For a university that promotes "Knowledge for the
World," it is perhaps only fitting for Johns Hopkins to
offer a course of study in institutions that practice the
very same philosophy.
The Krieger School of Arts and
Sciences this summer will introduce its new Museums and
Society Program, an interdisciplinary course of study for
Homewood undergraduates. The new program will offer its
first course in July — Art in London, to be held in
that city — and plans are for the curriculum to
become a minor.
The development of a minor in Museums and Society was
one of the recommendations of the Homewood Arts Task Force,
which submitted its final report in May 2005.
Specifically, Museums and Society will promote the
study of institutions that collect, preserve and interpret
material culture for both scholarly ends and to instruct
the general public. In addition to curricular and scholarly
activities within the university, the program aims to
promote meaningful connections with local and regional
museums.
Faculty in such disciplines as anthropology, classics,
history, history of art, history of science and Near
Eastern studies will contribute to the program's
development.
Elizabeth Rodini, a senior lecturer in the Krieger
School's History of Art Department
who will serve as associate director of the new program,
said that a driving force in the creation of the program
was the strong and growing interest in museums, among both
students and an interdisciplinary group of faculty.
Rodini, who came to Johns Hopkins two years ago to
assume the role of university liaison to the Baltimore
Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum, said that the new
program will offer significant opportunities to establish
closer ties to the Baltimore/Washington area's many
cultural institutions.
"Right now, there is a widespread interest in museums
and related institutions and the role they play in
interpreting cultures," Rodini said. "One of our goals with
this program is certainly to build relationships with the
city's cultural institutions and give students more access
to these places. Next to New York, the Baltimore/Washington
area is perhaps the most vibrant area of the country for
museums."
Rodini said that while many universities offer
graduate-level training in museums, the Johns Hopkins
program is unique in that it will be offered to
undergraduates and is not intended as a pre-professional
program.
The program's courses, Rodini said, will allow
students to think critically about museums, examining their
forms, functions, philosophies and practices in both
historical and contemporary contexts. Many classes will
offer visits to local institutions, including the Baltimore
Museum of Art, Walters Art Museum, Maryland Science Center
and Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American
History and Culture. Not limited to the study of
traditional museums, the program will also explore the
roles of historic sites and monuments.
Rodini said that one goal of the program is to produce
educated museumgoers — citizens who can visit museums
with a critical eye and participate with intelligence and
insight in the debates surrounding them.
A sampling of courses planned for the fall includes
Africa and the Museum, Art Collection and the Rise of the
Museum, and Introduction to Material Culture, a course
offered through the
History of
Science Department that will result in a
student-curated exhibition at
Homewood House.
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