Michigan State University Museum and The Graduate School, Michigan State University -- Summer 2009
The Michigan State University Museum (MSUM) and The Graduate School, Michigan State University are sponsoring a new summer fellowship opportunity for graduate students-the Nelson Mandela Museum/Michigan State University Museum Curatorial Fellowship Program (NMMMSUMGC).

The Nelson Mandela Museum/Michigan State University Museum Graduate Curatorial Fellowship supports graduate student community-engaged research, education, collection management, and exhibition projects based at the Nelson Mandela National Museum and the Michigan State University Museum. The Nelson Mandela Museum, an associated institution of the South African Department of Arts and Culture and one of South Africa's National Legacy Projects, is located in Mthatha, a town in South Africa's rural Eastern Cape Province. The museum's mission is "to be a living museum that embraces development and is a fitting tribute to the legacy of Nelson R. Mandela, a product of ubuntu and to inspire and enrich humanity through exercising effective stewardship, learning and sharing the heritage resources linked to Nelson R. Mandela." The work of the museum is "guided by the principles of ubuntu, including respect for human dignity and a person is a person through peopleŠ[inspiring] people to be the best they can be." Mandela, a 1993 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, received an honorary degree from MSU in May 2008...
Curatorial fellowship projects will be conducted over a minimum of 16 weeks during the summer; up to eight weeks will be spent in South Africa (with at least six weeks based at Mthatha) and the remaining time will be spent at the MSU Museum. Curatorial fellows will be expected to plan and complete projects in collaboration with and mentored by MSU faculty and professional museum staff at each institution. Projects must reflect the educational and research missions of the two museums, address identified needs of the museums, ideally incorporate technology, and be in compliance with international standards of museum practice. Special emphasis is given to projects that demonstrate the spirit of ubuntu, the traditional South African humanist philosophy focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other...

Learn more and get an application here: http://museum.msu.edu/ProgramsandPartnerships/International/CuratoriaFellowshipProgram.html

Applications must be submitted on or before Friday, January 27, 2009. Announcements of the fellowship recipient will be made by February 27, 2009.

An opening reception is set for a new exhibition at the Michigan State University Museum, "What's So Funny About Science? Sidney Harris Science Cartoons," on Sunday, Feb. 1, 1:30 - 3 p.m.

"What's So Funny About Science?" features more than 60 original Sidney Harris drawings. Widely considered America's foremost science cartoonist, Harris has drawn literally thousands of cartoons, which have appeared in numerous publications including Science, Discover, Physics Today, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Chicago Magazine, and National Lampoon.

The exhibit is part of a university-wide observance of naturalist Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. Harris personally selected a number of his Darwin-related cartoons - "What's So Funny About Darwin?" - especially for this exhibition during the Darwin bicentennial. (Darwin's actual birth date is Feb. 12, 1809.)

The opening reception on Sunday, Feb. 1, 1:30 - 3 p.m. features performances by MSU's own Science Theatre ( http://sciencetheatre.org ). This program is presented free of charge and the exhibit is funded by Shell Oil Company.

"What's So Funny About Science?" continues in the MSU Museum's West Gallery until April 18. For more information, call (517) 355-2370 or see http://museum.msu.edu .

Michigan State University Museum Director C. Kurt Dewhurst has been elected president of the American Folklore Society (AFS). Dewhurst will serve as president-elect in 2009 and then become the organization's president in 2010, leading the 2,200-member organization's scholars, teachers, librarians and cultural workers.

"I am truly honored to be elected as president of the foremost scholarly organization in the academic field of folklore study," says Dewhurst, who is also a senior fellow with University Outreach and Engagement at Michigan State University. "I look forward to building on my academic and scholarly engaged work at MSU as I assume this new leadership role," he adds.

