Tegan Kehoe

For a while, I had a practice of updating the front page of my website a couple of times a year. I hadn't formally discontinued that practice until now, but I'm writing this in January 2025, and my most recent update was in December 2021! Since then, my first book came out, my child was born, I started researching my next book, I changed jobs, I assumed responsibility for a podcast... a lot has happened.  The best way to keep up with what I'm doing is to subscribe to my monthly newsletter, Links and Things from Tegan . The newsletter also includes recommendations of books, articles, podcasts, events, etc... related to history, museums, civic engagement, and more.

Right now, the most active page on this website is the Books and Book Events page. As of this writing I have six upcoming book talks scheduled for January and February 2022, and more are in the works. The same page has previously recorded book talks and podcast interviews, all coming at my forthcoming book Exploring American Healthcare through 50 Historic Treasures from slightly different angles. Another recent project I've been involved with is the virtual tour of Massachusetts General Hospital's historic Bulfinch Building . Several Mass General colleagues and I created this tour, which feasures a couple hundred labels giving historical context for the locations, artwork, and quirks in the building, for the 200th anniversary of the hospital opening its doors. Some plans on the horizon are a project on best practices in interpreting the history of healthcare in museums (which might be expanded to interpreting histories of healthcare and the body, depending on my collaborators...

Like many people, time got away from me while dealing with everything going on in 2020, so it's been a while since I posted an update here. However, I was fortunate enough that I did have the time and energy to work on a number of projects since last I updated! The biggest news is that my first book, Exploring American Healthcare through 50 Historic Treasures , is available for preorder.  I've also been plugging along on the final stretch of my blog project A Catalog of Curiosity. Some of my favorite recent posts: Learning to Listen with my Eyes, about taking an American Sign Language class over Zoom My Day as a Lobbyist, about Museums Advocacy Day A three-part series musing on writing medical history in a pandemic -- Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 . Another fun project I've been working on is that during the pandemic, I started contributing to the Facebook page where I work, at the Russell Museum of Medical History and Innovation at Massachusetts General Hospital. I've been ...

I have several ongoing projects, plus some shorter fun stuff. I am working on a book, Exploring American Healthcare through 50 Historic Treasures. Read my blog post introducing the project here . While the book is in progress, my blog A Catalog of Curiosity is on a detour -- A Catalog of (Medical) Curiosity! My blog post introducing the detour is the same one that introduces the book project I've also written about the weird and varied things I'm reading for the project and I'm starting to share tidbits from my research that don't fit in the book Meanwhile, you can hear from me monthly with my e-newsletter, Links and Things from Tegan . In Links and Things, I share reviews and recommendations of books, articles, podcasts, databases, and other fun things for general audiences, history lovers, and museum professionals. It's also where I share updates on my projects. As of this writing, I'm about to embark on a fun new adventure: directing a short radio pla...

I'm delighted to announce that I'm taking a hiatus from my list items on A Catalog of Curiosity for at least the next year and a half -- the reason that this is delightful is that I'm taking the hiatus to give me more time to work on the book I'm writing! While the blog posts here aren't long or frequent, they often represent a number of hours of what I'm doing with my time, such as when I take a class, read a meaty book, or do a research project. So, what's this book? The working title is "Exploring Healthcare History through 50 Historic Treasures," and it will focus on medicine and public health in the United States through the lens of historic sites and artifacts in museums around the country. It's under contract with the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Press, an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield. I'm at the very beginning of the project, so don't expect any updates on a release date or preorder information a...

Welcome to Links and Things from Tegan! I've made a few format changes since the last time I posted a preview, so here's the October 2018 issue. Most months it will be email-only, so please subscribe here if you haven't already. I'll never sell or trade your information. Enjoy! Welcome to the October issue of Limbs and Things from Tegan!* The "Me" Section I’m pleased to announce the book The State of Museums: Voices from the Field is out now from MuseumsEtc . It is made up of twelve chapters looking at different angles of museum practice today, from museum professionals around New England. Philosopher Karl Popper discussed whether all ideas should be welcome and equal in society, outlining what’s known as the paradox of tolerance. In 1945 he released an anti-totalitarian book called The Open Society and Its Enemies. The paradox, from a footnote in this work, states that if a society tolerates all ideas, people are free to use their society’s free...

As I mentioned last update, I'm switching to semi-annual posts on this website, because I started a monthly newsletter. Descriptively named Links and Things from Tegan, it's where I share reviews and recommendations of books, articles, podcasts, databases, and other fun things for general audiences, history lovers, and museum professionals. If you sign up , you'll get one email a month from me, and I won't swap or sell your address. In addition to the newsletter, here are some museum reviews I've written lately: History Happening in Manhattan: the African Burial Ground Public History, Public Health: The Public Health Museum When I'm not writing, one of the things I'm doing is serving on the board and the outreach committee of Digital Commonwealth , an online repository for historical materials from libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies across Massachusetts. I'm part of our social media team, so check us out on Facebook , Twitter ,...