). Her current research focuses on the intersection of rhetoric and material culture. Prior to entering the museum field, Jerry served as Chair of the Department of History at MacMurray College.