AMST1510:

Museum Collec2ng
and Collec2ons
A course using the librarys
collec3ons to teach about
collec3ng, collec3ons, and
collec3ons-based exhibi3ons

Presenta3on by Anna Meyer,

Sarah Dylla, and Steven Lubar

About the Course

This course explores museum

collec3ng and collec3ons, focusing
on the ways that museums care
for their collec3ons, make them
available, and use them for
research and educa3on.

We will work intensively on three

collec3ons at Brown, researching
their history, cataloging them,
crea3ng exhibi3ons and wri3ng
collec3ons plans.

Syllabus

Readings in museum literature Visits with registrars,

conservators, and curators at
Brown and RISD Museum

Lectures on collec3ng,
collec3ons, material culture,
exhibi3ons

Workshops on exhibi3on
conceptualiza3on, label
wri3ng, design, and
interac3ves

What youll learn

How museum curators,

registrars, and conservators
use and think about
collec3ons

How to conceptualize, manage

and create a collec3ons-based
exhibi3on

Best prac3ces in collec3ons

development, management,
preserva3on and exhibi3on

The place of collec3ons in

museum work

The ways museum ar3facts

are useful in teaching and
research

Best prac3ces for making

collec3ons available and
searchable digitally

Assignments
Script wri3ng

Exhibit design

Interac3ve design

Assignments
Collec3ons planning

Collec3ons acquisi3on

Cataloging

Historic scien2c
instruments

Pain2ngs in the
Annmary Brown
Memorial

Stamp collec2ons

How might this collec3on be

made more useful? We will
update the database, explore
ways to use the collec3on in
teaching, and propose a new
plan for the Memorial.

Well explore ways to increase

knowledge of and interest in
the collec3ons, produce an
exhibi3on, and suggest future
direc3ons for collec3ng.

Where are they? We will
catalog them and produce a
small exhibi3on of these
instruments in the Rockefeller
Library.

Historic scien2c
instruments

Where are they? We will

catalog them and produce a
small exhibi3on of these
instruments in the Rockefeller
Library.

Pain2ngs in the
Annmary Brown
Memorial

How might this collec3on be

made more useful? We will
update the database, explore
ways to use the collec3on in
teaching, and propose a new
plan for the Memorial.

Pain2ngs in the
Annmary Brown
Memorial

What was the purpose of the

Memorial?

Historical Research

Pain2ngs in the
Annmary Brown
Memorial

Checking the catalog of

pain3ngs

Cataloging

Pain2ngs in the
Annmary Brown
Memorial

Cataloging and rehousing the

ar3facts.

Cataloging

Pain2ngs in the
Annmary Brown
Memorial

Researching the crea3on of

the collec3on

Cataloging

Pain2ngs in the
Annmary Brown
Memorial

Challenges of the space

Future Uses

Pain2ngs in the
Annmary Brown
Memorial

Proposing a plan for the

building, perhaps a grant
proposal

Future Uses

Stamp Collec2ons

Well explore ways to increase

knowledge of and interest in
the collec3ons, produce an
exhibi3on, and suggest future
direc3ons for collec3ng.

Stamp Collec2ons

Understanding the collec3ons

history, present use, and
poten3al

History and Use

Stamp Collec2ons

Exhibi2on

Main Exhibit Labels

The stamps in this exhibit showcase the treasure trove

of Browns stamp collec3on. Brown University houses
one of the most comprehensive public stamp
collec3ons in the United States. Steve Lubar's American
Studies 1510 course produced this exhibit to call
aUen3on to some of the untold stories of the stamp
collec3ons of the John Hay Library.

What stories do the stamps in this exhibit tell you?
What do they symbolize about art, geography, and
history ?

Stamps oer vibrant, coded messages from the na3ons

that produce them, the people who use them, and the
hobbyists who collect them. They are a moving
montage of pictorial stories, oering traces of specic
3mes, places, rela3onships, and poli3cs. A small but
powerful canvas, the postage stamp can expose
conicts, distribute propaganda, showcase popular
culture, and project a na3ons values to the world.

In 1840 England printed the rst postage stamp, and
almost immediately, people started to collect them.
Brown Universitys stamp collec3on was begun in
1933, and today it is one of the largest publicly
accessible collec3ons in the country.

This exhibit, curated by Brown students, showcases the
diversity of Browns collec3on. Its goal is to illuminate
the research and teaching poten3al that exists in one
of the Hays least known collec3ons, and to posi3on
the collec3on for future use. What makes these bits of
paper so precious?

Stamp Collec2ons

Stamps as Na3onal Iden3ty

Stamps as Art
Stamps as Communica3on
Stamp Collec3ng

Exhibi2on

Stamp Collec2ons

Do the stamps in this case look

like stamps? Can you mail a
le4er with them?

Governments issue stamps to show that a fee

has been paid for postage and other
commodi3es. Companies and governments
commercialize stamps by playing with their
shapes and content to raise revenue and
generate publicity. Ar3sts appropriate the
form of stamps and subvert stamps
commercializa3on.

Exhibi2on

Stamp Collec2ons

Do the stamps in this case look

like stamps? Can you mail a
le4er with them?

Governments issue stamps to show that a fee

has been paid for postage and other
commodi3es. Companies and governments
commercialize stamps by playing with their
shapes and content to raise revenue and
generate publicity. Ar3sts appropriate the
form of stamps and subvert stamps
commercializa3on.

Exhibi2on

Stamp Collec2ons

Are these stamps?

Exhibi2on

Stamp Collec2ons

Ar3stamps

Exhibi2on

Stamp Collec2ons

Ar3stamps

Proposal for Purchase

Exhibi2on

Library Exhibi2ons

Case study: AMST 1510

collec3ons + exhibi3ons

Library Exhibi2ons

Case study: AMST 1510

research / perspec3ves

Library Exhibi2ons

Case study: AMST 1510

beyond rarity
-networked research
-visual teaching

Library Exhibi2ons

Case study: AMST 1510

Library Exhibi2ons

Case study: AMST 1510

digi3za3on projects /
gallery technology

Library Exhibi2ons

Case study: AMST 1510

Library Exhibi2ons

Case study: AMST 1510

engaging library users

-presenta3on
-programs

Collec2ons
Management and
Development Plans

What are the goals for these

collec3ons?

What are the audiences?

How can these collec3ons

become beUer known? How
to get more students to use
them?

How should they be

cataloged? How should they
be made accessible?

Whats the best curatorial

structure for them?

What should be
deaccessioned, what should
be acquired? How should the
collec3on be shaped for future
use?

Historic scien2c
instruments

Pain2ngs in the
Annmary Brown
Memorial

Stamp collec2ons

Use as teaching collec3on in

history of art and museums

Connect with other Brown art
and ar3facts

Re-imagine as teaching collec-

3on; new collec3ng agenda

Connect with other Hay
collec3ons

Make the departments beUer
aware of their value

Keep decentralized but oer
support for collec3ons

Historic scien2c
instruments

Pain2ngs in the
Annmary Brown
Memorial

Stamp collec2ons

Improved catalog of pain3ngs

and other ar3facts.

Proposal for use of Annmary
Brown Memorial

Exhibi3on opens January

Collec3ons development
proposal and publicity plan

Drae database of instruments

Exhibi3on in Rockefeller
Library