Today’s adventure took us to the Penn Museum. A museum archaeologist, Sarah Linn met us in one of the classrooms used by UPenn students, who study anthropology and archaeology right in the museum. She introduced us to the study of archaeology, and we talked a bit about how the work of archaeological conservators differs from that of the manuscript conservators we met yesterday.
After that, we saw an exhibit that showed how Egyptian exhibits come together, and we chatted with some conservators who were working on artifacts. Did you know that pencil erasers and cosmetic sponges are among the tools of the trade? Did you know that the mosaic pictured here required the work of seven different conservators? Museums are a lot of work!
Yesterday, at the American Philosophical Society Museum, we got to practice curating an exhibit. Exhibits are like essays: they have to have a thesis that pulls the artifacts together. And they have to answer the most important question a curator (or historian) confronts: why should anyone care? So today, each group chose an exhibit to analyze. We’ll be working on those tomorrow.