A Dunedin City Council archivist, Breese completed her Master of Arts thesis on 19th and early 20th century public conveniences and changing attitudes to loos.
Her interest in lavatories was sparked about 10 years ago when a member of the public asked the council archivists for information about underground public toilets in the Octagon in Dunedin's city centre.
She started researching the subterranean public loos, which were the first public conveniences built for women in Dunedin in 1910.
Breese wondered why underground toilets had seemed like a good idea - and why we no longer build them.
"The underground design was part of the Victorian idea of... modesty around being in public and needing to go to the toilet," she said.