Dr. Stacy Drake: Human Remains in Museums

  • February 13, 2020
  • 4:00 PM - 5:30 CST
  • IC 4th Floor
  • Catherine Nichols, cnichols@luc.edu
  • Free
  • All
     Open to the public.
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    Dr. Stacy Drake, The Field Museum
    Human Remains in Museums: Addressing Painful Collection Histories through Conservation, Curation, and Collaboration

    Thursday, February 13, 4:00 p.m., IC 4th Floor

    While the general public often holds a great interest in viewing and engaging with human remains at educational institutions like museums, the ethical considerations surrounding collections of human remains are complex and ever-changing. In this talk, Dr. Stacy Drake, Collections Manager of Bioanthropology at the Field Museum, will highlight some of these concerns and illustrate some of the ways in which the Field Museum is working to navigate and mitigate potential cultural trauma caused by past collection methods through community engagement and collaborative curation efforts.

    Stacy Drake is the Collections Manager for Bioanthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago. Dr. Drake earned her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, where she investigated mortuary trends of the ancient Maya in northwestern Belize. She served as Osteologist and NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) Coordinator for the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory in Austin before coming to the Field Museum in 2017. Prior to her recent appointment as Collections Manager, Dr. Drake worked to improve documentation and curation of North American human remains housed at the Field Museum with the help of a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).