The R.S. Peabody Museum Annual Report

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R.S.

P ea b o d y M u s eum ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016

Peabody Andover


THE PEABODY VISION I

n 1901, Robert S. Peabody (Class of 1857) established the institution that now bears his name with three goals in mind: to provide space for Phillips Academy student groups, to promote the study of archaeology and anthropology at Phillips Academy, and to foster archaeological research. Our twenty-first century vision for the Museum has remained true to Robert Peabody’s original idea: a teaching museum dedicated to the faculty and students of the Academy.


CONTENTS COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

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CAMPUS AND ALUMNI EVENTS

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COLLECTIONS STEWARDSHIP 8 OUTREACH AND PARTNERSHIPS 12 PEABODY MUSEUM PEOPLE 15

SUPPORTING THE MISSION 16

On The Cover Boxes and boxes of boxes!

R.S.

PEAbOdy MUsEUM ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016

Peabody Andover

July marked the arrival of 1500 custom archival boxes to initiate work on the Peabody’s collection rehousing project. Unloading the truck and storing the boxes was hard work, but was an important first step toward completely reboxing and inventorying our large collection. These boxes are made possible by a grant from the Abbot Academy Association, continuing Abbot’s tradition of boldness, innovation, and caring. They will be used to replace the old wooden drawers that have supported our collection for decades, and will provide protection and a long-term home for our artifacts.


Collaborative Learning The Peabody Museum widely supported coursework across disciplines during fiscal year 2016. Museum educators taught 32 lessons, serving 23 faculty members and 1,206 students. [1] Three term long classes were taught at the Peabody: in the fall Marcelle Doheny taught her senior elective Race & Identity in Indian Country, drawing heavily on collections and personnel; during the winter Donny Slater taught his new elective Maya Cosmos; and in the spring Peabody educators participated in the Human Origins course led by instructor in biology Jerry Hagler.

[2] Dominique Toya and Maxine Toya (Pueblo of

Jemez), Nancy Youngblood and Joseph Lugo Youngblood (Santa Clara Pueblo), spent the week of May 22, 2016 on campus sharing their passion for Pueblo pottery with Peabody Museum work duty students and students in two sections of Thayer Zaeder’s ’83 studio ceramics course. Click here to see the short film by Jessie Wallner.

[3] Students in Summer Session participated in a

variety of classes at the Peabody during July 2015. Matt Oosting’s Lower School Institute history class visited for an introduction to local archaeology and the challenge of throwing a dart with an atlatl, while Michael Sormrude’s Dynamic Bodies class visited for an encounter with Abbot Academy’s anatomical specimen, the “Prussian mercenary.” Ann Wilkin brought her English writing classes and we deconstructed the Peabody’s vintage Pawtucket diorama, looking at what the diorama had to say about contemporary Native peoples (or not).

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[4] Alex Armour ’16 and Veronica Nutting ’16

worked with instructor in history Marcelle Doheny and Peabody staff members Marla Taylor and Lindsay Randall to conduct their winter term independent project, “The White Mans’ Indian.” They examined depictions of American Indians through time, using the Henry Inman paintings in the Peabody collections and images from the Addison Gallery of American Art. They shared their results with their peers during February 2016’s Peabody student colloquium and during a presentation to the Board of Trustees.

[5] Seven students traveled in June 2016 with Pea-

body director Ryan Wheeler and instructors in French Claire Gallou, Debbie Pickering, and Libby Poland for the third Piette Program in France. The travelers encountered millennia of history, ranging from the decorated caves of the Dordogne to the Bayeux tapestry and the horrors and triumphs of World War II. Lots of hands-on programming allowed students to try prehistoric crafts, test their language skills, and work together to explore caves, Neolithic trails, and cook dinner!

[6] Lindsay Randall arranged for Edith Andrews of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) to [5]

visit the Race and Identity class. Edith’s conversations with students gave them a firsthand look at NAGPRA – the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act – from the American Indian perspective. Mrs. Andrews talked about the reluctance of museums to return funerary objects and items of cultural patrimony, even though these are clearly covered by the Act.


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Key Figures Student Participation at the Peabody These numbers represent students involved in work duty, participants in Peabody-led trips, Ceramic studio students, Independent Projects, as well as those in the term-long courses of Human Origins, Race and Identity, and Maya Cosmos.

