Biography

Dr. Melissa R. Klapper earned her BA from Goucher College and her PhD from Rutgers University. She teaches American and women's history, with a focus on the late 19th and early 20th century and additional research interests in the history of childhood, the history of education, and American Jewish history. She is the author of Jewish Girls Coming of Age in America, 1860-1920 (NYU, 2005); Small Strangers: The Experiences of Immigrant Children in the United States, 1880-1925 (Ivan R. Dee, 2007); Ballots, Babies, and Banners of Peace:  American Jewish Women’s Activism, 1890-1940 (NYU, 2013), which won the National Jewish Book Award in Women’s Studies; and Ballet Class:  An American History (Oxford, 2020), as well as numerous articles, essays, and book chapters. Dr. Klapper's most recent book, co-authored with Dianne Ashton, is The Civil War Diary of Emma Mordecai (NYU, 2024).

Dr. Klapper's scholarship has been awarded grants and fellowships from an array of sources, including the American Jewish Archives, the American Jewish Historical Society, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women at Harvard University, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, among many others. She lectures widely in a variety of academic and community settings and is involved in numerous adult education initiatives. She is the book review editor of the journal American Jewish History and has served as the co-chair of the Association for Jewish Studies's Modern Jewish History--The Americas division.  Dr. Klapper is currently the Coordinator of the Women's & Gender Studies Program at Rowan University.

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