Megan Baker is a scholar of early modern Atlantic World art and material culture whose research explores the intersections of environment, temporality, and power. Her dissertation, Crayon Rebellion: The Material Politics of North American Pastels, 1758-1814, investigates the role of the pastel medium in shaping revolutionary ideas and settler-colonial identities.

Taking a hands-on, maker-centric approach to material questions, Megan reconstructs historical methods, a practice that informs her analysis of artworks and is foundational to her object-based pedagogy.

Short-term fellowships at the American Antiquarian Society, Boston Athenæum, Huntington Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, Peabody Essex Museum, and Winterthur Museum have supported Megan's research. She has also held year-long predoctoral fellowships at the Smithsonian Institution and the McNeil Center for Early American Studies.

Megan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Columbia University and a Master of Arts in the History of Art from Williams College. She will complete her PhD at the University of Delaware in 2027.