Professor Paul Niell and his graduate students spent a semester exploring Goodwood’s history, especially the intersection of race, class, and culture. From analyzing the stairways of Goodwood’s Main House, the landscape of Cline's Cabin, the parlor’s ceiling murals, and more, students examined Goodwood’s history by situating current knowledge in the architectural and cultural practices of the time Goodwood was built. Fascinating questions were raised by this research. Dr. Niell will set these inquiries in the light of larger approaches to plantation architecture and landscape interpretations.

Dr. Niell is an Associate Professor of Art History at Florida State University and the director of FSU's Museum & Cultural Heritage Studies program. He specializes in Spanish Colonial art, architecture and visual culture, c. 1500-1840, and the material culture of the African Diaspora with an emphasis on the Caribbean region. Dr. Niell teaches courses in the art history department’s Visual Cultures of the Americas program at FSU.