scholarly journals Houses of stories: the whale rider at the American Museum of Natural History

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Billie Lythberg ◽  
Jennifer Newell ◽  
Wayne Ngata
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Museum Education ◽  
Community Outreach ◽  
Learning By Doing ◽  
American Museum ◽  
The Public ◽  
Opportunities For Learning ◽  
Museum Staff ◽  
The Impact

In April 2013, fifteen members of the Māori tribal arts group Toi Hauiti travelled to New York to reconnect with their carved wooden ancestor figure, Paikea, at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). They gave educational presentations  to school groups, museum staff and members of the public about Paikea and the whare kōrero , or house of stories, which Paikea had adorned as a gable figure.Through a discussion anchored in the importance of taonga (ancestral treasures), this paper describes embodied forms of knowledge used by Paikea’s descendants to know him in his absence, and introduce him to diverse audiences. Its foci are: museum education in multicultural contexts; learning by doing through the use of interactive activities; and community outreach and museum education. In addition, it discusses the challenges to protocols and opportunities for learning offered to AMNH staff through this engagement, and examines the impact it had son Toi Hauiti members themselves.

Bringing the Real World of Science to Children: A Partnership of the American Museum of Natural History and the City University of New York

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G Picciano ◽  
Robert V. Steiner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Development Program ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Museum ◽  
The World ◽  
The City

Every child has a right to an education. In the United States, the issue is not necessarily about access to a school but access to a quality education. With strict compulsory education laws, more than 50 million students enrolled in primary and secondary schools, and billions of dollars spent annually on public and private education, American children surely have access to buildings and classrooms. However, because of a complex and competitive system of shared policymaking among national, state, and local governments, not all schools are created equal nor are equal education opportunities available for the poor, minorities, and underprivileged. One manifestation of this inequity is the lack of qualified teachers in many urban and rural schools to teach certain subjects such as science, mathematics, and technology. The purpose of this article is to describe a partnership model between two major institutions (The American Museum of Natural History and The City University of New York) and the program designed to improve the way teachers are trained and children are taught and introduced to the world of science. These two institutions have partnered on various projects over the years to expand educational opportunity especially in the teaching of science. One of the more successful projects is Seminars on Science (SoS), an online teacher education and professional development program, that connects teachers across the United States and around the world to cutting-edge research and provides them with powerful classroom resources. This article provides the institutional perspectives, the challenges and the strategies that fostered this partnership.

The Public Sector Mediation Process

1978 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Kochan ◽  
Todd Jick
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Mediation Process ◽  
Municipal Governments ◽  
The Public ◽  
Situational Characteristics ◽  
Alternative Sources ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

This paper develops and tests a model of the labor mediation process using data from a sample of negotiations involving municipal governments and police and firefighter unions in the State of New York. The test of the model also incorporates an estimate of the impact of a change in the statutory impasse procedures governing these groups. The model examines the impact of (1) alternative sources of impasse, (2) situational characteristics, (3) strategies of the mediators, and (4) personal characteristics of the mediators on the probability of settlement, percentage of issues resolved in mediation, movement or compromising behavior, and the tendency to hold back concessions in mediation. The results indicate that the change in the impasse procedure had a marginal affect on the probability of settlement in the small to medium cities in the sample but little or no effect on the larger cities. Furthermore, a number of other measures of the sources of impasse and mediator strategies and characteristics had a stronger impact on the effectiveness of the mediation process than the nature of the impasse procedure.

Curating the uncommons: taking care of difference in museums

Curatopia ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 227-243
Author(s):  
Billie Lythberg ◽  
Wayne Ngata ◽  
Amiria Salmond
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Arts Management ◽  
American Museum ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Management Group ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Curatorial Practice ◽  
Taking Care

Current ontological critiques point to how discourses of diversity like multiculturalism help domesticate difference by making it fit into pre-determined categories, such as those we are accustomed to thinking of as cultures. These ways of conceiving relations within and between groups of people—common to anthropology and museums, as well as to liberal democratic regimes of governance—assert that differences between peoples are relatively superficial in that our cultures overlay a fundamental and universal sameness. Museums showcasing cultural artefacts have thus helped domesticate difference by promoting world-making visions of (natural) unity in (cultural) diversity. Yet some artefacts exceed the categories designed to contain them; they oblige thought and handling beyond the usual requirements of curatorial practice. This chapter considers the challenges of ‘curating the uncommons’ in relation to work carried out by and with the Māori tribal arts management group Toi Hauiti and their ancestor figure, Paikea, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Clark Wissler, 1870–1947

1948 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. C. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Natural History ◽  
York City ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
American Museum ◽  
Franz Boas ◽  
American Archaeology ◽  
University Training

American Archaeology lost one of its . most enthusiastic promoters and interpreters by the death, in New York City on August 25, of Doctor Clark Wissler. As one of the last of the passing generation of anthropologists with university training to enter the profession from another discipline—in this case Psychology—-he came to the American Museum of Natural History in 1902, at the age of 32. He served at first as Assistant in the Department of Ethnology under Curators F. W. Putnam and Franz Boas; but not long after, probably on Putnam's departure, was advanced to Assistant Curator of Ethnology and by 1905 is recorded as Acting Curator of Ethnology. Succeeding Boas, on the latter's complete transfer to Columbia University in 1906, he was named Curator of the Department of Ethnology and finally, in 1907, Curator of the Department of Anthropology, a rank which he held until retired to emeritus status in 1942, at the ripe age of 72.

William Diller Matthew, 1871 - 1930

1932 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-74 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Natural History ◽  
New Brunswick ◽  
Graduate Student ◽  
The United States ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
American Museum ◽  
Vertebrate Palaeontology

William Diller Matthew was the eldest child of Dr. G. E. Matthew, of New Brunswick, an amateur geologist, who, by his great collections and excellent papers, added much to our knowledge of that part of Canada. Dr. Matthew was born on February 19,1871, in St. John, New Brunswick ; throughout his life he retained an interest in this town, visiting it yearly, except when abroad, and retaining his Canadian nationality during nearly forty years’ residence in the United States. Dr. Matthew was introduced to geological methods by his father, and sent at first to the small University of Halifax, whence in 1892 he proceeded to Columbia University as a graduate-student, there studying geology, mineralogy and metallurgy. He graduated Ph.D. in 1895. In that year he was selected by Professor H. F. Osborn, whose classes he had attended, as assistant in the department of Vertebrate Palaeontology in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. In this department he worked for thirty-two years, finally becoming Curator-in-chief of the division of geology, mineralogy and palaeontology.

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