All programs require advance registration unless otherwise noted.

New Program Guide

Fall & Winter Programs, Exhibits, and Classes

This season’s menu of exhibits, public and school programs, evening lectures, digital and gallery tours, podcasts, and more provides a wide spectrum of experiences and learning opportunities for all to enjoy and learn. 

Among the offerings is the annual Day of the Dead Family Fiesta—marking the 20th anniversary of the Peabody Museum’s soulful celebration of Mexican heritage, traditions, and family. And in November, step into the Harvard Museum of Natural History to explore the extraordinary lives of sharks in the new Swimming with the Sharks: A Deep Dive into Shark Biology and Behavior exhibition. 

Virtual Adult Class

Sketching Plants and Flowers

Saturday, October 1, 9:30–11:30 am ET

Explore a variety of plant forms using pencil and paper. Taught by a scientific illustrator, this online workshop will emphasize close observation and realistic representation. We will explore a range of techniques for achieving more accurate drawings and will delve into contour, gesture, foreshortening, and shading to create volume and depth. The group will be limited to twelve participants, allowing ample time for individual feedback. All skill levels are welcome

Register

Virtual Adult Class

Drawing Butterflies and Moths with Colored Pencils

Wednesday, October 19, 9:30–11:30 am ET

Learn to use colored pencils to capture the beauty of butterflies and moths. Working from photographic images, the instructor will describe techniques, show examples, and provide tips and tricks to create rich, vibrant drawings. The group will be limited to twelve participants, allowing plenty of time for individual feedback. All skill levels are welcome.

Register

Museum News

Rewriting the Past: The Problem of Historic Language in Museum Collections

A Peabody Museum Collections blog post reveals a backstory behind a massive project to make the entire Marshall Family Collection digitally available, creating over 50,000 new media files from the negatives, prints, slides, stereoscopic transparencies, and paper records. 

The collection documents the family's expeditions to the Kalahari in the 1950s, and has been featured in Peabody Museum exhibitions and Where the Roads All End (Peabody Museum Press, 2017). The images' original catalog descriptions are rigorously detailed, and most people featured in the photos are identified—documentation that is remarkable for a historical collection of this size.

However, the descriptions also used outdated terms and museum staff had to modify many of the descriptions due to the use of terms for and about Indigenous people that are racially coded, dated, and now considered derogatory.

Read how the museum team approached this significant task.

Podcast Episode

Personalizing the Lives of Ancient Egyptians

Host Jennifer Berglund speaks with Egyptologist Jen Thum, Assistant Director of Academic Engagement and Assistant Research Curator at the Harvard Art Museums.

 Jen holds a special reverence for the artifacts she researches, many of which are related to Egyptian burials. She says, “We need to study the Egyptian past and make real evidence and good sources available to students and the public alike. We should be proud of them as part of the accomplishments of our species. We should recognize that Egypt is an African culture that did this. We get a chance to reflect on how what we leave behind will say about us in the future. The next time you put on a shoe, or pick up a pencil, those are going to be artifacts one day. What will they say about you?”

Jen contributed to the new Funerary Portraits from Roman Egypt exhibition at Harvard Art Museums. Stay tuned for the related HMSC lecture on "mummy portraits."

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