Chris Naffziger, M.A.
Chris is an experienced historian and author with over twenty years of experience in writing about Renaissance history and the architectural history of St. Louis with an emphasis in the story of German American brewing in the Gateway City. He brings extensive knowledge of comprehensive archival, library and special collections research in St. Louis, elsewhere in the United States and Europe.
Chris holds a B.A. in art history with a minor in Latin from Truman State University. He also possesses a reading knowledge of German, French and Italian for research purposes. In 2002, he earned his M.A. in Museum Studies with an emphasis in collections management and an academic emphasis in Baroque/Early Modern European Art. While living in Washington, DC, Chris worked at numerous museums, including Decatur House, a historic house museum near the White House on Lafayette Square where he processed the permanent collection for its new storage facility. Later, he worked as a graduate assistant in the Prints and Drawings Department of the National Gallery of Art, researching works in the permanent collection. Returning to St. Louis, Chris worked on the special exhibition, Federico Barocci, Renaissance Master, at the Saint Louis Art Museum.
Chris is also an accomplished author and editor, having written hundreds of articles in several publications on about the history and architecture of St. Louis. He has been published numerous times in Brewery History, the British scholarly journal of the Brewery History Society, of which he is a member, as well as several other publications. His forthcoming book, Adam Lemp and the Western Brewery, will address the little-known early history of the famous brewery. A recognized authority on brewing in the German American immigrant community in St. Louis, he has also appeared on broadcast television in Germany speaking about the Anheuser-Busch and Lemp breweries.
Chris also regularly gives webinars on conducting historical research. His recent webinar, Decoding German Scripts, outlines strategies for identifying the type of script or print you're trying to decipher.