William R. Farrand Memorial Lecture

Professor Kerstin Barndt will share new findings about the history of U-M's world-class collections of natural history, ethnography and art. Her talk traces the collections’ origins in the State Geological Survey and global collection expeditions. As Michigan’s first acclaimed public museum, the University Museum in Ann Arbor was a showcase of the State and of U-M as a leading research university. What kind of exhibitions could visitors expect to see? How did the collections foster the University’s research mission and its growing disciplinary specialization? The talk draws on Barndt's forthcoming co-edited book, Object Lessons and the Formation of Knowledge: The University of Michigan Museums, Libraries and Collections 1817-2017.

A dessert reception will follow the talk.