Debbie McNally is a Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of Washington with primary fields in colonial and nineteenth-century United States history.  A recipient of the Faye Wilson Scholarship for United States History and the Thomas Powers Prize for Outstanding Graduating Senior in the Department of History, Debbie received her B.A. from the University of Washington in 2003, cum laude with distinction in History, and her M.A. in 2007.

 

Debbie's scholarly interests include race and gender studies and women’s history.  Her dissertation, titled "Within Patriarchy: Gender and Power in Massachusetts's Congregational Churches, 1630-1760," contributes to the field of women’s history and colonial American history by complicating both the static concept of patriarchal New England society and the historiography which largely portrays Puritan women as either saints or disorderly sinners.  It addresses questions of the average Puritan woman’s religious experience, something that is lacking despite the plethora of studies on Puritan culture.