Graduate Student Profile, February 2020
Jeanna L. Kinnebrew—PhD Candidate
What are your principal research interests?
I follow the money! I study private philanthropy, public policy, and social change in twentieth-century America. In particular, I am interested in how and why some nonprofit organizations have exerted disproportionate influence on public life. My dissertation focuses on midcentury battles over sexual health, particularly birth control, and the handful of nonprofit groups leading the fights on either side. My MA thesis explored American philanthropy’s involvement in 1960s foreign policy.
Why were you drawn to BU?
BU’s excellent History department faculty and five years of Ph.D. funding stood out when I was considering graduate programs. We have a supportive and welcoming university-wide community, and I have particularly enjoyed the opportunities to work with graduate students from several other departments.
What’s the most interesting or weird thing you found in the archives or while conducting primary research?
I recently read through a collection of sex education pamphlets from the 1880s to the 1950s, advising men and women how to avoid contracting a sexually transmitted infection. Much of the advice was (unintentionally) hilarious – and some of it was terrifying!