The American Folklore Society has played a significant role in the study and appreciation of intangible cultural heritage and is now actively engaged in international deliberations concerning folklore, intellectual property, and intangible cultural heritage," Dewhurst notes. "The AFS impact has been growing by fostering new international relationships and though innovative collaborations. I anticipate that my work at MSU will be enriched by the global perspective I will gain as president of AFS," he explains. The American Folklore Society, founded in 1888, is an association of people who study and communicate knowledge about folklore throughout the world. The society takes a leading role in national and international folklore projects, such as the H-Folk international folklore scholarship listserv, development of the Ethnographic Thesaurus, and federal arts and culture policy and program development. The society has been accredited as an official non-governmental participant in the activities of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore. Recently AFS, along with three university presses, has been awarded a five-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the publication of books in underserved fields of the humanities. (Learn more: http://www.afsnet.org.)

"Dr. Dewhurst has a creative and comprehensive view of our field, and is recognized as one of our most outstanding leaders," notes Timothy Lloyd, the Society's executive director. "His global connections will be a great help as we continue to build relationships abroad, and his standing in the foundation world will help open doors for us as we work to strengthen the Society and field."

Dewhurst, MSU Museum director since 1983, helped found the museum's now nationally known folklife research, collection development, and outreach programs. His research interests include cultural change and continuity in folk arts, material culture, ethnicity, and occupational folk culture and he has curated over 50 research-based interpretive exhibitions and festival programs. At Michigan State University, Dewhurst is a professor in MSU's English Department as well as a faculty member in the College of Arts and Letters Museum Studies Program, where he teaches future museum professionals curatorial, research, field work, exhibition and civic engagement. He also chairs the university's Cultural Engagement Council, which works to promote increased awareness and participation in arts and cultural resources and offerings. Dewhurst recently co-authored the book "MSU Campus: Buildings, Places, Spaces" (with Linda O. Stanford), which traces the history and heritage of architecture and the campus park at MSU.

Dewhurst's research is shaped by a commitment to projects in collaboration with representatives of the underserved communities and cultural groups, responding to social and community needs. Dewhurst co-leads an MSU Study Abroad course, "Expressive Arts, Cultural Heritage, and Museum Studies in South Africa," and has served as a coordinator of a cultural heritage training program for emerging heritage workers in South Africa. Most recently, he co-curated the special exhibition, "Dear Mr. Mandela, Dear Mrs. Parks: Children's Letters, Global Lessons," which opened at the Nelson Mandela National Museum in Qunu, South Africa for Mandela's 90th birthday in July 2008.

A leader at the national level in folk arts, civic engagement and museum administration, Dewhurst serves as president of the board of the Fund for Folk Culture Foundation, in Santa Fe, N.M., and is chair of the advisory committee of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and the board of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, both based in Washington, D.C.

As part of an overall effort to increase the depth and interactivity of its site, the Quilt Index has launched an exciting new tool for researching quilt history.

The tool is called a "wiki," and works like the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia, allowing registered users to supplement and edit the information and universal free access to any interested person. The Quilt Index wiki is being introduced with a pilot program of three quilt-history areas; Documentation Projects, Museums and Oral Histories.
Anybody who goes to the wiki can browse the already-extensive listings, but in order to add or edit information, users must create an account (there's no cost to do so) with user name and password. The link to the wiki is http://www.quiltindex.org/wiki/

The current listings are arranged alphabetically and geographically. Under Documentation Projects, for example, there are listings for more than 50 state documentation projects in the U.S. and more than 15 countries are listed. This is an incredible boon to those researching quilts, whether they are scholars, appraisers, collectors, quiltmakers or students. Within each documentation project listing, you'll find the number of quilts documented, when the project was finished (if it's concluded), the institution to contact for further details, and a listing of any publications related to that documentation project.

"This wiki is meant to be very welcoming and easy to use," says Justine Richardson, co-director of the Quilt Index. "The idea is to invite the interested public in to help fill in the blanks. So much of the knowledge about quilts and museums and documentation projects is spread out among knowledgeable people all over. Researchers can edit and add information in the wiki pages, making the resources richer and more useful to everyone. We see this wiki as a way to really build community among and between all the different audiences for quilts and quilt history."

