Intern-connectivity: Museum of Sonoma County

March 23, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

By Ginger Daley (MA, 2019) Nestled behind downtown in Santa Rosa, California lies the Museum of Sonoma County. During the summer of 2019 I have been working there as a curatorial intern. This was not the first time I have worked for this Museum; for several years I was a docent there.  The year after my son was born, I quit working full-time but needed something for me, for my sanity. That is when I first started volunteering at the […]

Categories: Exhibits, internships, Museum Studies • Tags: art, collections, internships, USF Museum Studies

Museums and Pandemics

March 16, 2020 by Marjorie Schwarzer

by Marjorie Schwarzer Editors’ Note: This post appeared on March 10, 2020 in AAM’s Center for the Future of Museums’ Blog with a forward by Elizabeth Merritt.  To read the original post, click here. **** The worldwide spread of COVID-19 reminds those of us working in museums just how vulnerable our institutions – not to mention our communities – are during public health crises. Already some museums have positioned themselves as leaders, distributing information and hosting town halls about what to […]

Categories: Community, Forums, Museum Studies • Tags: California history, science, social justice, University of San Francisco Museum Studies, USF faculty

Practicing What We Preach

March 9, 2020 by Paula Birnbaum

by Paula Birnbaum Yolanda López, The Nanny, from Women’s Work is Never Done series, mixed media installation, 1994. Photo courtesy of the University of San Francisco This article originally appeared in the March/April 2020 issue of Museum magazine, a benefit of AAM membership. Across the United States, a wave of feminist exhibitions and programs are responding to the current political climate and gender and racial inequities and violence. Drawing from the #MeToo movement, LGBTQ+ advocacy, Black and Brown Lives Matter, and Decolonize This […]

Categories: Collaborations, Exhibits, Forums, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: collaboration, Exhibits, faculty, feminist art, social justice, Thacher Gallery, University of San Francisco Museum Studies

Alumni Connect: Chief Black Coal’s journey back home

February 24, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

By Jordan Dresser (MA, 2015) Editors’ note:  We are pleased to reprint this recent article by USF Museum Studies alumnus Jordan Dresser.  Jordan currently serves as Collections Manager for the Northern Arapaho Historical Collections in Wind River, Wyoming.  To the see original article:  click here. “It’s the tribe’s now.” Temple Smith had tears in his eyes as he uttered those words to me on a cold January day. It was understandable. Letting go is hard. But letting go is the […]

Categories: Alumni, Community, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: Alumni, collections, law, social justice, USF Museum Studies

Celebrating Our Alumni

February 10, 2020 by Paula Birnbaum

by Paula Birnbaum Editors’ note: A year ago, on February 8, 2019, USF’s Master’s Program in Museum Studies held its first ever reunion to celebrate the momentous occasion of the fifth anniversary of our program. Organized in conjunction with the annual meeting of the California Association of Museums, over 100 alumni of the USF Museum Studies Program convened for a festive gathering at the Marines Memorial Club in San Francisco. Today we are reprinting an excerpt from a speech given at […]

Categories: Alumni • Tags: Alumni, USF faculty, USF Museum Studies

MSGA elects 2020 officers!

February 3, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

The Museum Studies program is pleased to announce the 2020 class officers of the Museum Studies Graduate Association, now in its seventh year. The Association aims to represent and serve all Museum Studies graduate students through facilitating networking opportunities with museum professionals, fostering awareness of museum exhibitions, and promoting scholarly and professional development activities. We plan on hosting several events for our cohort in the coming year. Stay tuned! As President of the Museum Studies Graduate Association, Chloe Clouse hopes […]

Categories: Community, Museum Studies • Tags: community, professional development, students, USF Museum Studies

Intergenerational Art-making

January 27, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

By Samantha Sanders (MA, 2019) Editor’s note: Today, in honor of the birthday of the late artist Ruth Asawa, Samantha Sanders shares her experiences with the dynamic program Ruth’s Table, that honors Ms. Asawa’s memory. –ms In summer 2019,  I worked for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF). I was a Museum Ambassador Intern in the Education department of the de Young museum, located in Golden Gate Park. The de Young’s Museum Ambassador Program is one of the longest […]

Categories: Community, internships, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: art, DeYoung Museum, education, social justice, USF Museum Studies

Intern-connectivity: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society

January 20, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Paige Wilcox (MA, 2019) During much of my time as a Summer 2019 intern in the archive at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society (GLBTHS), I organized and inventoried a portion of their existing collection, a large and varied assortment of material all filed under the umbrella of “Art and Artifact.” One-of-a-kind handmade art pieces mingle with co-opted mass-produced items in a collection that is as eclectic and diverse as the community of individuals that produced it. […]

Categories: internships, Museum Studies • Tags: California history, collections, internships, social justice, USF Museum Studies

Inclusivity on Display at USF’s Thacher Gallery

January 13, 2020 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

 by Max Blue  In the new exhibition Emboldened, Embodied, the Thacher Gallery takes a stand against underrepresentation in the arts — and takes a stand for inclusion everywhere. Artist Kim Anno’s portrait, entitled “Charlie Clark.” Lenore Chinn’s “Before the Wedding”   Exploring Identity Each fall, museum studies graduate students produce a show at the Thacher Gallery, located in the Gleeson Library. This year, student curators, along with Professor Paula Birnbaum, invited seven California-based artists who explore identity and feminism. The exhibition features […]

Categories: Exhibits, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: art, curating, Exhibits, feminist art, Thacher Gallery, USF Museum Studies