Lauren Berlin (she/her) is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology whose primary research explores the intersections of television music, broadcasting culture, and transnational circulation. Her dissertation examines how hosts, networks, musicians, and audiences used TV musical variety shows from 1948–1965 as a site for the negotiation of postwar American identity. She has presented work at annual meetings of the Society of American Music, the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, the American Musicological Society, and Music and the Moving Image. Her research has been recognized by academic associations, including an Oxford University Press Graduate Student Prize (Honorable Mention) from the International Society for the Study of Musicals. Her research is supported by fellowships from Eastman, the University of Rochester, the Susan B. Anthony Institute, the Society for American Music, and the American Musicological Society. Lauren’s writing appears in PopMatters and forthcoming publications include chapters in the Oxford Handbook of Music on Television and The Cocktail Lover’s Guide to Television History, as well as a videographic entry in The Audiovisual Lexicon.

Lauren’s interdisciplinary methods are supported by her participation in the Mellon Digital and Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship program. Her work challenges the dominance of visual data in historical research by emphasizing the significance of sound and auditory archives, particularly in understanding cultural history.

In addition to her scholarship, Lauren works with the Radio Preservation Task Force at the Library of Congress. Outside of her work, Lauren is a professional choral singer and enjoys playing in Eastman’s gamelan ensembles.

lberlin@u.rochester.edu