Alexis Gordon, Class of 2020, Education & Programming Coordinator
Walking down the hallway toward the classroom—where I already see two small faces peering past the slightly open door—I hear a shout that feels truly magical: “They’re here!” The excitement is sweetly abounding as we enter the classroom, huge boxes of sand and artifacts in tow. It’s an honor to be greeted this way, and an absolute pleasure to get to talk to kids who want to grow with you and learn about what you love. And this experience was ubiquitous—everywhere we had to privilege to work, students from one side of Providence to another wanted to start their own digs through Think Like an Archaeologist (TLA) box sets, reassemble artifacts, and learn what it means to be an archaeologist in a world that, perhaps more than ever, needs to reckon with historical narrativity and the past.
Having the chance to work with the Haffenreffer through TLA, museum programming, and didactic work was always a practice in thoughtfulness and fun. Each classroom, lesson, or program day was a chance to be in the community in meaningful and impactful ways, asking people to think with us about the world around and what it means to care for the past and each other. Every time a student said they were happy it was TLA day, or that they wanted to be an archaeologist now, felt like a little gift. I know that not one of the other graduating seniors wants to “escape the Haffenreffer” (sorry, bad joke), but we leave having learned so, so much, with each other, the museum, and the Providence community.
Anna Harvey, Class of 2020, Education & Programming Coordinator
The past year at the Haffenreffer has been a thoroughly rewarding culmination to my time at Brown. As an Education & Programming Coordinator, I have had the opportunity to share the joys of archaeology and anthropology to sixth-graders through the Think Like an Archaeologist program, to develop an original tour for the museum’s Transient Matter exhibit, and to learn more about public engagement, communication, and community building than I could have ever hoped to. I have discussed the ethics of collection and repatriation with visitors during our International Archaeology Day open-house and watched children’s faces light up as they pieced together broken bits of pottery during STEM Week at the Providence Museum of Natural History.
I have shared my knowledge of archaeology and anthropology, but more importantly, I have learned by doing, by adapting to changing circumstances, and by engaging the difficult questions that museums are always trying to tackle. Working at the Haffenreffer has shown me that there are a myriad of ways to be an educator and that there are people out there who come to work each day excited to discover how best to share their passions with their communities. To my fellow EPCs—Alexis, Lauren, Lily, and Isaac—thank you for bringing your creativity, energy, and individuality to all of our work together. And to Leah B. and the rest of the Haffenreffer staff, thank you for cementing my theory that museum people are, in fact, the best kind of people.
Isaac Leong, Class of 2020, Education & Programming Coordinator
I’m grateful for the exciting opportunities that I had while working as an Education & Programming Coordinator (EPC) for the past three years. These experiences have been enriching, challenging, thought-provoking, reflective, and fun.
I’m grateful for the many hours spent in sixth-grade Providence classrooms teaching archaeological concepts and methods as part of the Think Like an Archaeologist program. Working with these curious and enthusiastic students has been a joy. It has also made me reflect on the ways that university museums can engage the broader community so as to make learning experiences more accessible. I’m particularly grateful to be a part of program with a long and rich history. The opportunity to work with our partners at the RISD Museum, the Joukowksy Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World, and the Rhode Island Historical Society has helped me to reflect on my own classroom experiences in a broader context. These forums have been a collaborative space to think through pedagogy and language accessibility, and I’m grateful to have contributed to these discussions.
I have also learned tremendously about the art and science of giving museum tours, especially in the context of the museum’s latest exhibition Transient Matter. How would a sensitive engagement with such the difficult topic of migration look like? How should one engage with its materiality with a group of other museum visitors? Thinking about these questions while crafting a tour has been a reflective process that has gained currency for me as I moved home during the COVID-19 health emergency. I’m thankful for the care, thoughtfulness, and insight that my colleagues and peers at the museum have shared. My past three years at Brown would have been quite different without these opportunities to engage the community and to think with others through the Haffenreffer Museum.
