Colleen E. Anderson
Dr. Colleen Anderson is a historian of modern Europe, with an emphasis on Cold War spaceflight. She is curator of the Rockets and Missiles collection.
Before coming to the Smithsonian, Anderson held postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford University and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She earned a PhD from Harvard University, an MA from the University of St Andrews (UK), and a BA from the University of Notre Dame.
Anderson’s current book project Undivided Heavens: Space Travel in Cold War Germany examines how people living beyond the two superpowers used Space Age technologies to understand their lives and the world around them. Her research has been published in German Studies Review and Central European History. It has been supported by organizations including the American Historical Association & NASA, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies, the Central European History Society, and the German Historical Institute.
Anderson serves on the Smithsonian exhibit committees for RTX Living in the Space Age Hall, Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight, and Allan and Shelley Holt Innovations Gallery.
