Events

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.

Aspiration/Obligation?  Imagining Intellectual Freedom in Museums

Rackham Graduate School 915 E. Washington Street, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Aspiration/Obligation?  Imagining Intellectual Freedom in Museums How Do Museums Respond to Public Challenges to Their Exhibitions? What Would a National “Bill of Rights” for Museum Visitors Look Like? Should Museums Limit Access to Potentially Controversial Materials? Since the 1930s, American libraries have organized their...

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 States

  In 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...

MSP16 Student Capstone Presentations – April 12

Haven Hall, Eldersveld Room 505 S. State Street, Ann Arbor

Haven Hall, Eldersveld Room Presentations for this evening are as follows: 6:00 pm:  Home Galleries and Dialogue: Re-contextualizing West African Art in the Toledo Museum of Art Presented by Timothy Hart, Mariane Stanev, Felix Zamora-Gomez Host institution:  Toledo Museum of Art   7:00 pm:...

MSP16 Student Capstone Presentations – April 17

Haven Hall, Eldersveld Room 505 S. State Street, Ann Arbor

Presentations at 6:00 and 7:00. Haven Hall, Eldersveld Room   Presentations for this evening are as follows: 6:00 pm:  Beyond the Stars: Re-imagining Space at MSU’s Abrams Planetarium Presented by Carolyn Clayton, Christina DiFabio, Rebecca Kon Host institution:  Abrams Planetarium (Michigan State University)  ...

Book Signing: Object Lessons and the Formation of Knowledge

Kelsey Museum of Archaeology 434 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI

Authors and UM professors Kerstin Barndt and Carla Sinopoli will be at the Kelsey Museum signing copies of their new book, 'Object Lessons & the Formation of Knowledge.' Learn about the dynamic history of the museums at the University of Michigan as part of the...

Bicentennial book launch/panel discussion

Hatcher Graduate Library

The book Object Lessons and the Formation of Knowledge: The University of Michigan Museums, Libraries, and Collections 1817–2017 presents a full color journey through the treasures of the University’s collections. A panel discussion with a focus on items from library collections will occur on Sept 26...

Growing Protocols: Documenting the Collaborative Process within the Heritage Seeds for Sustainable Lifeways Project

U-M Museum of Art, Helmut Stern Auditorium 525 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Presentation by Elspeth Geiger, PhD candidate, Anthropology Friday, September 29 from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm, UM Museum of Art auditorium   Growing Protocols: Documenting the Collaborative Process within the Heritage Seeds for Sustainable Lifeways Project Collaboration between museums and Native American communities has...

Object Lessons: Recollecting Museum Histories at Michigan

Curated by Kerstin Barndt in collaboration with Richard Barnes and Amanda Krugliak, with original commissioned artwork by Richard Barnes The history of the modern research university is unthinkable without collecting. At the University Michigan, the first objects brought to campus in the late 1830s...