She is especially interested in interdisciplinary approaches to studying and teaching about addiction. Her research has focused largely on alcoholism and women, and she is completing a book that uses the figure of the alcoholic woman as a way to explore the complex intersection of gender and medicalization in nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century America. She is also working on a book about Laura Ingalls Wilder and the appeal Wilder has had among Americans since the 1930s. An active public historian, Professor McClellan has worked in a house museum, curated exhibits, and supervised preservation projects. She received her B.A. from Amherst College and her Ph.D. in American history from Stanford University