About

Gail Dubrow is a Professor at the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on US urban history, US women’s history, Asian American history, public history, and historic preservation. She is recognized for her contributions to understanding the historical development of urban spaces and the role of women and Asian Americans within these contexts, emphasizing the importance of public history and preservation efforts.

Research topics

• Sociology
• History
• Political science
• Gender studies
• Geography

Selected publications

• Women in Historic Preservation

  2025-01-01

  otherSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Expanding the Archives of Asian American and Pacific Islander Architectural History: A Call to Action

  Change Over Time · 2024-03-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Conserving Asian American Heritage

  Change Over Time · 2024-03-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Guest Commentary : Bringing Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage into Vernacular Architecture Studies

  Buildings & Landscapes Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum · 2024-09-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Feminist and Multicultural Perspectives on Preservation Planning

  2023-04-28

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Chapter 1 Invisibility and Representation: An Introduction to LGBTQ Historic Preservation

  Berghahn Books · 2022-09-27

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Chapter 3 Taking Action: An Overview of LGBTQ Preservation Initiatives

  Berghahn Books · 2022-09-27

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Practicing Architecture under the Bamboo Ceiling

  Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians · 2021-09-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Iwahiko Tsumanuma (also known as Thomas S. Rockrise) was among the earliest immigrants from Japan to come to the United States to study architecture, and in the early twentieth century he established a successful practice, first in New York City and later in Asia. However, despite his training at Syracuse University in the conventional Beaux-Arts architectural vocabulary of the period, Tsumanuma found that the expectations of white patrons required that he design objects and spaces around Orientalist themes in the language of Japonisme. In Practicing Architecture under the Bamboo Ceiling: The Life and Work of Iwahiko Tsumanuma (Thomas S. Rockrise), 1878–1936, Gail Dubrow and collaborators Christina M. Rockrise, Alyssa Gregory, and Sarah Pawlicki make use of a previously unavailable archive of Tsumanuma's family papers to document the architect's life and career, presenting an in-depth case study of the multiple ways in which racism shaped the lives and experiences of Japanese immigrant architects in the United States in the early twentieth century. The methods used for this investigation, which included consulting family papers and collaborating with family descendants, provide a model for scholars seeking to better understand racism's formative role in shaping the history of the architectural profession.

  PublisherDOI

• Taking Intersectionality Seriously

  The Public Historian · 2019-05-01 · 9 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  In recent years, preservation agencies at the federal, state, and locals levels have advanced more inclusive approaches to historic preservation by commissioning theme studies, surveys, and nominations to registers of historic places that address previously neglected aspects of US heritage. Much of the work done under the broad umbrella of inclusive histories has been focused on communities defined by a single aspect of identity. This essay raises questions about the effectiveness of single-community studies in addressing previously overlooked aspects of history at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and more. We encourage preservation professionals to take seriously the concept of intersectionality, which acknowledges the multivalent quality of lived experience, addresses the complexity of identity, and recognizes the multiplicity of communities with a stake in the preservation and interpretation of any given historic property. This essay argues for the strategic importance of learning from recent studies of LGBTQ resources to refine intersectional approaches to preservation planning, while identifying hidden barriers to inclusion and cultural equity in programs and projects that use a single lens to identify cultural resources associated with underrepresented groups.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Taking Action:

  Berghahn Books · 2019-09-04

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Larry Knopp

  University of Washington Tacoma

  26 shared

• Hope Ann Benedict

  Western History Association

  25 shared

• Bill Par- Menter

  Lewis Clark State College

  25 shared

• Matthew Klingle

  Idaho State University

  25 shared

• Virginia Scharff

  25 shared

• H. Wayne Schow

  Western History Association

  25 shared

• Judith Austin

  Western History Association

  25 shared

• Peggy Pascoe

  University of Idaho

  25 shared

Awards & honors

• American Council on Education Fellow in Higher Education Adm…
• Best Book in Historic Preservation, Society of Architectural…
• Environmental Design Research Association – PLACES Award (20…