Her Ph.D. in American Studies is from the University of Maryland, College Park. She did a postdoctoral fellowship from Baylor University's Institute for Oral History. She served concurrently as the oral historian and project director of the Family Life and Community History Project, covering Washington County and Falls County, Texas. She has been invited to present papers at the Oral History Association (1991 and 1996), The National Women's Studies Association (1990), the Southern Association of Women Historians (1988) and the Southeastern Women's Studies Association (1988). She received a research fellowship from the University of Maryland and a North Carolina Humanities Council grant. Her areas of research include North Carolina agricultural history, including the role of women in the farm economy.