2022 May 15
Colossal Heads of Mexico
1:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: 
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
The Olmec civilization of ancient Mexico is known for its mysterious sculptures of giant heads that rise up to eleven feet high. Touch a huge modern replica in the museum for one day that is based on Monument One, The King. Explore artifacts with an educator that show Olmec influence on architecture, the ball game, written language, and pigments. Handle reproductions and paint a mini-plaster head of your own to take home.
Workshops also available at 1:45pm and 2:30pm (one hour each)
Registration Deadline: Friday, May 13, 12:00 pm
Ages 6–10,...
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2022 Apr 27
In-Person Gallery Talk: Ella Hurd’s Botanical Cyanotypes—Camera-less Photography and Scientific Discovery in the 19th Century
12:30pm to 1:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge
The talk will highlight amateur botanist Ella Hurd and the process she used to make her cyanotypes. It will also explore the importance of camera-less photography to scientific research and documentation in the 19th century.
...
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2022 Apr 21
In-Person Gallery Talk: Washington and the Power of Clothes
12:30pm to 1:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge
Join curator Horace D. Ballard for fresh perspective on two of the museums’ iconic portraits of George Washington through the meaning of gesture and the materialities of fashion. Inspired by Ballard’s recent research on Washington and his rewriting of the portraits’ gallery labels, the talk will explore the important role artists played in shaping the nation’s sense of self after the partisan politics of the Revolutionary War.
...
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2022 Apr 14
The Trouble with Tragedy: Imagining the Native American Past, Present, and Future
6:00pm to 7:30pm
Location: 
Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge
The Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP) and the Harvard Art Museums present a lecture by author David Treuer.
David Treuer, an Ojibwe Indian, will offer a fresh and in-depth perspective on the current state of affairs for Native and Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Drawing from his experience growing up on the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota and as an accomplished academic, Treuer’s work includes both nonfiction and fiction.
...
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2022 Apr 09
In-Person Gallery Talk: Art and Human Health—An Evolutionary Perspective
12:30pm to 1:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge
Join Ben Sibson, a graduate student at Harvard in human evolutionary biology, for a conversation about how art can enhance our understanding of the evolution of human health. Looking at works of art installed in the University Study Gallery this semester for the undergraduate course Human Evolution and Human Health, Sibson will show how the objects provide useful information about the physical activities performed by people across time and space, as well as the foods they ate, the clothes they wore, and the spaces where they lived.
...
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2022 Mar 27
Amazing Archaeology Fair at Harvard
1:00pm to 4:00pm
Location: 
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave. & Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 6 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
Special In-Person Family Event! Free with Museum Admission; Admissions Reservation Required.
Experience an epic day of archaeological events with the family! Activities are scattered across two museums so explore Native North American, Central American, Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Mediterranean archaeology. Throw a spear with a spear thrower. Talk to student archaeologists who excavate in locations around the world.
...
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2022 Mar 03
500 Years of Women Authors, Authorizing Themselves
Repeats every week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday until Fri Mar 11 2022 .
10:00am to 5:00pm
10:00am to 5:00pm
10:00am to 5:00pm
10:00am to 5:00pm
10:00am to 5:00pm
10:00am to 5:00pm
10:00am to 5:00pm
Location: 
Amy Lowell Room (2nd Floor), Houghton Library, Harvard Yard, Cambridge
Let us introduce you to some of the most infamous female authors you’ve never heard of who carved out cultural spaces for themselves. Our challenge to you: Remember their names. Share their stories. Rewrite history.
Highlights include:
• A copy of Phillis Wheatley's collection of poems autographed by the author

• A mysterious ownership inscription by a medieval woman named "Johanna" in a copy of Jerome's Vitas Patrum

• Mary Wroth's copy of Xenophon's Cyropaedia, bearing her cryptic monogram...