The Quilt Index is a partnership project of the Alliance for American Quilts, Michigan State University's MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online and the Michigan State University Museum.

Recent expansion of the Index and new features such as the wiki are being supported by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Museum and Library Services. For further information about the wiki and how to use it, contact Richardson at .

Michigan State University Museum will open a new exhibition featuring work produced by Ghanaian and American student photographers from a project aimed to stimulate cross-cultural communication through photography and community-based interviewing, "Photo Exchangers." (http://www.photoexchangers.net).

Since 2005, students have participated in a series of workshops where they learned how to use photography and interviews to document their culture. In ongoing e-mail discussions about the products of their work, students have shared their reflections about their own and each other's cultures. The name "Photo Exchangers" was created by two students, one American and one Ghanaian.

The exhibition at MSU will showcase 30 photographs from two youth groups, one in Ghana and one in the US. A video and additional materials on the process of doing a Photo Exchanger project will also be included in the exhibition. The "Photo Exchanger" workshops were led by Samara Hoyer-Winfield, Marit Dewhurst, Sadat Issiah and Abdul Hamid.

Students reflect:
"We are doing this project to learn about people outside our homes and families, to learn about others that live in other places like Ghana. Another reason we're doing this project is to explore around other neighborhoods and to interview people and to learn about them." -- Ashley Vital, American student, age 11

"The photography project is out to link children in Ghana to children in AmericaŠ to help us learn new things in our area and culture so that to teach our friends in U.SŠ to foster unity among members in both clubs." -- Azara Abdulai, Ghanaian student, age 16

As Marsha MacDowell, curator at the MSU Museum and professor of Art and Art History, notes, "There is a growing interest around the world -- including here at Michigan State University -- in teaching photo documentation skills to students of all ages as a means for them to sharpen their visual thinking and analyzing abilities, to increase their awareness of their natural and cultural worlds, and to apply these skills to address local and global needs."

At MSU, the MSU Museum and 4-H offer youth cultural heritage documentation training and resources through FOLKPATTERNS (http://museum.msu.edu/s-program/folkpatterns/). The Residential College of Arts and Humanities and the Public Humanities Collaborative offer Photo Voices instruction through courses and special initiatives.
The MSU Museum's Youth Art Gallery began in 2002 as a way to promote art as a universal form of expression for the museum's younger visitors. The gallery provides school groups a unique opportunity to explore, study and express the natural and cultural diversity of the world through the student's own drawings, paintings, collages, photography and other creations. The "Photo Exchangers" exhibition will be at the MSU Museum until March 15, 2009. Learn more about special programs related to this exhibition at: http://museum.msu.edu/Exhibitions/Upcoming/Photo_Exchangers.html.

This exhibition is presented as a program of A World of Arts & Culture at MSU (http://artsandculture.msu.edu/default.asp). Support for this exhibition and its related activities has been provided by a "Creating Inclusive Excellence" grant from MSU's Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Activities, MSU Public Humanities, and the MSU Department of Art and Art History.

The Michigan State University Museum will have visitors laughing and learning at the same time when a new exhibition, "What's So Funny About Science? Sidney Harris Science Cartoons" comes to the MSU Museum's West Gallery, Jan. 18 - April 18, 2009. The exhibit is part of a university-wide observance of naturalist Charles Darwin's 200th birthday.

"What's So Funny About Science?" is a traveling exhibition that features more than 60 original Sidney Harris drawings. Widely considered America's foremost science cartoonist, Harris has drawn literally thousands of cartoons. Since 1970, American Scientist has published more than 600 of his cartoons. Harris' cartoons have appeared in numerous other publications including Science, Discover, Physics Today, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Chicago Magazine, and National Lampoon. In addition, 12 collections of his cartoons have been published including From Ads to Cloning Labs, You Want Proof - I'll Give You Proof, Stress Test, All Ends Up, and What's So Funny About Science.

