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.
Lectures
Latest Past Events
Listening to Object Witnesses: Decolonizing Research in Museum Collections
U-M Museum of Art, Helmut Stern Auditorium 525 S. State St., Ann ArborPresentation by Dr. Margaret M. Bruchac How do Indigenous objects in museum collections speak to those who collect, curate, observe, and claim them? The observable materials and patterns of construction obviously reflect particular ecosystems, cultures, and technologies, but do these objects also retain memories...
A Swift Death and Steady Resurrection: Salvage Anthropology and U.S. Museums
U-M Museum of Art, Helmut Stern Auditorium 525 S. State St., Ann ArborPresentation by Samuel J. Redman What should museums do with stolen artifacts? Should the response be similar with stolen knowledge? This talk explores the history and legacy of salvage anthropology as it relates to museums in the United States. Salvage anthropology was a movement...
Using Racist Memorabilia to Teach Tolerance and Promote Social Justice: the Case of the Jim Crow Museum
U-M Museum of Art, Helmut Stern Auditorium 525 S. State St., Ann ArborThe Jim Crow Museum is the nation’s largest publicly accessible collection of racist artifacts. Located on the campus of Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, the museum houses more than 12,000 objects—primarily, but not exclusively, segregation era artifacts and everyday anti-black caricatured objects....
