Specialized in Object and Library & Archive Conservation
Research
Non-Colonial Communication
Fall Semester Independent Study 2020
The topic of communication in museums has fascinated me since I started my pre-program conservation experience. A common trend I noticed was the conservation department feeling rushed to treat objects because the timeline for the project did not allow for adequate treatment time. While a specific concern, it made me wonder about museum communication more generally, especially when I would sit in larger departmental meetings that took place every so often. After the murder of George Floyd and the protests for racial justice that followed, many museums released solidarity statements. When reading these statements, I pondered more about museum communication systems as the message museums wanted to convey to the general public seemed very different to the message many museums conveyed to their Black staff and Black patrons on a daily basis. I thought there had to be some helpful infographic about communication in an institution that showed how to make it equitable, inclusive, transparent, and ensure accountability. This information exists, just not in the nicely packaged infographic I was hoping for. Thus, my research began.
Applying Systems Thinking to Special Collections
Spring Semester Independent Study 2021
My fall semester independent study was centered around communication in mid sized museums, and I wanted to continue the theme of institutional communication into the spring. My Library and Archives supervisor Dr. Melissa Tedone and I crafted a project around tracking the “life cycle” as we called it, of objects through the UD Special Collection, from acquisition to conservation. In the process of tracking this life cycle I identified potential areas for improvement as they related to communication and streamlining the cycle of the collection item.
​
I virtually interviewed relevant faculty and staff with a set of similar questions aimed at understanding how, when, and why objects move from one department to another. After the interviews were finished, I consolidated my notes and produced an infographic and write up as deliverables. I presented this research at the 2021 #DismantlePreservation Unconference. Click "Watch Presentation" for more details about the project and presentation.
Mapping Cultural Exchange Through Masks
Technical Study 2020-2021
Obtaining more knowledge on the cultural exchange of cap mask related practices throughout the Cross-River Region of Nigeria and Cameroon is possible through analysis and identification of skin-covered cap mask materials. The object of this technical study is a dance crest and headdress from Bryn Mawr College attributed to the Ejagham people from the Cross-River Region in Nigeria and Cameroon. Often referred to as cap masks, they were traditionally used in coming of age ceremonies, celebrations, and funerary practices. This technical study aims to identify the materials used to construct and maintain the mask. The mask materials analyzed were the skin, wood, and horn as well as examination of the general construction techniques using analytical methods of x-radiography, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and matrix assisted laser desorption/ ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS).
Cultivating Trust, Producing Knowledge
The Management of Archaeological Labour and the Making of a Discipline
By Allison Mickel and Nylah Byrd
Like any science, archaeology relies on trust between actors involved in the production of knowledge. In the early history of archaeology, this epistemic trust was complicated by histories of Orientalism in the Middle East and colonialism more broadly. The racial and power dynamics underpinning 19th- and early 20th-century archaeology precluded the possibility of interpersonal moral trust between foreign archaeologists and locally hired labourers. In light of this, archaeologists created systems of reward, punishment, and surveillance to ensure the honest behaviour of site workers. They thus invented a set of structural conditions that produced sufficient epistemic trust for archaeological research to proceed—a system that continues to shape archaeology to the present day.