68 101

2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 107

Faculty Participation at the Peabody Art

Elaine Crivelli, Emily Trespas, Thayer Zaeder, Therese Zemlin

Biology

Willa Abel, Tom Cone, Jerry Hagler, Catherine Kemp, Marc Koolen, Anna Milkowski, Trish Russell

English

Catherine Toussignant, Flavia Vidal

History and Social Science

Laila Ballout, Kathy Dalton, Marcelle Doheny, Emma Frey, Mary Mulligan, Elizabeth Monroe, Marisela Ramos, Donny Slater

Physics

Caroline Odden

Spanish

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Clara Isaza-Bishop


Campus and Alumni Events The Peabody Museum participates in and hosts a variety of events during the academic year, ranging from Family Weekend in October to Grandparents’ Day in May, as well as Reunion Weekend, visits by prospective students and their families, tours, classes, signature events for the Andover community, and a number of visits with local public and private schools beyond our work with Phillips Academy faculty and students. In 2015-2016 we provided these opportunities to 1,698 individuals.

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Collections Stewardship Collections from across the Americas support the Peabody’s engagement with Phillips Academy and researchers. [1] During FY 2016 the Peabody hosted 4 research

visits and responded to 42 queries regarding our collections. For example, Amy Fox from the University of Toronto visited in August of 2015 to examine the museum’s site files for her preliminary dissertation research on terminal archaic (2000-1000 B.C.) archaeological sites in the Northeastern area of North America. An image of Richard “Scotty” MacNeish working in the Ayacucho region of Peru was provided for a US Embassy reception in Lima in August. The event highlighted the long standing relationship between US and Peruvian archaeologists. In the image used, MacNeish is working on mapping the Pikimachay Cave site.

[2] One of the Museum’s significant resources is the

library collection, containing some 9,000+ books, journals, and reference volumes. Mary Beth Clack continued as our contract librarian, completing her work to catalog our mounting backlog of donated books and moving on to the task of checking and updating catalog entries, especially for series where the existing catalog did not list any details about the individual volumes included. This work will continue into 2016-2017 and will make our holdings more accessible to faculty, students, and Museum personnel. Custom archival storage boxes were made for many of the rarest and most fragile volumes as well.

[3] The Cordell Award Endowment was established in

2013 in honor of the late Linda S. Cordell, eminent archaeologist of the American Southwest and member of the Peabody Advisory Committee (PAC). The award supports research using the collections of the Museum.

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Our 2016 award recipient is Dave Thulman, who will be studying PaleoIndian artifacts in the Museum collection. Visit our blog for more on the Cordell Award.

[4] The Museum’s Adopt A Drawer program connects

our collections with donors. A gift of $1,000 supports the professional cataloging of one drawer, including data entry, archival storage supplies, photography, and inclusion in the museum’s online catalog, hosted by PastPerfect Online. As of June 30, 2016, generous donors have adopted 48 artifact storage drawers. Visit our blog to learn more.

[5] Work duty at the Peabody is a primary portal

through which students can interact with the museum. During fiscal year 2016, 33 students performed their work duty, along with 2 student volunteers, with the Peabody collections department, with over 85% of them choosing to return the following term. Collectively, the students provided 497 hours of work over the school year.

[6] Interns and volunteers help collections staff with a

variety of collections projects from cataloging and photography to pest management and preparing artifacts for classes. Projects this year include: a full inventory of the Peabody’s basketry collection, continued pest management treatment, and researching archaeological and photographic collections for blog entries.


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The Peabody has been in the forefront of Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) compliance since the inception of the federal act in the 1990s. Peabody collections include ancestral human remains and funerary objects from 112 sites in 28 states. Collections have been affiliated with 60 tribes, though the Peabody houses ancestral remains from 44 sites considered to be Culturally Unidentified under the NAGPRA act and rule. In fiscal year 2016 we repatriated a scared birch bark scroll to the White Earth Nation in Minnesota. Click here to look for more on the repatriation in the winter issue of Andover magazine.

A generous gift from the Oak River Foundation in Peoria, Illinois is supporting the temporary appointment of archivist Irene Gates. Irene is working to improve the intellectual and physical control of the museum’s collections. We hope this gift will inspire others to support our work to better catalog, document, and make accessible the Peabody’s world-class collections of objects, photographs, and archival materials. See our blog for updates on the project.

