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 at Noon
“History Compels Us to be Daring”: Sites of Conscience in Action Around the World
The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience was founded in 1999 with the radical idea that historic sites had an obligation to draw a connection between the history of their sites and their contemporary implications. Today, we are more than 200 museums, historic sites,...
Building Collections, Building Knowledge, Building Publics: Diversity at the Huntington
Founded in 1919, the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens originated with the collections of Henry and Arabella Huntington. As of 2014, nearly three-quarters of a million people visit the grounds and buildings annually. In recent years, the Huntington has become more intentional...
Negotiating Slavery? The Politics of Memory and the Transformations of a State Museum in Colombia
University of Michigan Museum of Art, First Floor, Multi-Purpose Room 525 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesIn a context of controversy surrounding the peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla movement, the country’s museums are currently experiencing deep transformations. State museums in particular face the challenge of becoming more democratic and inclusive institutions even as they remain...
Supporting Youth through Environmental Education: Teaching, Learning, and Design at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens
University of Michigan Museum of Art, First Floor, Multi-Purpose Room 525 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesEfforts to enhance the scientific capacity of youth often target schools and focus on reforming the existing science curriculum. An often overlooked and underestimated venue for science teaching, learning, and design are out-of-school settings. Everyday experiences in these settings can support science learning for...
Access and the Archive: The Role of Documents Projects in a Digital Age
University of Michigan Museum of Art, First Floor, Multi-Purpose Room 525 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesThis brown bag will examine my practicum experience working with the Documents Project at the International Center for Art of the Americas (ICAA) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The ICAA is the research institute arm of the Latin American Art Curatorial Department,...
Specimen Backlogs in the Age of Digitization: Strategies for Shedding Light on “Dark Data” before They Become Black Holes
Millions of specimens and their associated data are housed in museum collections, but only a small fraction of these are readily accessible through electronic means. These are now being referred to as “dark data” after a term coined in the business/IT community for the...
“History Compels Us to be Daring”: Sites of Conscience in Action Around the World
University of Michigan Museum of Art, First Floor, Multi-Purpose Room 525 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesThe International Coalition of Sites of Conscience was founded in 1999 with the radical idea that historic sites had an obligation to draw a connection between the history of their sites and their contemporary implications. Today, we are more than 200 museums, historic sites,...
Visual Culture in India and the Museum
University of Michigan Museum of Art, First Floor, Multi-Purpose Room 525 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesAlison Byrnes, a member of the 2006 MSP cohort, recently returned from seven years teaching in India, where she initiated a new Museum Studies Program. She will discuss museums in India through the lens of visuality. There is a mismatch between the cultural signals...
The Smithsonian Institution and the Making of the American Nonprofit Sector
When Englishman James Smithson left $500,000 to the United States of America to establish the Smithsonian Institution in 1829, he improbably forced the United States Congress to design America's first national benevolent institution. This talk will address how Congress came to a decision about...
Detroit 67: Looking Back to Move Forward – Community Engagement at the Detroit Historical Society
University of Michigan Museum of Art, First Floor, Multi-Purpose Room 525 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesIn 2015, Detroit Historical Society began a multi-year community engagement project to commemorate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the civil unrest of July 1967. Called Detroit 67: Looking Back to Move Forward, the project’s purpose is to bring together diverse voices and communities...
