About me

Dr. Emily Stoehrer is a curator, author, and lecturer who works at the intersection of jewelry, fashion, and design.

As the Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Emily is an international presence in the jewelry field. At the MFA she oversees a collection that spans 6,000 years and includes more than 22,000 objects—highlights include ancient jewelry, a growing collection of nineteenth and twentieth-century high-style jewelry, and the Daphne Farago Collection of contemporary jewelry. At the MFA, Emily curated Past is Present: Revival Jewelry, co-curated Boston Made: Arts & Crafts Jewelry and Metalwork and Hollywood Glamour: Fashion & Jewelry from the Silver Screen.

Emily is a frequent lecturer and has been invited to present at museums, conferences, and organizations around the globe. The diversity of Emily’s interests in the field are evidenced in her publications and lecture topics, which range from nineteenth century jewelry to works by contemporary makers and designers.

In addition to her work as a curator, Emily has spent more than a decade as an adjunct professor at Boston-area colleges and for four years managed three robust undergraduate programs in fashion design and merchandising. Most recently, Emily developed a History of Jewelry course for the Art History Department at Massachusetts College of Arts & Design (MassArt).

A leader in the field, Emily served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Society of North American Goldsmiths from 2017 until 2020, and is currently the spokesperson of the jewelry vetting committee of all three of The European Fine Art Fairs (TEFAF).

Emily’s academic work has focused on the history of material culture and the philosophy of identity. She is particularly interested in the evolution of taste and her dissertation focused on the influence of the Hollywood red carpet. Emily holds a PhD in Humanities from Salve Regina University, Master of Arts in Fashion & Textile Studies from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Contact Emily at ebstoehrer [at] gmail.com or @jewelcurator on Instagram