Fifteen-hundred custom archival boxes were delivered on Monday, July 25 to initiate the Peabody’s collections rehousing project. They will be used to replace the old wooden drawers that have supported our collection for decades, and will provide protection and a long-term home for our artifacts. The boxes were assembled to our specifications by Hollinger Metal Edge and are archival quality. These boxes are made possible by a grant from the Abbot Academy Association, continuing Abbot’s tradition of boldness, innovation, and caring. 10


Peabody Museum NAGPRA Repatriations Date

Tribe/Group

HR (mni)

1994

Wabanaki Confederacy

37

1998

Mashantucket Pequot Tribe

6

1999

Pueblo of Jemez

1922

2000

Wabanaki Confederacy

2

2000

Wampanoag Confederacy

8

2012

Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation & 1 Repatriation Alliance

2013

Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community

2013

Gila River Indian Community

2015

Wabanaki Confederacy

2016

White Earth Nation

7

AFO

UFO

2561

69

636

66

SO

649 1564

1

201 6 185 1

HR(mni) = Human Remains (Minimum Number of Individuals) AFO = Associated Funerary Objects UFO = Unassociated Funerary Objects SO = Sacred Object

Collections Stewartship Archaeology Collections: 500,000+ Ethnographic Collections: 2,200+ Images: 46,000+ Archives: 570+ linear feet Library: 9,000+ books Geographic Scope: 5,092 sites and locations in 38 countries, with principal collections from the United States and Canada 11


Outreach and Partnerships The Peabody believes in the PA motto of Non Sibi and recognizes that our role in the community goes beyond opening our doors to visitors. That is why we participate in a variety of educational partnerships and events throughout the year. [1] Dr. Bethany Jay, professor of history at Salem State

University collaborated with Lindsay Randall to run a graduate class, “Preserving the Past: Using Archaeology to Teach History.” The class focused on how archaeology can be used in middle and high school classrooms as a way to talk about minorities, who are often left out of the historical record. The class ran for five days and focused on Native Americans, women, enslaved people, and free blacks. During each day Lindsay modeled lesson plans that focused on archaeology, yet utilized the resources available to all teachers. The class culminated in an excavation at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead with Dr. Nathan Hamilton.

[2] Lindsay Randallrepresented the Peabody Museum

at the 9th annual Archaeology Fair held at the Museum of Science in Boston. Numerous archeologists from across Massachusetts and New England converge on the Museum of Science with hands on activities for kids and adults of all ages. Lindsay brought the museum’s LEGOs archaeology activity and the pseudomorph detective game.

[3] Lindsay Randall and Liza Oldham (OWHL) pre-

sented a student workshop for MLK Day entitled “Stay Woke: Finding Prejudice in the Research Process.” During the workshop students worked in groups and read modern articles to look for biases in the presentation and wording of the information. A great deal of discussion was generated related not only to how such biases shape conversations today, but how historical events and reporting may have been subjected to the same problems.

[4] Scholars, museum professionals, educators, and in-

terested members of the public gathered at Salem State University for the symposium, Invisible Injustice, which delved into the history and implications of slavery in New England. Lindsay Randall led a session based on the Peabody’s History 200 lesson, “The Little Spots 12

Allow’d Them.” The lesson explores how landscapes can and have shaped human behavior using archaeological data from Isaac Royall’s Ten Hills Farm in Medford, Mass.

[5] Lindsay Randall, Marla Taylor, and Ryan Wheeler

participated in the annual meetings of the Society for American Archaeology in Orlando, Florida, April 2016. Lindsay and Marla were involved in a symposium on archaeology education and Ryan organized and participated in two symposia: “Adventures in Archaeology: A Symposium in Honor of Wm. J. Kennedy” and “The Archaeology, Art, and Iconography of Florida’s Watery Landscapes,” co-organized with Joanna Ostapkowicz and supported by a grant from the Toomey Foundation for the Natural Sciences.

[6] The Peabody Museum hosts the monthly meet-

ings of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society-NE Chapter (now the Eugene C. Winter Chapter), which include lectures on all topics of archaeology and history. Meetings are held September through May, weather permitting. The lectures are open to all, including faculty, staff, and students. In 2015-2016 nine meetings were convened and featured outstanding speakers on topics of local, regional and national interest. For example, Alexandra Chan spoke about her research on the archaeology of the slave quarters at Medford’s Isaac Royall House (Sept 2015) and Zoe Kontes shared her research on the role of museums in the international antiquities trade (May 2016).

[7] In FY2016 the Peabody launched the Archaeol-

ogy Explorers, a pilot program focused on introducing archaeology to younger students, but drawing on the pedagogy and collections used in our Phillips Academy classes. Events included several well-attended open houses in the winter and spring during public school holidays and a week long program in April. Everyone learned a lot (including us!).


