Museum Studies Fieldwork Seminar

Faculty Advisor: Sylvia Houghteling & Monique Scott

Field Site: Bryn Mawr College Special Collections

Field Supervisor: Marianne Weldon

Praxis Poster:

Further Context and Supplementary Booklet:

The Museum Studies Fieldwork Seminar is a Bryn Mawr College PRAXIS class that is made up of an internship at a field site and a lecture class. The field site I worked at was Bryn Mawr College’s Special Collections where I conducted independent research on the MacGaffey Collection. The MacGaffey Collection was donated to Bryn Mawr College in January 2022 and is comprised of ethnographic photographs, 12 Congolese ceramics, and one article describing the
ceramics. The ceramics, which I was researching, are mostly water pitchers, were collected by
Wyatt MacGaffey (Professor of Emiratis, Haverford College) and Janet MacGaffey (Ph.D. 1981,
Bryn Mawr College) from 1965 to 1970. I cataloged, photographed, researched, and rehoused
the objects. My comparanda research has yielded important insight into the vessel shapes, secondary usage, and the engraved motifs.