By Syd Overtoom “Story encompasses many ways of knowing.” This was said by the American Evaluation Association President Corrie Whitmore on the first official day of the conference sessions, and it still sticks with me several days later. The AEA’s conference is for all evaluation, not just museum evaluation or visitor studies, but the theme …
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By Marissa Hamm “…the Ziibiwing Center staff, both past and present, hold a collective sense about Ziibiwing’s creation. It is a ‘community project’–a ‘we’ effort instead of an individual one.” (Lonetree 2012, 129) During the first day of class, Dr. Holly Cusack-McVeigh made two things clear: one, we would come to know one another well …
Read MoreProphets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology by Samuel J. Redman. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021. REVIEWED BY SARA POLK Gripping the nation from the very formation of the field of anthropology was the idea that Native peoples were disappearing, requiring white scientists to save their languages and material culture from a doomed nonexistence. …
Read MoreThe Art Museum in Modern Times by Charles Saumarez Smith. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2021. REVIEWED BY JENNIFER MOTT Charles Saumarez Smith’s The Art Museum in Modern Times serves as a type of reference for how museums have changed in the modern era. Smith, a respected Cultural Historian and former Director of both …
Read MoreMuseum Diplomacy: Transnational Public History and the U.S. Department of State, by Richard J.W. Harker. University of Massachusetts Press: 2020. REVIEWED BY JACOB HIGGINS Richard Harker’s book, Museum Diplomacy: Transnational Public History and the U.S. Department of State is a critical look at the program known as Museums Connect. Museums Connect, which operated between 2008 …
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Cheers to our newest class of Museum Studies MAs! Our graduating students have curated exhibits with local and international institutions, studied hidden health hazards in museum collections, developed strategic plans with museum partners, evaluated multiple exhibits and public programs in Central Indiana, helped repatriate meaningful objects to the communities where they belong, and more – …
Read MoreCulture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest by Laura Raicovich. New York: Verso Books, 2021. REVIEWED BY AVA OSOWICK Laura Raicovich’s book Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest challenges the museum’s perceived duty. At their core, museums and museum adjacent organizations serve the public, and many believe that, …
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The 2023 graduating cohort of Museum Studies MA students organized a panel discussion about labor and labor equity in museums and related fields. Panelists: Jamillah R. Gabriel (MSTD MA ’16), Critical Pedagogy Research Librarian, Harvard University Martha Morris, Associate Professor Emerita, George Washington University Anna Smyrl, Museum Assistant, Historical Museum at Fort Missoula; Secretary, Historical Museum at Fort …
Read MoreLibraries, Archives, and Museums: An Introduction to Cultural Heritage Institutions through the Ages. Suzanne M. Stauffer, ed. Blue Ridge Summit: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2021. REVIEWED BY KATHRYN PLANK What is the purpose of cultural institutions and what are their roles in society? Suzanne Stauffer’s book, Libraries, Archives, and Museums: An Introduction to Cultural Heritage …
Read MoreThe Rise and Rise of the Private Art Museum, by Georgina Adam. Lund Humphries in association with Sotheby’s Association of Art, 2021. REVIEWED BY SYD OVERTOOM When considering where to get one’s foot in the door concerning museum work, private museums are usually not at the top of the list. As individuals interested in working …
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