The Peabody Museum is currently closed due to social distancing protocols and most Museum staff have shifted to working from home. During this time when the team is physically away from the collections, we will share some of the projects we have worked on recently. While Harvard classes have all transitioned online, this post from Sarah Johnson, one of our Collections Technicians, highlights an in-person class visit from the fall semester:
As collections technicians, we spend most of our time cataloging archaeological collections, but we always enjoy the chance to share our work with Harvard students. This past fall semester, we spent some time with an introductory archaeology course, GenEd1105: Can We Know Our Past? As part of that course, students visited the Museum’s archaeological collections storage, known as the Peabody Annex, where we introduced them to the range of projects we work on as we care for and improve access to the collections.
Some of the projects highlighted were:
‣ The Edward Lanning Collection, a recent acquisition of objects from South America, that will be the subject of an upcoming rehousing effort. We will be transferring the objects from the bags and boxes they arrived in to archival-quality storage materials, as well as increasing documentation to make it easier for researchers to work with this collection.
‣ Brazilian archaeological collections, which were recently cataloged and digitized to improve access in response to the fire at the Brazilian National Museum and the fires in the Amazon rainforest.
‣ New Jersey archaeological collections, which were cataloged and digitized in support of a tribal consultation by the Delaware Tribe of Indians, the Delaware Nation, and the Stockbridge Munsee Community.
‣ Ohio archaeological collections, which are currently being cataloged to support the work of visiting researcher and professor Dr. Robert Cook of the Ohio State University.
The students impressed us with their engagement and thought-provoking questions, and we hope that this experience will be only the start of their relationship with the Peabody and its collections!
Author: Sarah Johnson, Collections Technician