Recent Posts
Reykjavik in 4 Museums
Today’s post comes to you from Erin Wederbrook Yuskaitis, current Tufts Museum Studies Certificate candidate and Director of Education for the Old North Church & Historic Site. On a recent trip to Iceland, my husband Chris and I visited several different museums in Reykjavik over the course of …
What We’re Reading: Brown Girls Museum Blog and The Washington Post
Today’s post comes to you from Sally Meyer, current Tufts Museum Studies and History M. A. candidate. To read some of her other work for the blog, click here.
Amanda Figueroa and Ravon Ruffin are consultants in the museum field. Together, they started the Brown Girls Museum Blog (BGMB). Their blog, particularly the critical thought section, is interesting, thought provoking, and addresses a lot of the long term issues museums face. Most notably the need to increase diversity in all facets of museum work: staff, visitorship, membership, interpretation, and approach to collections. They talk to artists, talk about their work, about being young professionals, review exhibitions, and provide fresh perspectives on a variety of issues in the museum world.
The Washington Post: “For decades they hid Jefferson’s relationship with her. Now Monticello is making room for Sally Hemings.”
Monticello, the historic home designed by President Thomas Jefferson and built by the enslaved men and women he held in bondage, is gaining a space to tell a more complete story. Jefferson is believed to have had a relationship with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman who was part of his wife’s estate. This article in the Washington Post tells of how the historians at Monticello are working to restore the room they believe she may have inhabited. The article is a reminder of the importance in museums of working to include marginalized people and of emphasizing the “crueler truth” of the American story.
Museums and Rural Schools
Today’s post comes to you from Andrea Woodberry, current Tufts Museum Education M.A. candidate. What happens when common hurdles to K-12 museum visits, such as budget and time constraints, are combined with the significant physical barrier of hundreds of miles? How can schools located in rural …
Call for Posters: 2017 Visitor Studies Association Conference
Call for Posters 2017 Visitor Studies Association Conference New Pathways in Visitor Studies July 18-22, 2016 Westin Columbus 310 S. High Street, Columbus, OH 43215 What is the Poster Session? The poster session is an interactive and collegial format for displaying and discussing project‐based work …
The Decorative Arts Trust 2017 Summer Research Grants
The Decorative Arts Trust is accepting applications for our 2017 Summer Research Grants. This arm of the Trust’s Emerging Scholars Program provides support for graduate students working on a Master’s thesis or PhD dissertation in a field related to the decorative arts. More information, as well as descriptions of past grant projects, can be found on our website.
Applications can be submitted electronically through the Trust website, or downloaded as a PDF and sent by post to The Decorative Arts Trust, 20 South Olive Street, Suite 204, Media, PA 19063, or emailed to thetrust@decorativeartstrust.org. Applications must be received no later than April 30, 2017. Please contact Trust Programming & Communications Coordinator Christian Roden with any questions at croden@decorativeartstrust.org or at 610-627-4970.
Founded in 1977, the Decorative Arts Trust is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and fostering of the appreciation and study of the decorative arts through programming, collaborations and partnerships with museums and preservation organizations, and the underwriting of internships, scholarships, and research grants for graduate students and young professionals.