Throughout this semester, I had the opportunity to work with my peers to develop an interpretive project mostly from scratch. I emphasize the word mostly here because we were fortunate enough to find inspiration from Tufts’s very own Art Datathon, an event hosted by the Tufts University Art Gallery that explored the ways data in museum collections is not as objective as we assume it is.

For me, this class was the culmination of my time in this program; it was a blend of old and new knowledge, a chance to practice skills I already had and more importantly, a chance to develop those that I really struggled with. While working on this project, there were a lot of hurdles that made me question how I really fit into the museum space. What kind of educator do I want to be? What biases do I carry into my own interpretive styles? It was cathartic, especially as I near the end of my time as an editor for this blog and a student in this program.

The project itself, Obscured Identities, challenges the collections database at Tufts University Art Gallery using questions similar to those I asked myself. Our group looked at these objects, looked at the data, and asked ourselves if this data truly represents their story. Can we really say that the data is objective and without bias? Interpreting these objects and their reported data revealed that no, we can’t really assume those things. For some of us, this was difficult to grapple with. It took a lot of introspective reflection and creativity to begin telling these stories, interpreting these objects, not just through the data available, but also the data missing. One piece I worked closely with is Justice Ofoni’s “Best in Haircut” which is a barbershop sign from Ghana. Perhaps the biggest story we pulled from the data was the cultural identity stripped from this piece. According to the art gallery’s database, “Best in Haircut” is culturally African. Yet, we also know that the piece is from Ghana; so why do we reduce this cultural identity to the broad scope of an entire continent? These stories and challenges were the core of our project, which materialized through a virtual exhibit using StoryMaps.

“Best in Haircut” by Justice Ofoni

I’m grateful for this project and the experience it offered me, and I’m even more grateful for my peers who supported each other throughout its development. 

To learn more and see the final exhibition, you can view it here on StoryMaps.

Northeast:

• Development Assistant, Director of Marketing and Communications, and Registrar, Bruce Museum (Greenwich, CT)
• Development Manager, CT Humanities (Middletown, CT)
• Grants Financial Coordinator, Collections Cataloguer, and Intellectual Property Coordinator, Mystic Seaport Museum (Mystic, CT)
• Head of Communications and Marketing, Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, CT)
• Director of Finance, Florence Griswold Museum (Old Lyme, CT)
• Executive Director, Congregational Library and Archives (Boston, MA)
• Associate Director, Corporate Relations, Museum of Science (Boston, MA)
• Youth Education Coordinator, WCHS/Tower Hill Botanic Garden (Boylston, MA)
• Director of Development, Fuller Craft Museum (Brockton, MA)
• Executive Director, Concord Museum (Concord, MA)
• Gallery Teacher, MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA)
• Executive Director, CuriousCity Children’s Museum (Peabody, MA)
• Historical Performer, Plimouth Patuxet Museums (Plymouth, MA)
• Regional Site Administrator—North Shore, Massachusetts, Historic New England (Salem, MA)
• Executive Director, House of the Seven Gables (Salem, MA)
• Phillips Library—Digital Collections Metadata Intern, Curatorial Intern—Contemporary Art, Functions Intern, Curatorial Intern—Fashion and Textiles, Phillips Library—Imaging Technician Intern, and Art & Nature Center Intern, Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA)
• Manager of Gallery Education, Clark Art Institute (Williamstown, MA)
• Director of Development, Victoria Mansion (Portland, ME)
• Museum Preparator, Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH)
• Advancement Officer, Preservation Society of Newport County (Newport, RI)
• Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Fleming Museum of Art at the University of Vermont (Burlington, VT)
• Collections Manager, Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History (Middlebury, VT)

Mid-Atlantic:

• Head Registrar, Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY)
• Executive Director, Center for Photography at Woodstock (Kingston, NY)
• Curatorial Assistant, Tang Museum at Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY)

Southeast:

• Exhibit Production Manager and Exhibit Graphic Designer, National WWII Museum (New Orleans, LA)
• Director of Community Education and Engagement, Metal Museum (Memphis, TN)

Midwest:

• Exhibits Fabricator, Conner Prairie Museum (Fishers, IN)
• Exhibition Project Manager, Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI)
• President/CEO, Taft Museum of Art (Cincinnati, OH)
• Chief Curator, Milwaukee Art Museum (Milwaukee, WI)

Southwest:

• Senior Director of Exhibits, Desert Botanical Museum (Phoenix, AZ)
• Executive Director, 390th Memorial Museum (Tucson, AZ)

West:

• Senior Project Manager, The Getty (Los Angeles, CA)
• Director of Collections and Exhibitions, Amon Carter Museum of American Art (Fort Worth, TX)
• Public Programs Manager, Tacoma Art Museum (Tacoma, WA)

One of the Boston Athenaeum’s reading rooms.

Earlier this month, several Tufts Museum Studies students made their way downtown to check out the Boston Athenaeum! Established in 1807, the Boston Athenaeum is both a library and a museum, boasting an impressive collection of both books and art. The institution’s present location at 10 1/2 Beacon Street—between Boston Common and Granary Burying Ground—was completed and opened to the public in 1849, and today the Boston Athenaeum welcomes researchers and visitors alike.

In the Boston Athenaeum’s book stacks, a gap between the floor and the shelves reveals just how many floors of books the library owns!

During our trip to the Athenaeum, we were treated to a private tour by Director of Education Hannah Weisman. After exploring all five floors of the library (including the many floors of book stacks—see the picture at left!), we got to view a few fascinating items from the Athenaeum’s archives: everything from early printed books to historic maps to Civil-War-era photo albums. Another highlight included checking out a collection of books owned by George Washington!

Overall, the Boston Athenaeum is definitely worth a visit. Learn more about their hours and admissions here! And if you can’t make it to the Athenaeum in person right away, definitely check out their rich Digital Collections.

We’re looking forward to many more Museum Happenings in the future—next up, a trip to the MassArt Art Museum to check out Joana Vasconcelos’ installation Valkyrie Mumbet!