PhD Candidate
North America
Lydia Mathews is a historian of 19th- and 20th-century North America, focusing on the intersection of gender, public health, and immigration at the turn of the 20th century. She is particularly interested in anti-prostitution efforts in the North American western borderlands, and how local authorities shaped national policy through their enforcement of anti-vice measures in these contested spaces. Lydia's previous research centered on the work of settlement houses and milk committees in urban spaces (including Boston, San Francisco, and Montreal) and examined how immigrant women's engagement with hygienic reform projects helped bolster their claims to social citizenship.
Research Interests
- Immigration history
- History of medicine
- Public health
- History of gender
- Legal history
Conference & Workshop Presentations
2025 "Pure Milk in Montreal: Scientific Mothering Across the U.S.-Canadian Border" - Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, 27th Biennial Conference, Seattle
Publications
Mathews, Lydia. "Reviewed Work: Between the Sea and the Sky: The Saga of My Portuguese American Family in Upcountry Maui, 1881-1941 by Donna M. Binkiewicz. Self-published. 2021." Journal of American Ethnic History 44, no. 4 (Summer 2025)
Awards & Fellowships
2026 John L. Simpson ABD Graduate Research Fellowship - UC Berkeley Global, International & Area Studies
2026 BELS Fellow - UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Law and Society
2026 CRG Student Research Grant - UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender
2025 Edward E. Hildebrand Graduate Research Fellowship - UC Berkeley Canadian Studies Program
2024 John L. Simpson Pre-dissertation Research Fellowship - UC Berkeley Global, International & Area Studies
2024 Edward E. Hildebrand Graduate Research Fellowship - UC Berkeley Canadian Studies Program
2023 Library Research Excellence Prize for Graduate Student Research - Brandeis University Library
2021 Sophia Chen Zen Memorial Prize - Vassar College History Department
2021 Marjorie Lynn Gluck Thesis Prize - Vassar College Political Science Department
Education
M.A., History, Brandeis University, 2023
M.A., Women's and Gender Studies, Brandeis University, 2022
B.A., History and English, Vassar College, 2021
