Public Events

Brownbag Lectures: The Digital Rebirth of a 19th Century Cabinet of Curiosities

Brownbag Lectures: The Digital Rebirth of a 19th Century Cabinet of Curiosities

• Location: ISM Research & Collections Center, Springfield
• Date: Wednesday, September 07, 2011, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Presented by Dr. Linda T. Grimm, Emerita Associate Professor of Anthropology, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio

Stored at Oberlin College since the late 19th century, an ethnographic collection of 1600 items has been recently catalogued and digitally preserved by Dr. Grimm and her students of museum anthropology.   The resulting digital archive is available in CONTENTdm format on the college library website where object images and associated metadata can be accessed by students and interested scholars.   The collection includes material crafted by American Indians and Alaska Natives, as well as objects from the Pacific, Southeast Africa, Japan, China, and Thailand.  This broad geographic spread reflects the missionary origin of much of the material in the collection.  Completion of the database sets the stage for a multifaceted research agenda that provides the focus of this talk.  Dr. Grimm will discuss research efforts to reconstruct the history of this minimally studied and rarely exhibited collection, and consider the anthropological and/or historical significance of specific collection components. 

One of our Brownbag Lectures

Weekly lectures held at the Museum's Research and Collections Center. Lectures are usually held during lunchtime on Wednesday. The RCC is located at 1011 E. Ash Street in Springfield. Access to the building is from 10 ½ Street (between Ash and Laurel Streets), where there is ample visitor parking in the west parking lot. For more information, please call 217-785-0037. Brown Bag Lectures are free and open to the public.

Also, if you want to be informed of upcoming lectures by email, you can sign up for the brownbag announcement list.