Alumni Connect: San Francisco Maritime Museum

June 18, 2018 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

By Sabrina L. Oliveros (MA, 2015) Last year, I immersed myself in a research project for the San Francisco Maritime Museum. The job had me diving into its building’s earliest years, when the ship-shaped structure on Aquatic Park Cove was anything buta museum. Constructed through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). from 1936 to 1939, the building was meant to be the recreational center for Aquatic Park: decked with lounges, restaurants, and amenities for the public to use. Newspapers heralded it […]

Categories: Alumni, Museum Studies • Tags: Alumni, art, California history, research, USF Museum Studies

Alumni Connect: Calgary, Canada

June 4, 2018 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Sarah Mackey (MA, 2016) Editors’ note:  This week, we leave sunny California for snowy Canada where we connect with alumna Sarah Mackey and learn about her work at the Lougheed House, a historic mansion in downtown Calgary.  This summer, Sarah is working as an interpreter at the Calgary Zoo. –-USFmuseumstudiesblog USF Museum Studies Blog: Tell us something about the Lougheed House Sarah Mackey: Built in 1891, the Lougheed House (or Beaulieu Mansion) is a historic sandstone mansion constructed for […]

Categories: Alumni, Interviews, Museum Studies • Tags: Alumni, global, history

Alumni Connect: Contemporary Jewish Museum

April 9, 2018 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

By Lindsey Stoll Editors’ note:  This month we are featuring a variety of perspectives on the important work that the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) does in our community and highlighting the contributions of USF Museum Studies alumni and interns to that work.  For this post, we are grateful to Lindsey Stoll (MA, 2016) who served in the dual role of Public Programs Coordinator and the Volunteer Coordinator for CJM last year.  Below, Lindsey introduces us to CJM, her work there […]

Categories: Alumni, Interviews • Tags: Alumni, Contemporary Jewish Museum, education

Alumni Connect: Blossoms & Blooms at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden

April 1, 2018 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Marykaren Mrowka (MA, 2014) The University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, where I serve as the visitor experience coordinator, is a non-profit living museum nestled into Strawberry Canyon. With 34 acres and over 10,000 types of plants, the collection is wildly diverse. One of the coolest aspects of a living collection is that things are always changing. The collection is growing, blooming, spreading, and occasionally, even being eaten! It is also a sensory expedition.  Some plants give off […]

Categories: Alumni, Museum Studies • Tags: Alumni, education, nature, research, science, USF Museum Studies

Strength in Numbers: the 2018 California Association of Museums conference

March 19, 2018 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

Last month, over 400 museum professionals from throughout California gathered in beautiful Palm Springs, California to share best practices and advance the work of museums throughout the state.  USF Museum Studies was a proud lead sponsor of the California Association of Museums (CAM) conference.  We were especially pleased to be the featured sponsor of the session “New Perspectives: Explore the Latest in Collections Management with Emerging Museum Professionals,” at which the capstone of our own Kim Turner (MA, 2016) was featured. […]

Categories: Alumni, Museum Studies, Social Justice • Tags: Alumni, Cultural Property, professional development, social justice, students, USF Museum Studies

Anting Anting | Magic Objects exhibition opens tomorrow at Thacher Gallery

March 5, 2018 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

The Mary and Carter Thacher Gallery at the University of San Francisco (USF) presents new and selected work by Bay Area artist Michael Arcega.  Anting Anting | Magic Objects will be on view from March 5-April 15, 2018. Opening events, coordinated by Museum Studies alumna Breanne Batara (MA, 2017), will take place on Tuesday, March 6, 5-8 p.m., featuring an artist walk-through (5-6 p.m., Thacher Gallery), artist Michael Arcega in conversation with Jenifer Wofford (6-7 p.m. in Xavier Room, Fromm […]

Categories: Alumni, Exhibits, Museum Studies • Tags: Alumni, art, exhibit, global, Thacher Gallery

Alumni Connect: Celebrating pioneering women

February 19, 2018 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

by Sara Hodge (MA, 2016)   As the Collections Cataloger for the Missouri Historical Society, I play a major role in the intellectual preservation of our collection. The Society recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. That means our institution has been collecting objects for 150 years. Like any institution of our size and age, many of our objects’ catalog records have wrong or misleading titles, no physical descriptions, incorrect measurements, no dates or artists linked to them, no object histories, etc. […]

Categories: Alumni, Forums, Museum Studies • Tags: Alumni, collections, history, USF Museum Studies

From USF With Love: Remembering the Haight-Ashbury Era, 50 Years Later

February 12, 2018 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

Editors’ note:   In Summer 2017, steps away from the USF campus, the City of San Francisco celebrated the 50th anniversary of San Francisco’s historic Summer of Love.  University of San Francisco hired Museum Studies Alumna Nicole Meldahl to dig into the archives and interview alumni, resulting in a feature story for USF Magazine. -We re-post it here, in honor of love and Valentine’s Day.  In addition to her work as a collections professional and freelance writer, Nicole currently serves as archivist of San Francisco’s […]

Categories: Alumni, Community, Forums, Interviews • Tags: Alumni, California history, community, research

Global Manifestos

February 5, 2018 by usfmuseumstudiesblog

Editors’ note:  In November 2017, USF’s Museum Studies Program co-sponsored the Forum for Transnational Collaboration an innovative forum envisioned by Professor John Zarobell.  The two-day event brought together museum and arts professionals (including Museum Studies alumna Cho Rao) from countries as diverse as Turkey, India, Hong Kong and South Africa to share their experiences and reactions to the changes in the art community wrought by globalization.  To view a video of the entire program, click here. The blog post below, written by Professor […]

Categories: Alumni, Collaborations, Forums • Tags: Alumni, art, collaboration, faculty, free lecture, global, USF Museum Studies