Danielle Funiciello is pursuing her PhD at the University at Albany with the support of the New York State Museum. Her doctoral work focuses on Angelica Schuyler Church(1756-1814), the daughter of American Revolutionary War Major General Philip Schuyler and his wife Catharine Van Rensselaer Schuyler.

In reconstructing the life of this Dutch-descended, elite, Albany-born woman, she illuminates the ways that Church and her peers built and maintained social networks to provide power for themselves and their families. She considers the ways that the Schuyler’s oppression of Native, African, and other vulnerable people helped the family to cultivate their own success. Funiciello also examines the intercultural characteristics of early New York with an eye for the ways in which the Dutch did and did not assimilate into English colonial culture by the end of the American Revolution.

Funiciello holds a Master’s Degree in Public History and a dual Bachelor’s Degree in US History and Art (magna cum laude) from the University at Albany. She was formerly an interpreter at Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site where she wrote “The Women of Schuyler Mansion” guided tour and “The Women of Schuyler Mansion” outreach program. Funiciello has also provided consultation on historical fiction books including Hamilton and Peggy! by L. M. Elliot, I, Eliza Hamilton by Susan Holloway Scott, and My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. The goal of her continuing work is to bring accurate and lively discussion of eighteenth-century women to public audiences. Follow her research, or ask her a question on Twitter: @ADotChurch