Brian Murphy

Born in Buffalo, New York, Brian Murphy graduated from SUNY Geneseo with an American Studies degree in 2007. He worked as a plant supervisor and later a manager at a lumberyard in Pennsylvania before moving to Alabama with his wife and daughter in 2015.

Brian enrolled in the University of North Alabama’s Public History program as a graduate student and expects to complete coursework by December, 2017. Since joining the program, he has helped to write 4 National Register Nominations, completed an exhibit redesign of Pope’s Tavern and Museum in Florence, worked as a consultant for the Louisiana Cultural Resource Survey, and presented a paper at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History Conference in 2017.

As a board member of Project Say Something, Brian contributes to the History & Race in Florence blog (https://www.projectsaysomething.org/history-and-race-in-florence/), and has helped coordinate the Florence African American Heritage Project in conjunction with the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library
(https://www.facebook.com/FlorenceAfricanAmericanHeritageProject/). He also works at the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, where he has created an educator’s resource packet for architecture in the Shoals area, as well as research for an exhibit on the Tennessee River.