"Sidney Harris has an unparalleled ability to find humor in science and technology," notes one of the exhibit's organizers at MSU, Danita Brandt, associate professor of geological sciences and MSU Museum adjunct curator. "And that humor is often the entry point for questions, learning and greater understanding about serious subjects."
From San Francisco's Exploratorium on the West Coast to the MIT Museum on the East Coast -- and with numerous stops in between, including the Chicago Academy of Science, Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and The Maryland Science Center -- museum-goers have enjoyed this entertaining and thought-provoking exhibit. Harris also personally selected a number of his Darwin-related cartoons - "What's So Funny About Darwin?" - especially for this exhibition during the Darwin bicentennial. (See a gallery of cartoons at http://www.sciencecartoonsplus.com .) The exhibit is funded by Shell Oil Company.
An opening reception is set for Sunday, Feb. 1, 1:30 - 3 p.m., featuring performances from MSU's own Science Theatre ( http://sciencetheatre.org ). This program is presented free of charge.

Learn more at: http://museum.msu.edu/Exhibitions/Current/ScienceCartoons.html .

African art has never been frozen in time -- it is always changing. West Africa is the heartland of African textile production, and like other African art -- the textiles made in this region have been transformed and refigured over time. That creative wellspring is the inspiration for a new exhibition at the MSU Museum, "Threads of Change: The Transformation of West African Textiles," opening Jan. 18.

From the Kente cloth of Ghana and mud cloth of Mali, to the indigo Adire cloth of Nigeria and printed cottons of Guinea, tradition and innovation are evident. The availability and use of new technologies and materials, the exposure to new design sources, changes in religious and cultural traditions, the ingenuity of individual artists, and commercial global market forces have all influenced the design, color, meaning, and function of West African textiles. This new MSU Museum exhibition includes examples of cloths that illustrate some of these changes.

"While mud cloth for traditional use is painted in great symbolic detail, commercial works are produced quickly with pleasing designs and, often, western markets in mind," notes educator and guest curator Chris Worland. "Fine artists from Mali using traditional vegetable dyes with original designs now exhibit their mud cloth in contemporary art galleries in Europe and the United States."

Many of the textiles in this exhibition were donated to the MSU Museum by MSU faculty who represent a range of specialties in African studies and who collected the textiles while traveling, working, and living in West Africa. The textiles thus also serve as documents of the breadth and longevity of the university's engagement in West Africa.

Adds Worland: "African art belongs to the past and to the present, and 'Threads of Change' provides a unique opportunity to view magnificent artistry of both the past and the present. This exhibition is intended to help viewers gain an understanding of the skills required to make this art and the historical and cultural contexts in which that art has been made."

"Threads of Change: The Transformation of West African Textiles" runs in the MSU Museum's Main Gallery through Aug. 20, 2009. This exhibition is made possible by project partners at Michigan State University: African Studies Center, Center for Advanced Study of International Development, MSU Museum, Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives: Creating Inclusive Excellence Grant, and the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities.

An opening reception is planned for Monday, Jan. 19, 3:30-6 p.m., in conjunction with MSU's Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration. Learn more about this exhibition and a series of special programs at: http://museum.msu.edu/Exhibitions/Current/the_transformation_of_west_african_textiles.html.

The Michigan State University Museum joins natural history organizations and science centers around the world in observing British Naturalist Charles Darwin's 200th birthday and 150th anniversary of the publication of his famous book, On the Origin of Species.

On Sunday, February 8, 2009 from 1-5 p.m., the MSU Museum will host a day of discovery and delight inviting young and old alike to explore unique natural history specimens from its global collections, along with discovering backyard curiosities! Visitors can bring in a rock, bone, fossil, tooth or other natural object, and museum experts and curators will help identify these interesting specimens. (The MSU Museum cannot provide estimates of the commercial value of any specimens nor provide expertise on human-made artifacts.)

