Leah Burgin, Manager of Museum Education and Programs 

After 21 years as a docent and Outreach Educator at the Museum, Kathy Silvia retired in January 2020. During her time at the Museum, Kathy reached a staggering number of students—over 25,000—through the Culture CaraVan Program. 

Beyond this impressive feat, Kathy was instrumental in developing the popular on-site Dig It: Discovering Archaeology program offered when the Museum’s facility in Bristol, RI was open to the public. As she recounted in a 1999 interview published in the Museum’s The Mount Hope Years 1968-2008, the original Dig It program explored the science of archaeology through the on-site wetu, a mock excavation, and artifact analysis in the Circumpolar Laboratory. 

Kathy reflected fondly on the potent learning opportunity hands-on engagement provided for students:

“Seeing and touching real materials helped children get excited about learning. I would have a deer leg in front of me, and I would show them the sinew. And guess what, if you feel the back of your leg, you have it too, and so does the buffalo and the deer … And all the kids would touch the deer leg, and their own leg, and say, Oooh….” (60). 

Kathy’s interest in history, world cultures, the arts, and archaeology—as well as her 30+ years of classroom teaching experience—were crucial for the Museum’s transition from on-site to outreach programs during the early 2000s. Kathy became a perennial favorite in classrooms across the tristate area. When reflecting on the Culture CaraVan, teachers consistently commented on Kathy’s expertise in and passion for the various subjects she taught, frequently thanking Kathy for the hands-on activities the CaraVan brought to students.

Since I joined the Museum in 2017, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Kathy to refresh the Culture CaraVan. Her deep experience with the Museum’s outreach programs has been invaluable to that process, which gained momentum with our 2018-2019 collaboration with Akomawt Educational Initiative, a majority indigenous-owned consulting group, and has continued with the Museum’s Community Engagement Specialist, Leah Hopkins. 

As we look to what comes next for the Museum’s outreach programs, everyone at the Museum wishes Kathy the best for her well-deserved retirement—Kathy, you will be missed! 

Cover photography by Juan Arce