Museum Studies Blog at Tufts University

Beginning in January, I and nine other students in Professor Christina Maranci’s seminar “The Threads of Survival: Armenian Liturgical Textiles” began our research into a rich group of Armenian liturgical textiles held at the Armenian Museum of America and the Museum of Fine Arts—and last Thursday, we finally had the chance to share the results of our hard work with the Tufts community! Our research last spring has culminated in an exhibition titled Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects, on view at the Tufts University Art Galleries through December 5. I know I don’t just speak for myself when I say that contributing to this project, from conception to completion, has been incredibly rewarding.

Armenian liturgical textiles encompass a huge variety of uses, materials, iconographies, and artistic techniques: objects featured in Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects include a nineteenth-century silk shurchar (priest’s robe) that originated in an Armenian settlement in Surabaya, Indonesia, an intricately embroidered saghavard (liturgical crown) from 1751, two massive painted and block-printed altar curtains, and much more. As the exhibition’s description explains, these objects are highly valuable in that they “show the multidimensional nature of liturgical textiles and bear witness to the vitality of Armenian communities during the Ottoman Empire and their influence along global commercial routes,” and also because they exemplify “the survival of a people, its identity, and faith” against all odds. Most of these objects had never received proper scholarly attention until this year, and their public exhibition sheds much-needed light on their impressive materiality as well as their deep cultural value.

In Professor Maranci’s seminar last spring, each student chose one of the textiles set for exhibition to examine in depth. In addition to writing a research paper on our chosen objects, we also helped to write the wall labels and educational materials for the exhibition. My object—a fragmentary embroidery of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ dating from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century and held today at the MFA—was likely originally displayed at the altar of an Armenian church, where it would have encouraged worshippers to reflect on both the tragedy of the Crucifixion as well as the hope of salvation and eternal life it represented.

As a current graduate fellow for the Tufts University Art Galleries, I also contributed to Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects throughout the summer by drafting an educational guide to go along with the exhibition. The educational guide highlights four themes of the exhibition—Life / Afterlife; Network / Movement; Communities / Individuals; and Materials / Techniques—and presents some key questions that the objects on display invite us to consider. Participating in the exhibition as both a student researcher and a gallery fellow helped me to translate my in-depth work on a specific object into educational content that will (hopefully) appeal to a wide variety of visitors, a skill I will definitely carry with me into future curatorial experiences. I’m also in the process of helping to plan a few tours of the exhibition—check out the Gallery’s list of upcoming programs for more details!

Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects represents the culmination of the hard work and collaboration of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, gallery staff, and more, and it has been so exciting to see the exhibition come to life. You can check out Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects in the Koppelman Gallery at the Tufts University Art Galleries from now through December 5—and if you’re not in the Boston area, you can also explore the exhibition through the Gallery’s mobile app!

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 spent the past eleven weeks as an intern at the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum in Arlington, Massachusetts, and with just a week and a half to go in my internship, now seems like the perfect time to reflect on my experience.

The Cyrus Dallin Art Museum is a single-artist museum focusing on the works of American sculptor Cyrus Edwin Dallin (1861–1944). A native of Springville, Utah, Dallin relocated to the Boston area in 1880 to study under sculptor Truman Bartlett. While Dallin is probably best known locally for Appeal to the Great Spirit (1908), which stands outside the Museum of Fine Arts, and his equestrian sculpture of Paul Revere in Boston’s North End (1940), his works can be found around the country. In addition to his work as a professional artist, Dallin spent more than four decades as a faculty member at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, teaching sculpture to hundreds of students, many of whom went on to become professional sculptors themselves. He was also an outspoken advocate on behalf of Indigenous peoples, and was a longtime member of the Eastern Association of Indian Affairs. Dallin passed away in Arlington in 1944, but his legacy lives on through the museum that bears his name.

Under the supervision of Heather Leavell, Director and Curator of the Dallin Museum, I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about Dallin’s life and works through a variety of projects. At the beginning of the summer, I spent several weeks researching Dallin’s teaching career at MassArt, with the goal of learning more about his relationships with his students. Based on the archival materials preserved at MassArt—including yearbooks, student newspapers, annual portfolios, and more—it’s clear that Dallin was beloved by his students, who affectionately referred to him as “Cyrus the Great.” In a yearbook from 1939, students wrote that Dallin’s “genius, kindliness and wondrous wisdom have left a lasting impression on many a class. […] He is truly a rare combination of great artist, teacher, and fine man, mellowed with a searching understanding of the great puzzle—art.”

I also spent time researching a few MassArt students who are known to have become successful professional sculptors after studying under Dallin. One such student, Bruce Wilder Saville, had a lot in common with Dallin: Saville went on to teach sculpture at Ohio State University and the Columbus Art School, and was known for his large-scale war memorials.

Finally, I’ve recently been working on a project with a member of the Dallin Museum’s Nonprofit Board of Directors creating Wikipedia pages for Dallin’s various sculptures. Having grown up in central Pennsylvania, I was especially interested in researching two of Dallin’s memorials located near my hometown: Cavalryman (1905) in Hanover, PA, and General Winfield Scott Hancock (1913) in Gettysburg. The results of my research should be publicly available on Wikipedia by the end of the summer!

Having the opportunity to work on several different research projects over the course of the summer has allowed me to learn a lot about a significant local artist, as well as the workings of a small art museum, and I’m so grateful for this experience. Have questions about the Tufts Museum Studies practicum requirement, or reflections on your own internship experience? Let us know in the comments!