Museum Studies Commons^™

Difficult History During Difficult Times: Amache Junior Rangers, Katelyn Morkovsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My research aims to understand approaches to teaching difficult histories to children at cultural heritage institutions. To do this, I examined the creation process of the Amache Junior Ranger booklet that launched at the site in the fall of 2025. Amache, a WWII Japanese American incarceration center, presents significant interpretive challenges in balancing the traumatic nature of the site with age-appropriate content as well as highlighting the agency people exercised without losing the gravity of the situation. In addition to how the booklet was made, I use my research to situate the booklet in the social and political climate in …

Reseeding Relations: Comparing Museum And Indigenous Seed Sharing & Rematriation Protocols In The Midwestern United States, Madeline G. Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) paved the way for the repatriation of ancestors and certain cultural objects to Indigenous communities, museums still struggle to address other forms of cultural returns. Heritage seeds, those which hold cultural significance to Indigenous peoples, held within museum collections perpetuates the colonization of Indigenous lifeways. This research examines rematriation as an Indigenous form of cultural return better suited to address these needs than limited repatriation models. I analyze how museums are working to create rematriation processes for their collections which reflect diverse Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies through a three-tiered approach: …

Who Tells Our Stories?: An Analysis Of Lgbtqia2s+ Community-Museum Collaboration In Northeastern Wisconsin, Frances Kerkhof

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally, histories of LGBTQIA2S+ individuals have been excluded from mainstream conversations and censored from public records. This exclusion was evident in how LGBTQIA2S+ history is retold in museum spaces. Over the past few decades, public institutions have shifted how LGBTQIA2S+ histories are communicated, with efforts to include more diverse histories and perspectives. During the summer of 2025, I conducted a museum ethnography of the Neville Public Museum’s Telling Our Stories: LGBTQ+ Voices of Northeastern Wisconsin to answer the research question: How does community engagement enhance the representation of the LGBTQIA2S+ community in a local museum in Northeastern Wisconsin? Through this …

Frameworks For Repatriation: Moving Beyond Nagpra, Ashley Joplin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Museums and similar federally funded educational institutions have been collecting human remains since the Enlightenment era in the 1800s. Since then, these institutions have developed various collections practices that have encouraged the collection of human remains. Often unethical in nature, these collections have harmed historically marginalized communities, such as Indigenous and African American communities. While the ethics of collecting have been under scrutiny for decades, it was not until 1990 under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) that mainstream attention was drawn to the ethics of collections practices.

This thesis explores these collections practices and the repatriation …

Museums In Public Libraries: An Ethnographic Case Study Of The Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, Yadira Y. Quintero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Access to information is a human right, and this thesis explores the benefits and challenges of integrating museums into public libraries by conducting an ethnographic case study of the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. The study's findings highlight the complexities of integration. The biggest benefit is the increased access to museum collections, information, and resources. However, challenges arise from the lack of cohesion within the museum and library disciplines, as well as strained community relations. Engaging the community is crucial for successful collaboration, emphasizing the importance of a bottom-up approach that allows for active participation. Integrating museums into public libraries …

Shifting From Damage Towards Desire At History Colorado: An Exploratory Case Study, Amanda Cali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the paradigm shift within the fields of anthropology and museum studies away from decolonization and towards indigenization through a case study of the changes in museological practices of the History Colorado Center in Denver, Colorado, and one of its community museums, the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose, Colorado. This thesis examines the changes in consultation and collaboration, the care and stewardship of collections, the implementation of the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (PNAAM), and co-curation of exhibits. This thesis looks at the paradigm shift as a movement away from “damage-based research” within communities to “desire-centered research” …

Culture And Environment: The Calling Lakes Ecomuseum As A Community Sustainability Initiative, Kace N. Anders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Located in Saskatchewan, Canada, the Calling Lakes Ecomuseum, CLEM, is a community-based organization focused on water management and sustainability. Ecomuseums are holistic organizations that occupy landscapes, are responsive to community needs, conserve in situ heritage, and incorporate sustainability along with community development. The ecomuseum movement came from a need for holistic heritage management that disengaged with conventional museology and created space for communities to engage with their heritage in ways that promote community identity. This thesis analyzes the Calling Lakes Ecomuseum and how it utilizes the ecomuseum concept alongside environmental sustainability. Both semi-structured interviews and place-based field observations were used …

Fostering Awe To Enhance Public Well-Being: Proposed Interventions For A Nature And Science Museum Setting, Zach Calo

