Educator and public historian Robin R. Cutler collaborates with scholars and media professionals to bring extraordinary American stories to regional and national audiences. She has a Ph.D. from Columbia University and taught in universities in New York City for eleven years. While teaching at NYU, she became the project director and co-producer of an Emmy nominated series for PBS’ American Playhouse. The series was a centerpiece of the 400th anniversary celebration of the Roanoke Voyages.
Much more than the story of the “Lost Colony, “ ROANOAK brings to life the first contacts among Native Americans and Elizabethan explorers on the coast of North Carolina in the late 16th century. New York Times critic John O’Connor described the series as “admirably ambitious” and “quietly and consistently compelling.” With South Carolina ETV, Cutler also developed an illustrated Teachers’/Viewers’ Guide for ROANOAK that was sent to more than 100,000 libraries and schools.
Cutler was the film and television editor for the American Historical Association’s Perpectives, and Program Officer in the National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Public Programs between 1984 and 1989. She then founded a Washington D.C. not-for-profit, Media Resource Associates, Inc., to tell and preserve stories that provide unique perspectives on the history and character of American society. Many of MRA’s projects stemmed from her partnership with Native American communities in Massachusetts, Montana and Washington state. MRA created a collection of oral history resources with the Wampanoag in Aquinnah (Martha’s Vineyard, MA), and more than a dozen cultural resource videos with the Blackfeet in Browning, Montana.
Cutler wrote and produced MRA’s award-winning prime-time documentary for PBS, INDIAN AMERICA: A GIFT FROM THE PAST, a story of how archaeology and oral tradition define the Makah Indian Nation. Based on material that had never been seen by the public before, the film is narrated by Wes Studi (DANCES WITH WOLVES), and is still widely shown in colleges, universities and cultural centers across the United States and overseas. (Contact the Makah Museum in Neah Bay, WA. www.makah.com or 360 645- 2711.)
Her critically acclaimed book about an unprecedented 1909 naval investigation came out in 2007. A Soul on Trial: A Marine Corps Mystery at the Birth of the Twentieth Century (Rowman & Littlefield) is based on a decade of research in Oregon, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and New York City where she now lives. Recent reviews appeared in the Oregonian (12/07), the Oregon Historical Quarterly (vol. 109, no.1), the Marine Corps Gazette (4/08) , the U.S Naval Institute’s Proceedings (5/08) (”Notable Naval Books of 2007″), and The Journal of American History (9/08). The book is a ”fascinating,” “exhaustively researched” tale about the clash between an Oregon mother and a Marine Corps major, and between civilian and military justice a century ago.
Cutler is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and several professional organizations including the OAH and AHA. She is a reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities (serving most recently in April, 2008); she has been the project director for numerous grants and received several awards for media and educational projects and for her government service at NEH. She is represented by Ronald Goldfarb (www.RonaldGoldfarb.com). For publicity questions, or to reach the author, please contact Kim Lyons (klyons@rowmanlittlefield.com ).