Public programs facilitate dialogue between academics and professionals, informing scholarship and strengthening practice.
Multiple day conferences, year-long colloquia, individual lectures, “conversations” between individuals, hands-on workshops, and Museums at Noon talks featuring our graduate students all contribute to the remarkable richness of MSP offerings.
Video recordings of some MSP lectures are archived for viewing in our Media Gallery.
Museums@Noon presentation by Georgia Oppenheim
September 26 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Uncovering the Legacy of the Hominin Cast Collection at the Field Museum
Georgia Oppenheim (MSP24; PhD candidate, Biological Anthropology)
September 25 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Hatcher Gallery Lab, Room 100H or online via Zoom
Because fossils of our human ancestors (hominins) remain in their country of discovery, museum collections relating to human origins predominantly consist of casts. These cast collections are often overlooked and undervalued in human origins research since they are not the original fossils. But, these collections hold untapped research and teaching potential. During my internship, I explored the 90-year legacy of human origins research at the Field Museum in Chicago through the reorganization of their hominin cast collection.
This talk highlights how I used my background on human evolution to contextualize the collection in support of teaching, exhibition development, and science communication. Overall, this case study demonstrates how deeper investigations into museum collections can create new avenues for research and support broader museum goals.