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Several scholars consider awe to be a universally experienced emotion that is associated with a variety of well-being outcomes. In the last two decades, research has revealed the many complicated, and often beneficial, effects of this self-transcendent emotion. In this paper, a review of the current theoretical and empirical understanding of awe is first discussed. This review is meant to provide context for the next section and primary aim of this paper, which is to propose a pilot study for implementing and evaluating awe-inducing interventions in a museum setting. The primary research question of this proposed pilot study is to …

Strategies In Time-Based Media Conservation: An Evaluation Of Three Institutional Approaches, Mya Vander Pol

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Time-based media (TBM) is a category of art in which the works rely on the passage of time and often the integration of technology to convey their artistic concepts and narratives. It encompasses various artistic expressions, including video installations, sound art, performance, and interactive digital works. This diverse array of mediums present distinct challenges to institutions responsible for their storage, preservation, and accessibility. The rapid evolution of technology and the inherent fragility of the media formats make the proper management of time-based media art equipment a critical concern. This paper examines three case studies of time-based media artworks from the …

Cross-Institutional Collaboration And Exhibit Making: “On The Gold Mountain: Chinese Mining History And Heritage Of Idaho” At The Idaho Museum Of Mining And Geology, Jordan Kathleen Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gold Rush, which brought many new immigrant communities to the American West, made a permanent impact on American culture by prompting the development of many Western towns. However, the Chinese immigrant mining population in the Boise, Idaho area has had little museum representation despite the more than 300,000 Chinese people who emigrated to the US between the 1840s and 1880. To rectify this, the Idaho Museum of Mining and Geology (IMMG), in collaboration with members of the Payette National Forest, the Asian American Comparative Collection, Boise State University/US Army Corps of Engineers, and the University of Denver, developed an …

Representing The Mixed Plate: Involving Descendant Communities And Kānaka Maoli In Hawai’I Plantation Museums, Amanda Ku’Ualohalanileimakamae Lane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways that the involvement of diverse stakeholders at Hawai’i plantation museums affects representations of Hawai’i’s plantation history. Plantations in Hawai’i had a direct colonizing effect on Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians), displacing them from their lands, replacing them with immigrant laborers, and putting into motion the chain of events that led to Hawai’i’s annexation in 1898. The current-day population in Hawai’i continues to reflect these significant changes in the society and culture of the islands. Hawai’i’s plantation museums traverse topics of labor, immigration, indentured servitude, and colonization. Simultaneously, these museums advance stories of perseverance, celebration, and multiculturalism. …

Bolting The Landscape: An Ethnography Of Yosemite As A Significant Climbing Destination, Vanessa Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Yosemite Valley is a transformative landscape that helps to shape climbers’ identities and fosters a unique sense of community, which continually reinforces its status as a renowned and evolving climbing destination. The historical influence of Yosemite Valley on rock climbing began in the 1950s and has since defined itself as a prominent destination for climbers worldwide. This ethnographic research analyzes how climbers forge a meaningful connection with the Valley by forming a deep sense of place that intertwines with their personal identities as climbers and investigates the intricate relationship between climbers’ identities and the Yosemite landscape. This research also explores …

Queer Is Here, Hopefully To Stay: The Incorporation And Reception Of Lgbtq+ History At The History Colorado Center, Madeline Ohaus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the documentation of LGBTQ+ histories, struggles, and accomplishments has been absent from museum collections and exhibitions. Scholars argue that given the authoritative nature of museums and their influence on the public, exclusions of LGBTQ+ history can mount to institutional erasure of queer identities. However, in the past decade, there has been an increase in attempts to document and curate exhibitions highlighting and encouraging the public to engage with LGBTQ+ history. While this history is imperative to preserve and display, it can be met with controversy, leading some LGBTQ+ history exhibitions to be relocated or even removed. During the summer …

'They Were Known Accordingly’: The Journey Of The Land Otter Pole And Memorial Pole At The Denver Art Museum, Penske Stranger Mccormack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2019, two Kaigani Haida (Alaskan Haida) totem poles (Xaadas Gyáa’ang) were re-raised in the renovated Northwest Coast gallery of the Denver Art Museum. Lee Wallace and his family, descendants of Haida carver Dwight Wallace and Dwight’s son John Wallace, led a ceremony that publicly acknowledged the Wallace family’s connection to the two poles, reintroduced Haida cultural protocols into their care and viewing, and set the stage for future collaborations between the museum and family. This study explores the history of the poles and the intersecting forces that shaped their journey from Sukkwan, Alaska, to Denver, including shifting ideals of …

