Marlise Schoeny was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. Museums, and a love for all things historic, began at a young age. Frequent visits to the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History & Science in Eden Park and later visits to Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal sparked her lifelong love of museums. A trip to the Fashion Museum in Bath, England, at the age of thirteen, however, would prove the inspiration for her career.

Marlise first worked with historic costumes as a volunteer with the Curator of Costumes at the Cincinnati Museum Center. This solidified her desire to focus her studies on historic clothing and textiles. Marlise earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Miami University in 2005 with an eye towards museum work. From there, she completed her master’s degree in Textiles and Clothing from The Ohio State University in 2007. During her time as a graduate student, Marlise was able to complete an internship at the Cincinnati Art Museum under the direction of Cynthia Amnéus, Curator of Fashion Arts and Textiles. After graduating from Ohio State, Marlise taught fashion history and textile science in Cincinnati before permanently relocating to Columbus, Ohio, in 2009. She then became the Assistant Curator for The Ohio State University Historic Costume & Textiles Collection in the fall of 2010.

Exhibit installation image from OSU’s 150th Anniversary

While at Ohio State, Marlise worked with Curator Gayle Strege to research and stage exhibitions and provide educational outreach to the university and Columbus community at large. Her largest project was to help digitize artifacts from the collection in order to reach a broader audience. This resulted in a robust visual database showcasing artifacts from the late-nineteenth century to the present day. While working at Ohio State, Marlise also taught twentieth century fashion history at the Columbus College of Art & Design from 2016-2021.

Close up of an 1830s wedding dress that was used in an article Marlise wrote for The Conversation on the history of the white wedding dress

Marlise’s research interests include Ohio dressmakers and designers, the communication of gender in clothing and the reform fashion movement of the nineteenth century. You can see Marlise talking about women and fashion in the mid-nineteenth century in this Facebook Live interview for Columbus Neighborhoods.