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2020 Feb 27
Film Screening: Dovlatov
7:00pm to 9:00pm
Location: 
CGIS South Building, Room S010 (Tsai Auditorium), 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge
Dovlatov follows a few days in the life of famed Soviet writer, Sergei Dovlatov, on the eve of his friend's, future Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky, emigration in 1971. Sergei is determined to stay and lead a normal life with his wife Elena and daughter Katya, however, his manuscripts are regularly rejected by the official media as his point of view is deemed undesirable.
Dovlatov premiered at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival, where it was awarded a Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for costume and production design. Directed by...
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2020 Feb 27
The New Geopolitical Order
4:15pm
Location: 
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden St., Cambridge
The new geopolitical environment taking shape in many parts of the world tends toward increasing authoritarianism and nationalistic competition. In this lecture, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, an international human rights advocate and the former United Nations high commissioner for human rights, will argue that the world’s people deserve better. Despite the demagoguery and isolationism that some leaders are pursuing, he believes it is possible to pursue thoughtful diplomacy and a system of connectivity, coalitions, and partnerships to reform institutions and change polices.
...
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2020 Jan 23
Gallery Talk: Walk Like an Egyptian
12:30pm to 1:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge
Fellow Jen Thum explores the basics of ancient Egyptian representation, including why their bodies seem to "walk like an Egyptian."
Free with museum admission. Gallery talks are limited to 15 people and tickets are required. Ten minutes before each talk, tickets will become available at the admissions desk.
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2019 Dec 11
The Lost Book of Moses: The Hunt for the World’s Oldest Bible
4:00pm to 5:00pm
Location: 
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
Chanan Tigay is an award-winning journalist and nonfiction writer who has covered the Middle East, 9/11, and the United Nations for such outlets as AFP, the Atlantic, GQ, and the New Yorker. In this lecture, Tigay will talk about his first book, The Lost Book of Moses: The Hunt for the World’s Oldest Bible, which tells the story of the oldest Bible in the world, how its outing as a fraud led to a scandalous death, and why archaeologists now believe it was real—if only they could find it. In addition to the story of this controversial Bible, Tigay will speak about his own hunt for the...
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2019 Nov 29
Dreaming the Sphinx in Augmented Reality
12:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Semitic Museum, 6 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
Between the paws of the great Sphinx is the Dream Stela, a monument which describes how a young prince fell asleep in the shadow of the Sphinx by the Giza Pyramids. Visitors to the Harvard Semitic Museum galleries will be able to experience the iconic Sphinx and its Dream Stela in 3D augmented reality.
A gallery facilitator will use a tablet to allow the Sphinx to loom above and around a real life-size cast of the monumental stela. With a tap, the ancient hieroglyphs will be highlighted and translated into English. Another tap to adjust the timeline later, and a pyramid will...
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2019 Nov 07
James Sloss Ackerman Memorial Lecture: Guido Beltramini
6:00pm to 8:00pm
Location: 
Gund Hall, 485 Broadway Lecture Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
This lecture, in memorium of James Sloss Ackerman, Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Fine Art Emeritus, is sponsored by the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
James Sloss Ackerman was born in 1919 in San Francisco. At Yale University his professor, Henri Focillon, wrote to him “Remain faithful to our studies for which you are so well suited.” Ackerman's graduate work focusing on Renaissance architecture was guided by Richard Krautheimer and Erwin Panofsky at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. His...
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2019 Oct 20
Virtual Reality Expedition to Ancient Israel
12:00pm to 3:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Semitic Museum, 6 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
"Travel" in fifteen minutes to an archaeological site in Ashkelon, Israel to explore the first-ever excavation of a Philistine burial ground. For years archaeologists have searched for evidence of these Biblical people. Transport yourself to the center of 360° scenes of an archaeological expedition while your gallery facilitator explains what you are seeing. Borrow a device from the museum or download the virtual reality app on your smart phone and bring it to place in a 3D viewer at the museum for an immersive experience.
...
