At this time of year, many Tufts Museum Studies students are wrapping up their summer practicums. And while most of us have had to adapt to working from home due to the ongoing pandemic, our experiences have still been productive and rewarding! Personally, I have …
Though it might seem paradoxical to expect blind and low-vision visitors to enjoy a visit to an art museum—after all, the contents of art museums are often called the visual arts—museums have a long and rich history of proving that this is absolutely not the …
Though the holiday weekend is over and most of us have headed back to work, museums around the country have put out plenty of content to keep the Fourth of July celebration going! From blog posts to videos to at-home activities and beyond, check out the following links to explore this country’s past and future through some of the nation’s most beloved museum collections.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Using Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 painting Washington Crossing the Delaware, arguably one of the museum’s most recognizable American artworks, this blog post from the Metropolitan Museum of Art considers how Leutze’s infamous painting helped to shape American iconography and mythology, as well as how also how later artists—particularly Black and Indigenous artists—have interpreted Leutze’s painting to paint a different, more inclusive picture of American history. You can also find more information about Washington Crossing the Delaware through the Met’s online collection!
The Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian has curated a collection of blog posts that explore a wide range of museum objects from throughout American history, from the portable desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to this Uncle Sam costume dating from 1956 and beyond. Additionally, the National Museum of African American History and Culture published a fascinating post on Frederick Douglass’s famed 1852 speech “What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?” which remains highly relevant and worth a read nearly 170 years after it was first delivered.
The Berkshire Museum
We don’t just need to look to big, national museums for great Independence Day content—the Berkshire Museum right here in Massachusetts has a “Fact or Fiction?” post on their BerkshireMuseum@Home site that explores some key facets of American history through museum objects. Is John Trumbull’s 1818 painting The Declaration of Independence a faithful reproduction of the events of July 4, 1776? What role did women play in the American Revolution? How did the Liberty Bell get its famous crack? Find out the answers to these questions and more here!
The National World War II Museum
Like the Smithsonian, the National World War II Museum in New Orleans took the opportunity to highlight several objects from their collection as they relate to Independence Day. Read more on the museum’s website here!
The USS Constitution Museum
The USS Constitution Museum presented a slate of virtual events throughout the holiday weekend. But just because the live-streamed events are over now doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the content! Check out stories, videos, at-home activities, and events for all ages in celebration of the Fourth of July on the museum’s website here.
The National Constitution Center
Finally, while Americans have long celebrated Independence Day on July 4th, this blog post from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia poses a fascinating question: should we really be celebrating on July 2nd? As it turns out, while Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, hence the federal holiday we know today, the U.S. technically declared independence from Great Britain two days prior on July 2nd. Read more about the events of July 1776 on the National Constitution Center’s website here!
While fireworks and BBQs are beloved staples of the Fourth of July, the holiday can be a great opportunity to dive into American history, too—and it’s easy to do with the help of museums! Do you know of any other museum content related to Independence Day? Let us know in the comments!
As a lover of all things art- and museum-related, I’m always on the lookout for new ways to learn more about the art world. Personally, I find that documentaries are a great way to get my fix: between Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, AppleTV+, YouTube, cable, …
As Museum Studies students, we love to celebrate museums year-round. But did you know that there’s an internationally-recognized day each year when museums get to take center stage? Last week, on May 18, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) hosted the forty-fourth annual International Museum …
Another academic year has passed, and it’s time for three new editors to take the reins of the Museum Studies blog! A huge thank you to Alexandra, Abigail, Eric, and Sayyara for their hard work on the blog over the past year, and good luck with your future endeavors. We’re so excited to follow in your footsteps and keep producing great content for the Museum Studies blog!
Now, introducing your new editors…
Claudia Haines
Hello everyone! My name is Claudia Haines, and I am a second-year student in the Art History and Museum Studies MA program here at Tufts. Growing up in central Pennsylvania, I always loved art and history and looked forward to visiting museums, but it wasn’t until my first year at the University of Pittsburgh that I learned it was possible to study museums in the classroom. That realization, combined with a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art during a family trip to New York City in 2017, led to my decision to make art and museums my full-time focus. I graduated with my BA in Art History and Museum Studies in 2020, and I have loved continuing my studies at Tufts during the past year!
Over the past several years, I have held positions at a range of museums and cultural institutions, including the University of Pittsburgh’s Nationality Rooms, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Cumberland County Historical Society, and the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, and I’ve also contributed to several exhibitions at the University Art Galleries at both Pitt and Tufts. These positions have helped me to discover my interests in curatorial work, research, and museum education, and I’m thrilled about the opportunity to develop and share those interests as a blog editor this year!
E. Jane Lapasaran
Hi everyone! My name is Jane Lapasaran and I am beginning my second year in the Museum Education MA program. I currently live in Virginia and work at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian where I assist in educational programs and gallery safety. I am originally from Florida, where I received my BA in Anthropology from the University of Florida. During my undergraduate studies, I worked at the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention. At the Florida Museum, I discovered my love for working with butterflies and moths and I helped teach camps where students and younger children could learn about curating and working in natural history collections. At the Cade Museum, I focused more on teaching and worked as an educator, leading tours and different hands-on activities for visitors of all ages. This museum also helped me find a particular passion for working with visitors of varying levels of accessibility and developing programming and specialized tours to ensure that visitors from all backgrounds could have a meaningful museum experience.
My enthusiasm for museums has carried me through many different jobs and internships, and I have learned so much about how different museums reach their audiences and how these meaningful relationships between museums and their neighbors can transform communities. Being at Tufts has exposed me to even more styles of engagement and teaching, and I look forward to using this blog to share my excitement and discoveries with other museum lovers!
Lucy Wickstrom
Hi everyone! My name is Lucy Wickstrom, and I’m a second-year student in the History and Museum Studies MA program here at Tufts. I grew up on the central coast of California, where my mom often took me and my two younger sisters to our local children’s museum so that we could play, explore, and learn about the world around us. I’ve loved history since elementary school and have a passion for learning about the human beings who lived before us—what they dreamed, who they loved, and how they saw the world. I adore the detective work involved in digging through sources, trying to get into the heads of people from the past.
I studied history at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, but didn’t know that I wanted to pursue a career in the museum field until I interned at the Point San Luis Lighthouse in Avila Beach, California. At this beautiful historic site with a breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean, I discovered just how much I loved combing through dusty archives, staging objects inside the historic house, and sharing stories about the people who once made the lighthouse their home. The light in visitors’ eyes while they took in their surroundings, and the excitement in their voices as they asked questions, wanting to learn more, filled me with joy, and I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life sharing history in this way.
I chose Tufts for my graduate studies because of the incredible museum studies program, and because I have dreamed of living in the Boston area since my early teenage years. My period of focus is early American and United States history, so it is a dream come true for me to explore all the incredible museums and historic sites in New England. At Tufts, I have learned so much about the world of museums already. I have worked as a research assistant to my history advisor, met amazing peers and professors, and loved every moment. I’m so excited to have the opportunity to run this blog with my brilliant classmates, and I can’t wait to continue learning here at Tufts.