Eleanor Toyama, BMC 26′

Penn Museum: Into the Collections

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: The Penn Museum

Field Supervisor: The Penn Museum

Praxis Poster:

HART_EleanorToyama_REVISED

 

Further Context:

For my Museum Studies Fieldwork experience, I got the opportunity to work with Katy Blanchard, a Bryn Mawr alum, in the Near East collections of the Penn Museum. I worked alongside another Bryn Mawr intern, Sally Jamrog, in completing the photographic inventory of material excavated from the site of Beth Shemesh on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The site was occupied from about 2000 BCE by the Canaanites, and is mentioned in the Old Testament as an important biblical city. This means we were working with objects over 4000 years old, such as ceramic lamps, dishes, jugs, stoneware, and even some semiprecious stones used as jewelry. Being in contact with these objects twice a week for so many hours at a time was an incredible opportunity, and drew me even closer to the ancient world.

Sally and I proceeded methodically through shelves of objects, checking that each item was in its place, and then bringing them to the next stage. We photographed the objects against a gray backdrop and made decisions about how to best position each piece to highlight the most diagnostic elements. We then put the items in new containers, either plastic bags or boxes, writing the identifying museum numbers in fresh Sharpie. After that, the objects got placed back on the shelves, and we organized them in the most efficient way to maximize visibility and ease of access. This was the flow of most of our work days—some other times, we went on visits upstairs (out of the collections basement!) to the galleries, to look at item examples, or to archives, to check out the field notes of the items we were handling.

Throughout this experience, I’ve gotten a very hands-on perspective of the everyday work that goes into managing the collections at a museum, and specifically an archaeological one. This is especially pertinent as I am a Classics major, so I am glad that I was able to bring that viewpoint to work that deals with the kind of things that I am studying directly in my other courses. I’ve gained a new appreciation for the little objects, with lots of credit to my supervisor Katy’s enthusiasm and pure love for her job and all it entails. I went into this course with the hope of learning a bit more about the behind-the-scenes of a museum, and I am emerging with the knowledge that collections management is a fulfilling experience that presents new discoveries every day.