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2019 Oct 10
Molinillos and Chocolate in Contemporary Mexico
3:00pm to 4:30pm
Location: 
Peabody Museum Education Room, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
In this special event, Juan Alonso Rodriguez will explain how to make a molinillo, the whisk-like wooden tool that is traditionally used in Mexico to make froth in chocolate beverages. Together with Ana Rita García-Lascuráin, he will discuss the history of chocolate production in Mexico and its current renaissance. Using molinillos, members of the Cambridge-based Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute will make three different chocolate beverages that participants can taste during the program.
Participants must be aged 18 and over.
Cost:...
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2019 Sep 13
Lecture: Bauhaus Bashing: Looking Back and Looking Ahead
12:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Stubbins Room 112, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Join the Harvard Graduate School of Design for a lecture delivered by Philip Ursprung, Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at ETH Zürich, Switzerland. 
For the 100th birthday of Bauhaus, the German State supports two new museums, several exhibitions, and many celebrations. However, the current celebrations repress the fact that the Bauhaus in the late 20th century was criticized for its formalism and dogmatic design education. And while a...
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2019 Jun 26
Harvard Art Museums: Cambridge Open Archives
12:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Art Museums, Art Study Center, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge
The Harvard Art Museums Archives is participating in Cambridge Open Archives, an annual event that offers the rare chance to visit a number of unique archives and collecting agencies in Cambridge. In the Art Study Center, select archival photographs, correspondence, and objects documenting the history of the museums’ teaching mission and its wider impact in the United States will be on display for close examination. Archives staff will be on hand to share the stories behind the materials.
Cost: Free with museums admission (note that admission is always free...
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2019 May 18
Exploring Zapotec Wool-Dyeing Techniques
10:00am to 3:00pm
Location: 
Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
In this one-day workshop, master dyer and textile artist Porfirio Gutiérrez will discuss the history and uses of cochineal dye from the perspective of the Zapotecs from Oaxaca, Mexico, who have used the pigment since pre-Columbian times. Mr. Gutiérrez will demonstrate how to prepare cochineal dye and will guide workshop participants in dyeing their individual wool scarves with both cochineal and pericón, a wild marigold indigenous to Mexico, used to obtain a beautiful bright yellow dye.
This is an all-levels workshop; no previous experience is required. All supplies for...
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2019 Apr 14
April School Vacation Week Activities at the Harvard Semitic Museum
Repeats every day until Fri Apr 19 2019 . Also includes Sun Apr 21 2019.
11:00am to 4:00pm
11:00am to 4:00pm
11:00am to 4:00pm
11:00am to 4:00pm
11:00am to 4:00pm
11:00am to 4:00pm
11:00am to 4:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Semitic Museum, 6 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
Free, fun, family activities allow visitors to explore arts from the ancient Near East. Activities change daily: make Egyptian accessories, inscribe clay tablets, or decode hieroglyphics. Drop in for five minutes—or 30—to see what is new every day.
Self-guided activities take place on the first floor of the Harvard Semitic Museum. Explore the rich history of cultures connected by the family of Semitic languages. Exhibitions include a full-scale replica of an ancient Israelite home, life-sized casts of famous Mesopotamian monuments, authentic mummy coffins, and tablets...
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2019 Apr 13
April School Vacation Week Activities at the Peabody Museum
Repeats every day until Sun Apr 21 2019 .
11:00am to 1:00pm
11:00am to 1:00pm
11:00am to 1:00pm
11:00am to 1:00pm
11:00am to 1:00pm
11:00am to 1:00pm
11:00am to 1:00pm
11:00am to 1:00pm
11:00am to 1:00pm
Location: 
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
During April school vacation week, drop in to the third-floor galleries to touch a Maya hieroglyph and create your own glyph rubbing to take home. In the Arts of War exhibit, hunt for animals hidden in designs on weapons and armor from around the world.
Activities are free with regular museum admission. Self-guided activities change daily.
Admission is free for Massachusetts residents every Sunday morning (year-round) from 9:00am-12:00pm and on Wednesdays from 3:00pm-5:00pm (September through May). Proof of residency required. This offer is not available to...
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