Join us for a joint meeting of the Museum Archives (MAS) and Science, Technology, and Health Care (STHC) Sections on July 23, 2025 from 11am-12:30pm (central). Following brief section business meetings, we’ll hear from two speakers on the topic of incorporating archives into exhibits and leave plenty of time for questions.
Register here:
Agenda (central time):
- 11:00-11:05 - Introductions
- 11:05-11:20 - STHC Business Meeting
- 11:20-11:30 - MAS Business Meeting
- 11:30-11:50 - Presentation by Laura Weis, PhD
- 11:50-12:10 - Presentation by Abigail Guay
- 12:10-12:30 - Questions for presenters
More about the presentations:
Laura Weis, PhD, Project Archivist, Bernard Becker Medical Library, Washington University in St. Louis
As part of a two-year, dedicated project, Laura has processed two substantial collections related to the history of biomedical computing at Washington University. In the Spring of 2025, she curated an exhibit that incorporated materials from these collections. Laura will share how she endeavored to convey both the breadth and depth of WashU’s contributions to the evolution of computers in medicine, as well as how she approached communicating scientific, technological, and medical concepts to a non-specialist audience. She will also reflect on her experience collaborating with an external graphic designer to visualize the exhibit. Finally, she will briefly discuss how she developed a presentation related to, but not repeating, the exhibit’s contents.
Abigail Guay, Crystal Bridges Art Museum
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is doubling its physical footprint, plus reimagining/renovating all existing galleries. As part of a strategic vision and plan for the library and archives, I have successfully advocated for the inclusion of library and archival collections materials (presented and interpreted on the same level as artwork) in every permanent collection gallery, with the first new space slated to open July 2025. I’ve done this while working with my team to implement an archival database and overhaul our web resources (still in process) which means I have had to manually surface materials for curatorial consideration. My role at the museum is new, so the work has been novel and not without complications.