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Peabody Museum People Irene Gates, Temporary Archivist

Irene Gates was hired as for one year as the Temporary Archivist. This position is supported by a generous grant from the Oak River Foundation of Peoria, Ill. to support work pertaining to the intellectual and physical control of the museum’s collections. We hope this gift will inspire others to support our work to better catalog, document, and make accessible the Peabody’s world-class collections of objects, photographs, and archival materials. Irene’s position will focus on increasing access to the significant archival materials held by the museum, which include museum records dating from the early 20th century onwards, archaeological excavation records, photographs, and papers of individuals associated with the museum.

Marla Taylor, Curator of Collections

Marla Taylor was named the Curator of Collections in May 2016 after eight years in the collections department. Marla began at the Peabody part-time in 2008 as the Collections Assistant before being promoted to Collections Manager in 2011. She now oversees daily management and long-term planning for the Peabody’s extensive collections. Marla has also worked to cultivate student engagement through work duty and independent projects. She brings her strategic thinking and positive attitude to supporting Peabody initiatives across the board.

Benjamin Burke ’11

Ben is business development analyst and developer at Dispel, a New York based technology start-up specializing in online security. He is a graduate of Yale University. Ben aided with collections organization during his Phillips Academy work duty service at the Peabody. Ben says of his experiences, “the Peabody Museum was a source of endless adventure during my time at Andover. I am happy to have spent countless hours there through work duty, various classes, and through one of the Peabody’s sponsored trips (BALAM-Bilingual Archaeological Learning Adventure in Mesoamerica). I am pleased to have the opportunity to make sure the Peabody remains a welcoming place for students and to help grow that mission of inclusion, education, and exploration.”

Agnes Hsu-Tang

Agnes Hsu-Tang received her PhD in Chinese art and archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. Agnes is an accomplished scholar, cultural heritage policy advisor, and is well-known as the host of several award-winning TV documentaries, including the History Channel’s Mankind: The Story of All of Us. Dr. Hsu-Tang serves on a number of boards, including the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology and the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at NYU. Along with her scholarly achievements, Dr. Hsu-Tang is an accomplished musician and serves as a managing director of the Metropolitan Opera. She is adjunct associate research scholar in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.

Jenny Elkus ’92

Jenny Elkus is an architect at Elkus Manfredi Architects in Boston. She is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Jenny has fond memories of using the Peabody’s library as a senior at Phillips Academy in the early 1990s—she notes that it was much quieter at the Peabody then!

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Supporting The Mission The Peabody Museum is a world-class teaching museum and unparalleled educational resource for Phillips Academy and the community. All gifts to the Peabody support the museum’s core programs and benefit Andover students in immediate and tangible ways. We gratefully acknowledge the following donors who generously supported the museum’s enterprise during FY2015–2016 through gifts to both operations and endowment. Mr. & Mrs. Donald B. Abbott Dr. & Ms. Robert K. Abbott, P’12, ’13 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas S. Armour, Jr. ’74, P’16 Mr. & Mrs. Anthony C. Beilenson ’50 Mr. & Mrs. Harold R. Benson, Jr. ’48 Mrs. Yain Y. Lu & Mr. David Braslau Mr. & Mrs. Leslie G. Callahan, III ’68 Mrs. Patricia H. Edmonds & Mr. George H. Edmonds, P’79, ’82 Mr. & Mrs. David H. Evans, Jr. ’61 Mr. & Mrs. James J. Flynn, V, P’15 Dr. & Mrs. Daniel Gammon, P’14 Mr. & Mrs. R. Tom Gilleon, P’07 Mrs. Stacy L. Gillis & Mr. Mark J. Gillis, P’15, ’17, ’19 Dr. Jerry Z. Guo & Ms. Lucy C. Xie, P’07, ’17 Mr. and Mrs. Eric J. Hall, P’17, ’19 Dr. Richard Hancey & Mrs. Susan Hancey, GP’16 Mr. & Mrs. Peter E. Helgesen ’54, P’81 Mr. & Mrs. Charles T. Henry ’38 Dr. & Mrs. Peter T. Hetzler ’72, P’10 Ms. Lisa M. Johnson ’85 & Mr. Rene A. Dufour Dr. Dongsoo D. Koh & Ms. Kaylie S. Kim, P’17 Mr. & Mrs. Matthew S. Kozol, P’18 Mr. Atul Kumar & Ms. Maya Nair, P’13, ’17 Dr. & Mrs. Ernest H. Latham, Jr. ’56, P’98 Mr. Thomas P. Lockerby & Ms. Kathleen J. McCrickerd Ms. Angela S. Lorenz ’83 & Mr. Giovanni Figliomeni, P’14 Mrs. Heather D. Lucas ’88 & Dr. John C. Lucas, P’13 Dr. Ashley W. Luskey ’04 & Mr. Brian Luskey