Reviving Heritage In A Historic Gem City: Examining The Management Of History At The Colonial Quarter In St. Augustine, Florida, Madeline Bonner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Colonial Quarter is a living history venue of Spanish and British colonial heritage in St. Augustine, Florida. Since 1966, the site has housed interpretive structures and programming related to St. Augustine’s colonial history. Over time, management of the site has fallen under the purview of the state of Florida, the city of St. Augustine, and the University of Florida Historic St. Augustine (UFHSA) Direct Support Organization, which functions as a managing agency for the state. In 2013, the UFHSA Board entered into a public-private partnership with the Colonial Quarter, LLC. This marks the first instance of private sector involvement …

Stories Of Return: A Collection Of Repatriation Narratives, Lydia Degn-Sutton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the museological phenomena of repatriation beyond NAGPRA and the incorporation of Indigenous curatorial methods into museum collections practices. The project explores repatriation and collections caretaking practices at ten settler institutions through narratives of experience collected from museum staff. The findings of this research suggest that repatriation beyond NAGPRA and the Indigenization of collections care are situated processes that should be understood contextually and historically. This thesis argues that, in some cases, repatriation beyond NAGPRA and the integration of Indigenous perspectives, practices, and protocols into museum collections stewardship demonstrates a willingness by institutions to go beyond the minimum …

Monumental Change: Recontextualization And Inclusion Through The Lens Of Denver’S Civil War Monument And The Sand Creek Massacre, Sarah Davidson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, countries in the Global North have begun to grapple with the origins of long-standing monuments and their implication about society’s present values. This project is a case study of the Denver Civil War Monument, a monument erected in 1909 to honor soldiers from Colorado who fought during the years spanning the American Civil War. A plaque on the monument which lists the Battles and Engagements includes Sand Creek. The Sand Creek Massacre was an attack on a peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho by Colorado’s 3rd Regiment that resulted in the murder and mutilation of hundreds of …

Remembering Together: Native Boarding School Stories On Display, Lydia Nancy Wood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent scholarship on Native American boarding schools has focused on drawing out the complexities of boarding school history and emphasizing the plurality of experiences of students. This thesis examines how Native American boarding school stories have been displayed using two current museum exhibits: “Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories” at the Heard Museum, and the Phoenix Indian School Visitors Center, a small gallery in one of the remaining school buildings. For this analysis I interviewed key players in both current exhibits and did close readings of the exhibits themselves, in conjunction with archival research about two model schoolhouse …

Lessons From Controversy: Interpreting The Sand Creek Massacre In Colorado, Katherine Rose Hoadley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a case study of the 2012 History Colorado Center exhibit, Collision: The Sand Creek Massacre, 1860s – Today. Collision was an exhibit that attempted to showcase the history of the Sand Creek Massacre – an 1864 event where well over one hundred peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho people were murdered by the 3rd Regiment of the Colorado Military District. Collision remained open for a little more than a year – this thesis interrogates the reasons behind its closure and its status as a controversial museum exhibit. The findings of this thesis show that a lack of collaboration …

People And Place: A Journey Through Film, Tourism, And Heritage, Sarah Beals

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Old Tucson Studios is a theme park where film, tourism, and heritage all converge through the American Western genre. During national social change, Westerns increase in number to reflect national values and identity. Westerns that ally with landscapes and people are potentially the most powerful storytelling tool in mainstream media. My research shows that this paring of people and place creates a prevailing image in the audience’s memory. The results suggest that the current image of the West comes from films made between 1951-1970, despite there being newer Westerns. John Wayne and saguaro cactus are enduring images with historic, cultural, …

Behind The Exhibit: Exploring The Processes Of Indigenous Rights Representation At The Canadian Museum For Human Rights, Madison Caroline Dillard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Focusing on the representation of Indigenous human rights at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, this study examines how museums can represent, educate, and advocate for Indigenous human rights. The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out at the museum in July 2019 and the literature on anthropology and human rights, decolonizing museum practices, and museums as spaces for human rights dialogue. The study shows how museums can change their history of racist and inaccurate representation of Indigenous people. Through extensive and “deep collaboration” between Indigenous partners and museum staff, Indigenous culture, history, and rights …

Manifestations: Displays Of Internal Beliefs And Perspectives, Manuel Ferreira

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims at better understanding and sharing the internal beliefs, influences, and insights of specific Field Museum staff in regard to exhibitions and the future of the Field Museum. It is people that make up museums and create exhibitions, and their beliefs not only influence and guide them, but also their institution and what they develop. Grounded in museum anthropology, and framed by new and critical museology, entanglement, contact zones, museum as method, and a queer mezclando (mixing) perspective, this research employs museum ethnography as a way of exploring relations and meanings among museum staff, beliefs, and manifestations. In …

