Instructors: Prof. Monique Scott & Prof. Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Course Description:

Students in the Museum Studies Fieldwork Seminar, now in its 4th year, typically do their fieldwork in Philadelphia museums or in BMC Special Collections. This year, they are all worked with the Communications and Marketing Department of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, at the invitation of the museum. The seminar provided students a forum in which to ground, frame, and discuss their internship work with the museum. Students worked in three work teams with seven AAM staff members, who visited the seminar on Zoom at the start of the semester, to orient students to the projects and at the end of the semester to reflect on the experience and provide feedback.

The Learning Goals:

• To connect theories of Museum Studies and scholarship in History of Art with professional museum practice
• To gain knowledge about some of the fundamentals of Museum Studies—including the history of museums, the role of museum in society, current trends in museums, museum ethics and about the variety of museum professions

One important outcome of the seminar is the development of a new partnership between the Asian Art Museum and Bryn Mawr College. Two students in the class will continue working with the museum through summer internships.