Erika Holst holds a master's degree from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture. She has volunteered, interned and worked at museums and history projects throughout Illinois, including the David Davis Mansion State Historic Site in Bloomington, the McLean County Museum of History in Bloomington, the Cuneo Museum in Vernon Hills, Dickson Mounds Museum in Lewistown, the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, the Illinois State Museum and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield.