American Studies

Alexander Benjamin Craghead

American Studies

Alexander Benjamin Craghead holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley. He also completed an MS in Architecture at Berkeley, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Marylhurst University. His research focuses on the intersection of technology, representation, and landscape, and he has written extensively about urban renewal, city planning, transportation technologies and photography.

Additionally, he is a curator, photographer, essayist, and public historian whose work has appeared in several regional and national publications, notably Boom: A Journal of California, California History, Railroad Heritage, and The Smart Set. He was managing curator for After Promontory: 150 Years of Transcontinental Railroading (travelling, 2019-Present) and consulting writer on South Portland and the Long Shadow of Urban Renewal (Architectural Heritage Center, 2020-2021). He is co-editor of Continuity & Change: The Lure of North American Railroads, (Center for Railroad Photography & Art, 2022), as well as co-editor and contributor to  The Railroad and the Art of Place: An Anthology (Center for Railroad Photography & Art, 2021), and the author of The Railway Palaces of Portland, Oregon: The Architectural Legacy of Henry Villard (The History Press, 2016).