Allison Kraft
Associate Curator
Paley Center for Media
New York, NY
Allison Kraft graduated from Purdue in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science and a Minor in Art History. She was a member of the College of Liberal Arts Leadership Council, Purdue Alumni Student Experience Board of Directors, and Old Masters. She interned at the Indiana State Museum and George Washington's Mount Vernon, and was a 2016 Wilke Undergraduate Research Intern, working with Dr. Caroline Janney to research Confederate parolees following the Civil War. In 2022 Janney's book "Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee's Army after Appomattox" was the winner of the prestigious Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize.
Following graduation from Purdue in 2016, Allison pursued a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from Indiana University Indianapolis (IUI, formerly IUPUI), interning at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, the American Legion National Headquarters, the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. Most notably, she was the Simmons Graduate Curatorial Intern at The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in 2017, researching the provenance of newly acquired artifacts to the Museum.
Allison graduated from IUI in 2018 and moved to New York City to begin her post-graduate professional career as the Assistant Curator at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. In her role, she managed an impressive collection of over 86,000 artifacts from American history, served as the Institute's registrar, hosted student groups, and gave private tours to prominent guests.
In 2020 she co-founded the virtual program "Inside the Vault," a monthly conversation about artifacts in the Gilder Lehrman Collection with historians including Dr. David Blight, Dr. Barbara Perry, and Tweed Roosevelt, great-great grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt.
In February 2024 Allison began a new role as the Associate Curator at The Paley Center for Media, curating public programming and television screenings, assisting with exhibitions, and working with the team to host special events with guests including Carol Burnett, Kristen Wiig, and Conan O'Brien.
Allison loves museums and has a passion for creating meaningful experiences for visitors that leave them wanting more. She enjoys perusing vintage shops and bookstores, cheering for Purdue basketball, binge-watching the newest seasons of her favorite shows, and finding the best places for dim sum and sushi.