ABOUT THE CURATOR
Cynthia S. Pomerleau, Curator of the Domesticating the Cigarette Virtual Museum, began collecting women's smoking artifacts more than thirty years ago in a desultory, unsystematic way, purchasing items she found either aesthetically pleasing or in some way intriguing. As her collection grew, however, she realized that taken together, these homely objects told a story about the historical process by which the cigarette, once exclusively part of the male brand, became integrated into women's lives. She created the Virtual Museum not only to showcase her personal collection but also, drawing upon her professional background in research on women's smoking, to use these objects to illustrate the larger story of how the cigarette was domesticated into a product that could nestle comfortably in the daily lives of women. Included are photographs of items in her collection and selected images from her library of cigarette advertisements targeting women. The Guided Tours consist of 12 brief video explainers illustrated with objects from her collection.
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Dr. Pomerleau has had a varied career characterized by a long-standing interest in women’s issues. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on autobiographies of English women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently directed an Oral History Project on Women Physicians at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Working in a medical school library piqued her interest in health research and led her to return to school for training in psychology and neuroscience.
From 1985 until 2009, Dr. Pomerleau worked in the University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry as (eventually) Research Professor and Director of the Nicotine Research Laboratory, where much of her work focused on the impact of smoking on women (e.g., menstrual cycle effects, postcessation weight gain, association with depression). She is the author of more than a hundred articles and book chapters on smoking and a contributor to the 2001 Surgeon General’s Report on Women and Smoking. She was a founding member and officer of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. Her motivational book Life After Cigarettes (Turner Publishing Company [formerly Hunter House], 2009) continues to help women smokers and ex-smokers manage weight and depression issues after giving up cigarettes.
Since her retirement in 2009, Dr. Pomerleau has maintained her active emerita status in the Department of Psychiatry while pursuing her postprofessional career as a writer. She lives in Ann Arbor and Empire, Michigan, with her husband and collaborator, Ovide Pomerleau. For further information about Dr Pomerleau and her work, visit her author website.
From 1985 until 2009, Dr. Pomerleau worked in the University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry as (eventually) Research Professor and Director of the Nicotine Research Laboratory, where much of her work focused on the impact of smoking on women (e.g., menstrual cycle effects, postcessation weight gain, association with depression). She is the author of more than a hundred articles and book chapters on smoking and a contributor to the 2001 Surgeon General’s Report on Women and Smoking. She was a founding member and officer of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. Her motivational book Life After Cigarettes (Turner Publishing Company [formerly Hunter House], 2009) continues to help women smokers and ex-smokers manage weight and depression issues after giving up cigarettes.
Since her retirement in 2009, Dr. Pomerleau has maintained her active emerita status in the Department of Psychiatry while pursuing her postprofessional career as a writer. She lives in Ann Arbor and Empire, Michigan, with her husband and collaborator, Ovide Pomerleau. For further information about Dr Pomerleau and her work, visit her author website.