#museum research

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

Annals of Carnegie Museum

By John Wible

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History produces a scientific journal entitled Annals of Carnegie Museum that first appeared in print in March 1901. Its purpose is to promote the research and collections of the museum. This issue from October 2017 has the skull of a newborn rock hyrax, Procavia capensis, from the collection of the Section of Mammals on the cover. The image is from an article in the issue on aspects of the skull morphology of hyraxes by myself and Rea Postdoctoral Fellow Abagael West. For more information about the Annals, click here.

John Wible, PhD, is the curator of the Section of Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and editor of Annals of Carnegie Museum. John’s research is focused on the tree of life of mammals, understanding the evolutionary relationships between living and extinct taxa, and how the mammalian fauna on Earth got to be the way it is today. He uses his expertise on the anatomy of living mammals to reconstruct the lifeways of extinct mammals. John lives with his wife and two sons in a house full of cats and rabbits in Ross Township.

[valainea]

Opinion | The Ornithologist the Internet Called a Murderer

It’s a scary thing to be the target of online vigilantes who believe in their own righteousness.

It wasn’t until the public realized that Dr. Filardi had “collected” the bird — killing it for the museum’s research collection — that the adulation turned to venom. ...  When I asked Dr. Filardi whether he could have obtained what he needed for research by simply plucking a feather — a suggestion made by many online — he bristled. “All a feather gets you is DNA, and that’s not a magic wand!” With the specimen, though, “we have RNA, a skeleton, gonads, tissues in cryogenic storage.” ...  This is not just his opinion, but the overwhelming consensus among field biologists.

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

Roman Period mummy in the Walton Hall

by Erin Peters

What in the world is happening with “Egypt at the Carnegie?” In short, a lot of amazing things!

I am an Egyptologist/Romanist who studies Egypt when it was a part of the Roman Empire (30 BCE – 395 CE) and started as an assistant curator at the museum in 2015. If you want to see an object from the time period I study, visit the Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt and look at our Roman Period mummy with lots of gilding and pink and purple paint—it is my favorite object in the museum!

With our exhibit concepts in place, we applied for a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to develop a centerpiece for the exhibit with our amazing Dynasty 12 royal funerary boat and were awarded the grant for 2017! With this grant, we are starting first-stage research and planning for a digital interpretive component for visitors to experience life on the Nile in the time of the boat’s owner—pharaoh Senwosret III—who reigned from approximately 1887 BCE to 1848 BCE.

Carnegie’s Dynasty 12 royal funerary boat

And finally, I was asked by my friend and colleague to join an archaeological mission at Antinoupolis, which is the famous ancient city built by the emperor Hadrian for his companion Antinous, who is said to have drowned in the Nile in October 130 CE and was deified after his death. A major part of the mission’s project is to make a complete architectural plan of the Hadrianic city, and I am interested in the city’s sacred landscape as my research specialty is temples in Roman Egypt.

To kick off this blog series about Egypt at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, I will write about my adventures and experiences while in Egypt and continue with our grant and exhibit activities this year (which involve a trip to California with Director of Exhibition Experience Becca Shreckengast and Director of Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh’s Innovation Studio Jeffrey Inscho in March).

Pittsburgh International Airport

But first, to get to Egypt it is a long journey from Pittsburgh. I started with proud Pittsburgh colors at the airport’s gift shop, flew to Washington, DC to connect to Frankfurt, Germany, and then I flew to Cairo where black and gold are echoed in the airport’s signage.

Cairo International Airport

Tomorrow, I will get in a car for the 4 ½ km drive south to Antinoupolis (modern Sheikh Abada) and begin the first leg of the “Egypt at the Carnegie” adventure and write again soon, Inshallah. 

Erin Peters is an assistant curator of science and research at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and is currently in Egypt for an archaeological research study. This blog is the first in a series of blog posts she has written while in the field. Check back for more!

[museum-education]

Articulating Cultural Values

What I’m quite curious in knowing is if your museum undertakes these types of activities for itself —visitor profiles and motivation surveying, etc. If so, in what department does this work sit in — education, marketing, other?

[hannahnorahgreenwood]

Are all museums in the UK free?

The free admissions policy applies to national museums and collections that are funded directly by the central government of each UK nation. It is free to access the permanent collections in all national museums, though they may still charge for temporary exhibitions. Almost all university museums and a large number of local authority museums also operate a free admissions policy. Most - but not all - independent museums charge an entry fee.

