Date: Monday, April 27, 2015, 6:00pm Location: Harvard University, Northwest Building, Room B-103, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA Public lecture with Leah Dickerman, Marlene Hess Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, and Tom Rockwell, Director, Exhibits and Media Studio, Exploratorium, …
Thursday, March 26, 6pm Hosted by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA. Donald J. LaRocca, Curator, Department of Arms and Armor, The Metropolitan Museum of Art From dynastic armories and curiosity cabinets to …
Old South Meeting House, a history museum in downtown Boston (and the workplace of a number of Tufts students and alumni!) is offering a special discount for our upcoming screening of To Kill A Mockingbird. Check the Tufts Museum Studies Facebook group for the discount code, or email events@osmh.org.
March 26 at 6:30pm: To Kill a Mockingbird
Admission $8 — enter the discount code to get up to two tickets for $5 each. Discount applies only to tickets purchased in advance.
Tickets available at http://osmhmarch26-15.bpt.me
Light refreshments will be available for purchase
Doors open at 5:45pm for members, 6:00pm for general public.
Join us for the first annual ‘Movies at the Meeting House’ series. During 2015, Old South Meeting House will show three films based on books that were banned in various locations throughout the US, including Boston. Promoting free speech is a key part of Old South Meeting House’s mission – and our free speech policy was formally announced in the 1920s, when the banning of multiple books, magazines and plays by Boston’s Watch and Ward Society had spawned the term “Banned in Boston.” Soon after implementing its free speech policy, Old South Meeting House hosted a forum on the banning of Eugene O’Neill’s play Strange Interlude in Boston. In honor of this literary and free speech history, we have chosen to celebrate works once silenced for their controversial content in our first ‘Movies at the Meeting House’ series. Grab a friend and come enjoy the historic interior of Old South Meeting House like never before!
See attached flier for details! University Museums: An Afternoon at the Harvard Art Museums
A Dynamic Laboratory for Our Democracy, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate is designed to bring the history of the United States Senate alive – using technology to engage and inspire like never before. The Institute features a representation of the …
Jessica Nelson wrote this piece for the Old North Foundation’s website, and Old North’s Director of Education Erin Wederbrook Yuskaitis, also from the Tufts program, suggested we share it here. Thanks, Jessica (and Erin)!
After almost 300 years of existence, an institution is bound to accumulate an interesting collection of objects. And having interned over the summer with the Old North Foundation, I can certainly confirm that this is a fact. I was brought in to be the first Collections Intern to work with the site, and as such had the opportunity to scour the site’s attic, basement, and many rooms. My responsibility was to document the works of art found within Old North’s campus. Although Old North is not what one would call a collecting institution, it is an historical site that has over time accumulated, often through generous donations from parishioners, a number of interesting and some valuable art pieces. One of the best ways to honor these donations and other acquisitions is through careful preservation.
Even though Old North’s art is not currently shown to the public in a crafted exhibition, it is visible throughout the Foundation and Church offices as well as in parts of the church itself. So as a student learning about the museum field, I was able to apply some of the museum world’s techniques when documenting the artworks at Old North. What exactly does that entail though? Well, I began by numbering the objects and creating condition reports for each one. These reports allowed me to describe the art piece detailing its materials and what it looks like as well as identifying if there is any damage to the piece. Creating these reports helps an institution keep track of the object and monitor how it holds up over time. After making condition reports for every object, I then took pictures of the objects as well. Attaching pictures to the condition reports is another means of recording an object’s condition and can help people who may work with these objects in the future more easily identify them.
The Foundation then ordered special archival papers and pens so that I could physically attach the identifying number I had given each object to the object in question. It is important to use archival quality goods as this helps ensure the marking materials won’t damage the art piece over time. I also had the opportunity to conduct some early research on the objects and how they came to Old North. Although many of the art pieces’ stories have been somewhat lost over time, there were a few active members of the church who were quite helpful in recovering their histories. All in all, the project went quite well, and hopefully the work I completed with the help of the Old North Foundation staff will serve as a good base for any future artwork they receive and help insure that all of their art is well preserved for future generations.