Lecture: “Collections and Communities: Facilitating Connections through Material Culture”

Marshall University alumna Emily Cain, who is now a cultural heritage consultant at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, will return to Marshall Thursday, March 29, to present a workshop and a public lecture.
From 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Room 402 of Drinko Library, Cain will give a lecture titled “Collections and Communities: Facilitating Connections through Material Culture,” on the important role of material culture collections, such those as found in museums, in facilitating diverse and productive connections among communities.
She has worked with museums of a wide range of sizes and missions, and she now manages cultural projects, engages with anthropological collections and promotes public access to objects and information for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
She will speak on how museum professionals and researchers can think creatively about access and knowledge-making to allow collections and objects to reveal themselves as dynamic, living pieces of their cultural environments. Her discussion will center on the potential of collections to foster dialogue and lasting relationships between museums and their communities, both local and global.
This public discussion is free and open to the public, sponsored by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Department in the College of Liberal Arts as part of its longstanding Speaker Series.