Louis Mazzari has taught American history, art, and literature for a dozen years in Istanbul, Turkey, at Bogazici University, the country’s most renowned university, and he now also teaches in the City University of New York system. He has published books and articles on the cultural and political history of the U.S. with the university presses of LSU, Yale, and South Carolina. His New York work has included a study of the documentary aesthetic of photographer Berenice Abbott. Mazzari previously served as managing editor of the anthropology journal Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, and he worked on the editorial staff of the Harvard Educational Review. His years in a variety of classrooms have focused on the intersection of the artwork and its cultural history, and he speaks to American art’s profusion and its diversity of intentions and effects. That mix of art and culture is at the center of his presentation of the abundance of the Met’s American Wing.

Ben Rubin holds a bachelor's degree from Hanover College, a Master's from Western Carolina University, and is completing his Ph.D. at Drew University. He is also a graduate of the Cornell School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University. His work has been published in the Journal of Backcountry Studies and in Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. In addition to academic experience, Ben worked as a docent at the Biltmore House in Asheville, and as a whitewater raft guide on the Nantahala River.

Abhinav is pursuing his graduate studies in Urban planning and Transportation, and brings with him an eclectic blend of technical knowledge of architecture as well as a keen sense of artistry. Abhinav has studied the history and development of the urban landscape of San Francisco right from the time of the gold rush and is knowledgeable about the transportation system and its evolution to its present day form. He also enjoys dabbling in photography and modern art and can share the artistic styles behind the famous Victorian houses of San Francisco. From walking around downtown to learning about the tech revolution (and unfortunately, a resulting gentrification), Abhinav enjoys introducing clients to this interesting city.