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Mrs. Tristin B. Mannion ’82 & Mr. Martin J. Mannion, P’19 Dr. Victor A. Morris ’82 & Dr. Shannon Morris, M.D. Mr. William O. Nutting & Ms. Veronica Zoani Quinterno, P’16,’18, ’20 Mr. & Mrs. René Orsoni, GP’12, ’14 Mr. David A. Othmer ’59 & Ms. Maureen Barden Dr. Richard S. Pieters, Jr. ’66 & Dr. Edith M. Jolin Mrs. Elizabeth P. Powell ’56 & Mr. David G. Powell, P’84, ’90, GP’19 Mr. Malcolm K. Price & Mrs. Catherine E. Kuehn Price, P’13, ’15 Mr. & Mrs. Rolando Rabines, P’16, ’19 Dr. Richard L. Reynolds ’64 & Ms. Mary G. McQuiston Mr. & Mrs. Stephen M. Rodriguez Mr. & Mrs. Neil R. Rolde ’49 Dr. & Mrs. Barry V. Rolett ’76, P’13 Dr. & Mrs. Quinn B. Rosefsky ’59 Ms. Patricia C. Russell & Mr. Douglas Strott, P’11 Dr. Joseph J. Salvo ’76 & Dr. Jill L. Salvo, P’14 Dr. & Mrs. Daniel H. Sandweiss ’75 Mr. & Mrs. R. David Schmaier, P’16 Mr. & Mrs. Michael Schmertzler ’70, P’05, ’07 Ms. Abigail P. Seldin ’05 & Mr. Whitney Haring-Smith Mr. John L. Simpson & Ms. Rebecca S. Demsetz, P’16, ’19 Mr. & Mrs. Michael St. Peter, P’02 Mr. & Mrs. George W. Steers ’59 Dr. & Mrs. Roger F. Steinert ’69, P’97, ’00, ’02 Mr. & Mrs. Alec C. Sutherland ’56 Mr. Oscar L. Tang ’56 & Dr. Hsin-Mei A. Hsu-Tang Dr. Ryan Wheeler & Dr. Natalya Baldyga Mr. & Mrs. Winston W. Wyckoff ’78, P’12


Museum Staff

Ryan J. Wheeler, PhD, Director Lindsay A. Randall, Curator of Education Bonnie K. Sousa, Senior Collections Manager and Registrar Marla L. Taylor, Curator of Collections Irene B. Gates, Archivist Lesley A. Shahbazian, Administrative Assistant

Peabody Advisory Committee Daniel H. Sandweiss ’75, PhD, Chair Heather Dunbar Lucas ’88, Vice-Chair Barbara Callahan, Secretary Elizabeth Artz Beim ’58, P’88 Benjamin Burke ’11 Meg Conkey, PhD Marcelle A. Doheny, P’18 Jenny Elkus ’92 Jeremiah C. Hagler, PhD, P’16 Katherine Hall ’17 Peter T. Hetzler, MD ’72, P’10 Agnes Hsu-Tang, PhD Bruno D.V. Marino, PhD ’73 Tristin Moone ’10 Kuni S. Schmertzler, P’05, ’07 Abigail Seldin ’05 Donny Slater, PhD Margot Steiner ’17

Peabody Collections Oversight Committee Emerson W. “Tad” Baker II, PhD ’76 Elizabeth Artz Beim ’58 Marshall P. Cloyd ’58, P’88, ’95, ’03 Susan Faxon, Addison Gallery of American Art Ramona Peters, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe James B. Richardson III, PhD Chris Toya, Pueblo of Jemez

Emeriti Members

Marshall P. Cloyd ’58, P’88, ’95, ’03 James B. Richardson III, PhD Rebecca M. Sykes, P’92, ’97, ’01 David Hurst Thomas, PhD

Ex Officio Members

Thomas P. Lockerby, Secretary of the Academy Patricia C. Russell, Dean of Studies, P’11


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