Our Team
MATTHEW R. LAIRD, Ph.D., RPA
Historian / Principal Investigator
Partner and Senior Researcher Matthew R. Laird has the benefit of both academic training and practical experience in the fields of history and archaeology. He earned his Ph.D. in American History, with a specialization in Early American History, from the College of William & Mary in 1995. While pursuing graduate studies, he completed an internship program in historical archaeology with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and worked as a field archaeologist with Colonial Williamsburg and the Jamestown Rediscovery Project. Dr. Laird has taught numerous university-level academic courses and archaeological field schools, served as a freelance historical consultant with Time-Life Books, Inc., and has authored a number of articles for popular history publications.
For the past ten years, Dr. Laird has pursued a career in cultural resource management as both a principal investigator and historian. He has managed numerous projects involving the full range of prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, cultural landscapes, and standing structures, and has authored or co-authored more than 100 technical reports, research designs, and historic contexts. In his current position, Dr. Laird specializes in producing historical research to support JRIA’s projects, and developing interpretive material for both popular and scholarly audiences, including stand-alone historical studies, brochures, tours, exhibits, and house/land-use histories. In the course of his work, Dr. Laird regularly conducts original archival research and synthesizes the results of previous archaeological and historical investigations. He has ready access to a wide range of research depositories, including the National Archives, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, State Historic Preservation Offices, state and local libraries, historical societies, museums, universities, and private foundations. With his varied experience in scholarship, teaching, archaeological research, and cultural resource management, Dr. Laird has a strong interest and practical background in communicating the technical results of archaeological and historical research to non-specialists, including government agencies, corporate clients, and the general public.