Framing Representation: An Ethnographic Exploration Of Visual Sovereignty And Contemporary Native American Art, Laura A. Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The nature of this research is to explore the idea of visual sovereignty within contemporary Native American art, and how this concept engages with practices of decolonization. Through conducting semi-structured interviews with five artists who selfidentify as Native American, I explore how the artists engage with this concept, what visual narratives their artwork presents, and how their works function as acts of decolonization. I connect their narratives to a broader conversation of critical museology and museum anthropology within museum spaces including how to reconsider the art/artifact divide, how to frame Indigenous arts reception through Indigenous aesthetics, and how their narratives …

Beyond Interventions: A Case Study Of The Denver Art Museum’S Native Arts Artist-In-Residency Program, Madison Sussmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Denver Art Museum’s Native Arts Artist-in-Residency Program is an inter-departmental project dedicated to the collaboration between the museum, artists, and visitors. The residency and the physical studio were established to formalize artist involvement in the museum. There is no written mission statement for the program, but visitor engagement is central to the organization of the program and experience of the artist. This thesis explores the question: What can the experiences of the artists and museum professionals involved in the Native Arts Artist-in-Residency program tell about the residency’s contribution to critical museology and decolonization? Through exploring the definitions of critical …

When Repatriation Doesn’T Happen: Relationships Created Through Cultural Property Negotiations, Ellyn Demuynck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the discourse of repatriation in connection to the Encounters exhibition held by the National Museum of Australia in 2015. Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander artifacts were loaned to the Australian museum by the British Museum. At the close of the exhibition, one item, the Gweagal shield, was claimed for repatriation. The repatriation request had not been approved at the time of this research. The Gweagal shield is a historically significant artifact for Indigenous and non- Indigenous Australians. Analysis takes into account the political economy of the two museums and situates the exhibition within the relevant museum …

Museum To Museum Collaboration: Exploring The Relationships Between Museums And Cultural Organizations In Denver, Colorado, Leah Zavaleta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collaboration has become a cornerstone of contemporary museum practice. In the United States, the anthropological literature on collaboration and museums has tended to be dominated by discussions on collaboration between museums and Indigenous communities in the course of implementing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. To date, little has been written on how collaboration is enacted among museums. This thesis explores the relationships among four museums in Denver, Colorado. By exploring how collaboration is defined, what a collaboration between museums looks like, and identifying the benefits and challenges of inter-museum collaboration, this study attempts to provide …

Whose Community Museum Is It? Collaboration Strategies And Identity Affirmation In The Amache Museum, Ting-Chun (Regina) Huang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Amache Museum is a preservation project that has multiple communities involved in preserving Amache history. It represents Japanese American as well as American history and is owned and maintained by the Amache Preservation Society (APS), which is comprised of local Granada High School students. By approaching the Amache Museum as a community museum and noticing its distinct collaborative strategy, this thesis investigates the community collaborations and the identity affirmations within the museum, and addresses the question of whose community museum the Amache Museum represents. My research explores the overlapping conceptual models of the Amache Museum: community museum and ecomuseum, …

Play And Exhibitions: Expanding Definitions Within Museums, Helena Sizemore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of the utilization of play, as a method for visitor engagement, within the context of the museum. Play, as a method for learning and engagement, is often a contested topic between scholars and practitioners within the museum field. This is in part due to the ambiguous nature of defining play, the ever-present dichotomy between work and play, and the struggles museums find in balancing education and entertainment. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Denver, Colorado names play as part of one of its core values. Using anthropological theoretical and methodological approaches, I examine …

Looking Through The Trees: An Anthropologist, A Museum, And The Sasquatch, Carissa Kepner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Sasquatch is incredibly popular in American society. This project explores the impact of the Sasquatch phenomenon on those that live in and visit Bailey, Colorado. It focuses on how the Sasquatch Outpost museum contributes to this impact, especially through outdoor activities, visiting the museum, visiting the Outpost general store, and the sharing of sighting stories. This work takes an in-depth look at the concept of the amateur museum, or micromuseum, and how it can contribute to the larger museum world, particularly through the ideas of Outsider Art and serious leisure. By evaluating the processes, exhibits, and procedures of the …

We Call It Pulling A Thread: Deconstructing Femininity At The Molly Brown House Museum, Emily J. Starck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite making up around half of the global population, women are consistently underrepresented in museums. Where women's experiences are present in exhibitions and programming, they are often misrepresented within an entrenched heteronormative and patriarchal framework. Through this thesis, I show how Denver's Molly Brown House Museum works to upset traditional narratives through their dynamic interpretation of the life of their namesake, Margaret Tobin Brown. Using new museology, feminist anthropology, and performance theory, I analyze data from staff interviews and tour participant observation to explore how the museum deconstructs popular understandings of historical femininity. Through visitor surveys, I measure the extent …