Gov.co.uk

Summary In November 2015 there was a total of 3.3 million visits to the sponsored museums and galleries. Visits to the sponsored museums were 11.3 per cent lower in November 2015 compared to November 2014 (a reduction of 415,785 visitors). The lower visitor figures were partly driven by: The removal of Tyne and Wear museums from the figures. Tyne and Wear museums are no longer sponsored by DCMS. There were 133,540 visits to Tyne and Wear museums in November 2014

[decorativehistory]

Navigating Image Use

The most confusing part about writing about museum objects is navigating the publication permissions. While Creative Commons can cover most of your academic writing, there are a few extra rules you’ll want to follow to stay on everyone’s good side.

Anytime you publish an image for public view, whether in a journal, a book, a poster, or online, you must—at the very least—notify the museum. While they cannot copyright the historic object, scenes involving the objects, dressed mannequins, and illustrations and renderings of the object are copyrighted, and museums will feel ownership over all images of the objects they produce.

If you are including an image in a lecture (that is not being recording for publishing), you do not have to have written permission, but you do have to include a citation on the slide. You should include the name of the object, its accession number, the name of the museum, and the location of the museum. (i.e. Brocaded Silk Gown, 1840-1850. 1930-367, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA. ) You also do not have to ask permission if you are including the image in a school assignment that you are only handing in to the professor.

Who to contact for image permission will vary depending on the size of the museum, but your best bet is to contact the registrarial department. If they do not deal with image permissions, they will be able to direct your request through the proper channels.

When requesting image rights, briefly explain your project and which images you require. Give the title, who will be publishing it, and the circumstances of its publication. Image rights for books will cost more than image rights for theses published to your school’s database.

While it may seem silly or redundant to ask permission to use images you can get online, using those images without permission can put you on the bad side of respected institutions, which is not a place you want to be—especially if you’re pursuing a career within museums. That said, most museums are not image-hoarding dragons; if you’re publishing in an academic journal that is not paying you, you can usually get permission at a reduced rate or even free if you’re still in school. If you’re publishing on a blog that does not create income (which is legally covered under Creative Commons), you can avoid stepping on toes by sending your post and the images you wish to include to the curator for unofficial permission and by linking back to the museum page where you found the image and properly citing it within your blog.

[decorativehistory]

Meeting with and Interviewing Curators

Often it’s helpful to meet with an expert in the field to bounce ideas off of, get research recommendations, and make sure you’re on the right track. While curators are big nerds who only have their job because they like to talk about their specialty, they’re also really busy. So you should only make an interview or meeting with a curator after you’ve done a fair amount of research. Come in with specific questions and an idea of what you want to accomplish through this interview.

Before you request an appointment, check to see if the museum is opening or closing any exhibits in that department. If so, hold off. Closing and opening exhibits is an extremely busy time for a curator, and if they do manage to squeeze you into their schedule during an installation, they may be distracted or called away. Same goes (almost doubly) for symposia and donor events. So be flexible with your availability.

If you only have a few questions, it might be beneficial to simply send an email, especially if your questions involve finding sources. If you’re not sure whether you should email or make an in person appointment, ask! Email the curator with a list of your questions and your availability for meeting, and let them decide whether to answer your questions electronically or invite you in.

If you plan on quoting the person you’re interviewing, tell them your intentions first.

[decorativehistory]

How to Prepare for Viewing an Object

Bring all examination tools you think you may need to view the object. While a museum will always provide you with gloves and can provide other tools if necessary, having your own tools will make you look super legit and impressive. When I go to examine textiles, my kit includes: cotton or nitrile gloves, measuring tape, 1-inch pick glass, 2 portable microscopes (20-40x and 60-100x), and a dental pick.

Bring a camera, but ask before you take any pictures. You will usually not be allowed to publish your images—even online—so make it clear that you only intend to use them for research purposes. Photographs are incredibly useful at jogging your memory.

Do not bring pens! You can only use pencils when around antiques. It’s the second commandment. If at all possible, try to fit everything into a small bag. You won’t be able to bring your bag into storage, so wear something with generous pockets.

Don’t wear wool. Many museums will not care or notice, but wool shouldn’t go into storage with other objects because it can bring in bugs. In the same vein, remove your outerwear before entering storage.

Don’t wear jewelry. You will likely be bending over objects to see them closely, and necklaces can dangle down and hit the object. Bracelets and rings can scratch or catch on an object as you handle it. Wedding bands with no stones can stay on.

Leave all your food and drinks in the car. If the museum has a dedicated storage building, they may not allow food in the building at all, meaning even if you leave your bag out of storage, you can’t have food in it.

Lastly, now’s your chance to grill the curator! You have them there, so you might as well ask them questions. Have a short list of questions to ask the curator related to your research and the objects you’re viewing.