Frontiers of Public Humanities: New Challenges and New Directions for Museums
This lunchtime lecture series enabled conversations about new ideas and controversial issues of the public humanities with some of today's most thoughtful museum leaders. These programs brought together students and practitioners of the public humanities for discussion and dialog. By talking about the topics that concern us, we can see new opportunities and new possibilities for our work and our audiences.
Co-sponsored by the the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.
February 8, 2006
John Nicholas Brown Center
357 Benefit Street
12:30 p.m.
Vas Prabhu, deputy director of interpretation and public programs, Peabody Essex Museum
March 8, 2006
John Nicholas Brown Center
357 Benefit Street
12:30 p.m.
Peter Liebhold, curator, Smithsonian National Museum of American History
April 12, 2006
John Nicholas Brown Center
357 Benefit Street
12:30 p.m.
Ellen Rosenthal, president and CEO, Connor Prairie
Connor Prairie, one of the nation's best living history museums, has supported significant research in how museum visitors learn. Ellen Rosenthal discussed this work and the ways it has changed interpretation at the site.
April 25, 2006
John Nicholas Brown Center
357 Benefit Street
12 p.m.
Kristine Navarro, director of the University of Texas at El Paso Institute of Oral History
Brown's Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, the John Nicholas Brown Center, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, and the University of Texas at El Paso continue their joint project of documenting the Bracero Program through oral history. Kristine Navarro discussed the challenges and accomplishments of the project.
Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America.
April 26, 2006
John Nicholas Brown Center
357 Benefit Street
12:30 p.m.
Patricia Mooradian, president, The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford – which includes the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, and the Ford Rouge Factory Tour – sees itself as a history destination. It offers a rich and diverse offering of exhibits, demonstrations, programs, and reenactments. Patricia Mooradian discussed its role as a driver of heritage tourism.
April 29, 2006
Faunce House, Peturutti Lounge
Brown University
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Co-sponsored by the Faculty Committee on Science and Technology Studies.
May 2, 2006
John Nicholas Brown Center
357 Benefit Street
12 p.m.
Allen Kurzweil, author of A Case of Curiosities, The Grand Complication, Leon and the Spitting Image, and Leon and the Champion Chip; Jane Lancaster, author of Inquire Within: A Social History of the Providence Athenaeum 1753-2003, Making Time – Lillian Moller Gilbreth, A Life Beyond Cheaper By the Dozen; and By Motor to the Golden Gate by Emily Post, with introduction and notes; Stephen O'Shea, author of Back to the Front, The Perfect Heresy: the Revolutionary Life and Spectacular Death of the Medieval Cathars, and Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World
Co-sponsored by the Department of History.
Music at the Nightingale-Brown House
In honor of the Brown family's long tradition of music at the Nightingale-Brown House, the John Nicholas Brown Center has been pleased to host recitals of chamber music by students in Brown University's Department of Music. In addition to performing, the musicians present introductory remarks about the musical and historical context of the pieces.
April 20, 2006
John Nicholas Brown Center
357 Benefit Street
5 p.m.
Anna Leibinger, Alice Malone, and Joseph Swain perform Bach's Partita #1 in B Minor (complete), Partita #2 in D Minor (four movements), and Sonata #3 in C Major (complete) for unaccompanied violin
May 2, 2006
John Nicholas Brown Center
357 Benefit Street
3:30 p.m.
Anna Leibinger, Kendall Hancock, Nora Krohn, and Colin Baker perform Clarke's "Morpheus" for viola and piano, Halversen's "Passacaglia: Duo for violin and viola after Handel's Suite No.7 in G minor for harpsichord, and Ravel's Quartet for two violins, viola and violoncello, and the Handel-Halvorsen Duo for violin and viola
This spring 2006 lunchtime lecture series featured public humanities professionals from the Smithsonian Institution, The Henry Ford, and Connor Prairie.