John Harry is an award-winning historian and broadcaster whose work has been recognized at both the local and state level, including Wisconsin’s highest public history honor, the Reuben Gold Thwaites Award.

He currently serves as Executive Director of the Portage County Historical Society and has previously worked with the Milwaukee County Historical Society. Early in his career, he interned with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, where he contributed to the development of its craft beer oral history collection.

Before transitioning to public history, John spent ten years as a professional radio broadcaster, working in markets including Wausau-Stevens Point, Madison, Minneapolis, Duluth, and Juneau. His work earned him a Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Award.

John is also a recognized beer historian. He has authored a peer-reviewed article on Wisconsin’s first Black-owned brewery and wrote a pictorial history of the Stevens Point Brewery, the third-oldest operating brewery in the United States.