Gabrielle Santas, Class of 2020, Visitor Services Coordinator
Humid Providence summer days always seem to pull visitors towards the Haffenreffer’s air-conditioned exhibits. I am working as a Visitor Services Coordinator (VSC) at the museum on a July afternoon when two women—road-tripping from out of town—find refuge inside. Drone Warriors: The Art of Surveillance and Resistance at Standing Rock and Sacred is Sacred: The Art of Protecting Bears Ears are currently on display. Like many who enter the Museum not knowing what to expect, they are pleasantly surprised by the exhibit: the unique coalescence of art and objects, the invitation to engage with the material, and the implicit connections to their own lives.
“We’re school teachers,” one explains. We talk about how they can bring the exhibit’s lessons— of the ongoing struggle at Standing Rock, media narratives, historical erasure, and even the implications of our own presence on this land—back to their students in New York.
Conversations like this were my favorite part of working as a VSC. Most visitors come to learn stories of people and places with a degree of removal from their own lives. But, as they travel through the space, taking time to read the text, pause for thought, and add to the sea of notes layered over the world map, something resonates beyond the material in isolation. While the three of us left our conversation with more questions rather than answers, Drone Warriors and Sacred is Sacred took on new lives—their powerful currents emanating past Manning Hall’s marble columns.
Lauren Toneatto, Class of 2021, Education & Programming Coordinator
It is hard to choose a favorite memory from my time as an Education & Programming Coordinator (EPC) this year; however, one interaction with a sixth-grade class at Roger Williams Middle School stands out. After leading two back-to-back sessions of Think Like an Archaeologist (TLA), my co-instructor Sarah and I were ready to take our scheduled break before teaching a final session later in the day. With it being peak midterm season at Brown, on our drive over to the school we discussed our intent to optimize our free period to study for exams.
However, our grand plan to make the most of our forty minutes off shift never came to be when Roger Williams announced an unexpected internet outage. Instead of memorizing vocabulary words as anticipated, Sarah and I taught an impromptu TLA session for a library class. Several familiar faces sat before us from previous TLA visits, meaning that a few students already listened to our presentation and learned the material. Rather than begrudgingly sitting through our session once more, these repeat students were the first to raise their hands, eager to help their classmates and demonstrate their knowledge of the content. It was really rewarding to see students retain the information we taught them weeks ago. More importantly, the students genuinely seemed interested to engage with our material, even during unprecedented circumstances.
Ultimately, I do not remember what I hoped to study during our all-important break, but the memory of this particular TLA session has stuck with me to this day – and I did well on my exam regardless of an extra study session!
Lily Willis, Class of 2022, Education & Programming Coordinator
Last year, reflecting on working at the Museum had me recalling a moment in the classroom with sixth graders in the Think Like an Archaeologist program. A year later, to say much is different would be an understatement.
Yet, when I think of what it is that I like about my job working at the Museum—connection with the public, learning from my awesome coworkers, and thinking about the role of anthropology in our world—much of that still remains.
As a Brown student, school was turned upside-down alongside the rest of the world, and then resumed unrecognizably over Zoom. The same classes now met from time zones that spanned the globe. I woke up for 6 am classes from California, my room lit by the light of dawn as others on the call had the darkness of night outside their windows.
But the Education & Programming Coordinators (EPCs) met weekly over Zoom with Leah B., switching our planned tours of the Transient Matter exhibition to be practiced to a remote audience. Over the summer, Lauren, Mae, and I worked on public outreach through social media. My brothers and I sat at our kitchen table and colored in coloring pages the HMA had made for National Coloring Book Day, inspired by Octopus Bags, a type of tabbed pouch created by the Subarctic tribes of North America.
Through the summer and fall, we began to develop a virtual escape room, set in the Museum. I got to play online escape rooms and take notes on what worked, and we designed puzzles, which we then tried out on each other. Getting to work with thoughtful people to create public programming was a very different experience than it was a year ago, but the care that my coworkers put into their work during this wonky time was inspiring.
All photos courtesy the authors. | Cover photography by Juan Arce