2000s

Sensations of Tone: Acoustic Instruments and the Sight of Sound (2010), at Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Monday, October 25, 2010

This exhibition featured 19th century acoustic instruments that made sound visible through ribbons of light, vibrating flames, and patterns of sand. It was part of a larger program, “Sensations of Tone: Wave Physics and the Creative Arts,” in which spectral music was performed by soprano Jane Sheldon and the Firebird Ensemble in the exhibition gallery.

Fugitive Sparrows: An Emily Dickinson Installation (2010), at Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Wednesday, April 7, 2010

In celebration of National Poetry Month, this installation showcased artwork by Zachary Sifuentes based on Emily Dickinson’s poetry and creative process, using optical instruments, letterpress printing forms, poems placed in Harvard Yard, and abstract art made up of the text of Dickinson’s complete works. The installation challenged viewers to confront the act of reading by having them read excerpts from Dickinson’s poems by looking through telescopes and lenses, into a mirror, or following a line of sight in an 1844 dictionary.

Co-curated with Zachary Sifuentes.

From Lab & Field (2010 and ongoing), at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Monday, March 22, 2010

Historical instruments used by Harvard scientists are part of changing exhibits in the meeting spaces and offices of several senior deans of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University:

Dean (Chief Academic Officer)
Administrative Dean of Science
Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs

Student Exhibitions (2008-2011), at Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Thursday, May 1, 2008

As Curator of the Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, I work closely with faculty and students in courses where the students collectively mount a temporary exhibition in lieu of writing individual term papers. I mentor the students through the process, coaching them through the physical development, design, and installation phases of their show. Class exhibitions have included:

Thinking Things, History of Science 290: Critical History: Curating Images, Objects, Media (Spring 2011), Professors Peter...

The Rediscovery of the Mind: Harvard and the Cognitive Revolution (2007), at William James Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Monday, April 23, 2007

disordered-orderly minds in George Miller 1956

This new, permanent exhibit examines the Cognitive Revolution from a Harvard perspective. By the middle of the 20th century, psychology was no longer the “science of mental life,” as William James had called it, but...

The World of 1607 (2007-2008), at Jamestown Settlement, Virginia, Sunday, April 1, 2007

This exhibition–which was divided into four cycles–commemorated the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, by placing America's first permanent English colony in a global context, portraying a larger world of discovery, strife, expansion, innovation, artistic expression, and cultural exchange. The conceptual framework of the exhibition and accompanying catalog were developed in collaboration with a group of 28 internationally recognized scholars, each of whom explored an aspect of the intellectual and cultural life of peoples around the globe at the beginning of...

Benjamin Franklin: A How-To Guide (2006-2007), at Houghton Library and the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Tuesday, June 6, 2006

Benjamin Franklin, A How-To Guide logo

...

Time, Life, & Matter: Science in Cambridge (2005 and ongoing), at Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Tuesday, November 29, 2005

TLM gallery view 2006 This award-winning permanent exhibition in the Putnam Gallery of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments traces the development of scientific activity at Harvard, and explores how science was promoted or affected by religion, politics, philosophy, art, and...

Bringing Nature Inside: 17th Century Natural History, Classification, and Vision (2004-2005), at Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Monday, October 4, 2004

Musei Wormiani Historia

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Transits of Venus (2004), at Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Tuesday, June 8, 2004

ToV Festival Harvard 2004 logo

Part of the Festival of the Transit of Venus organized at the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments on the occasion of the Transit of Venus on June 8, 2004, this exhibit examined the impact of pre-Revolutionary politics on Harvard's expeditions to...

Sara J. Schechner

David P. Wheatland Curator

2000s

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