Thursday, April 28, 2022: Dr. Elaine Ayers, NYU: Unnatural History: Colonial Collecting and the Politics of Display in Natural History Museums

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022 at 7pm

ZOOM LECTURE PRESENTED IN CONJUNCTION WITH Staten Island Museum

Dr. Elaine Ayers – NYU

On Jennifer Angers’ Exhibit Magicicada 

Unnatural History: Colonial Collecting and the Politics of Display in Natural History Museums

What does the history of collecting, preservation, and display have to do with legacies of violence and inequity? How do shifting categories of race, gender, and sexuality appear throughout natural history museums, even in seemingly innocuous objects like plants and insects? By unraveling the long colonial history of the institutions that we care for and work with, from herbaria to anthropological exhibits, this talk will point to the instabilities of collecting and collections from the eighteenth century to the present while offering hope for new, more inclusive ways forward.

THIS EVENT WILL BE via zoom, AND FREE FOR SOCIETY MEMBERS. 

Pre-Register for the Zoom event here: https://www.statenislandmuseum.org/event/unnatural-history-colonial-collecting-and-the-politics-of-display-in-natural-history-museums/

Use Code: UNHISTEA