Along with numerous hands-on children's activities, visitors can take a tour of Habitat Hall, the Hall of Evolution, and a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse at the vast MSU Museum research collections. Fun fact: Darwin has a historical connection with MSU. The naturalist corresponded with Michigan State University botanist William J. Beal in the 1870s regarding corn production.
Also on exhibit in the MSU Museum's West Gallery during Darwin Discovery Day is What's So Funny About Science? Sidney Harris Science Cartoons exploring science with humor and wit, and sponsored by the Shell Oil Company. Meanwhile, "Galapagos Island Travelogue" will be presented by Fred Dyer, chairperson of the MSU Zoology Department.

Books and educational resources are always on hand at the Museum Store, and young visitors will also receive a free field journal so they can record their own scientific observations and notes as they begin their own voyage of discovery. Kids, adults, families and students are welcome. The program is presented free of charge, and cake will be served in celebration of Darwin's 200th birthday!

Science institutions worldwide have created special programs around Darwin's birthday each year that help promote an appreciation for the benefits of scientific knowledge acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity. Research and education departments from across MSU are taking part in Darwin Discovery Day at the MSU Museum. Learn more at http://www.darwinday.org, and to see all of the MSU Museum's Darwin-related events, please visit www.museum.msu.edu.

The Michigan State University Museum features three floors of natural history and culture collections and changing exhibits. The Museum is located on West Circle Drive, next to Beaumont Tower on the MSU campus and is open free of charge (donations encouraged) seven days a week: Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Sunday 1-5 p.m. The MSU Museum is accessible to persons with disabilities. Parking is available with limited visitor spots in front of the MSU Museum and at metered spaces in the Grand River Ave. ramp, at the corner of Grand River Ave. and Charles St. For more information call (517) 355-2370.

Tickets are now on sale for a sweet and satisfying mid-winter tradition: The MSU Museum's twentieth annual Chocolate Party Benefit. Chocolate torte, cheesecake, truffles, fountains and other elegant edibles will be the tastiest ticket in town at this event, set for 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009 and presented by the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center in East Lansing.

The MSU Museum Chocolate Party Benefit is one of the few professional culinary events in the country open to the general public, with area chefs and culinary students competing to create inspired, edible masterpieces featuring the key ingredient: chocolate. Competitors have sculpted everything from carousels, film reels, pyramids and gardens out of all forms of chocolate. Meanwhile, local restaurants, caterers, bake shops, candy makers, and other vendors also share their taste-tempting chocolate creations. The theme, "Wonders of the World," will inspire chefs for their elaborate and imaginative chocolate creations this year.

In this popular mid-winter event, chocolate lovers indulge for a worthy cause: the Chocolate Party benefits care and preservation of the extensive cultural and natural history collections of the MSU Museum. The MSU Museum stewards nearly 1 million objects, artifacts and specimens, which are housed in four buildings across the MSU campus -- many dating back to the museum's founding more than 150 years ago. Recently, Chocolate Party proceeds have helped with the purchase of items such as protective cabinets and preservation equipment.

Tickets are $30 for the general public and $25 for MSU Museum members in advance, and $35 at the door. (The Kellogg Center is located on Harrison Road on Michigan State University's campus.) A special "Premier Chocolatier" ticket for $75 offers an advance preview of Chocolate Party creations and a year-long MSU Museum membership.

General admission tickets are available at:

• Bake N' Cakes, 3003 E. Kalamazoo St., Lansing
• Caruso Candy Inc., Meridian Mall, Okemos
• Cookies By Design, 3520 Okemos Rd., Okemos
• How Sweet It Is, 4790 S. Hagadorn Rd., E. Lansing
• Melting Moments, 313 E. Grand River, E. Lansing
• Sweetie-licious Pie Pantry, 108 N. Bridge St., DeWitt
• General Admission, Museum Associates and Premier tickets -- at the MSU Museum Store.
• Tickets are also available online at http://museum.msu.edu/Events/ChocolateParty/

Sponsors for this year's event are the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center, Anderson International Travel, Great Lakes Gourmet, Lansing State Journal, Marriott East Lansing at University Place, Uncle John's Fruit House Winery, 99.1 WFMK, Cacao Noel and Paris Gourmet.