PROJECTS
The following projects are a curated collection of my work with cultural institutions and heritage sites. My interests and skills are interdisciplinary, and I find projects the most rewarding when they connect seemingly disparate ideas, fields, departments, or people.
All current Bradbury Center staff and volunteers participated in the collections preservation training session and the materials will be used to train future staff and volunteers as well. | Photo by Nancy Orem
Through the collections preservation training session, Bradbury Center staff and volunteers gained confidence in their preservation knowledge and skills, such as best housekeeping practices. | Photo by Sarah Whaley
This collections preservation training session helped all Bradbury Center staff and volunteers understand the team effort required to ensure preservation of collections held in the public trust. | Photo by Sarah Whaley
All current Bradbury Center staff and volunteers participated in the collections preservation training session and the materials will be used to train future staff and volunteers as well. | Photo by Nancy Orem
Collections Preservation Training
I developed and led a 3-hour, site-specific preservation training session for the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies. This training promoted staff and volunteer confidence in performing better collections stewardship. It included hands-on demonstrations and interactive activities such as a "10 Agents of Deterioration Scavenger Hunt."
"Illustrating the Future" Program
I created and ran a program for Harmony School middle and high schoolers in Bloomington, IN about Ray Bradbury and his illustrators, as well as his own illustrations. The program included engaging prompts for students to write creatively and to draw inspired art.
Students completed evaluation forms at the end of the program that indicated the success of the creative prompts, as well as their desire to learn even more about Ray Bradbury and his illustrators. | Photo by Arlo Welty
One of the creative prompts was to write a 3-sentence story about this piece of artwork by Joseph Mugnaini. Students said the limit on length encouraged them to be more illustrative in their writing. | Slide by Sarah Whaley, Art by Joseph Mugnaini
This is an example of artwork a student drew in response to the prompt to create art based on the program, Bradbury's art, or the art of his illustrators. Students were split between enjoying writing or creating art the most, with some saying they enjoyed both prompts immensely. | Artwork by Harmony School student
Students completed evaluation forms at the end of the program that indicated the success of the creative prompts, as well as their desire to learn even more about Ray Bradbury and his illustrators. | Photo by Arlo Welty
The exhibit's accompanying virtual program featured a tour of the exhibit gallery, original works that couldn't be displayed, excerpts read from "The October Country" stories, and a Q&A with Bradbury Center staff. This virtual program made the exhibit accessible to a national and international audience of Bradbury fans. | Video by Jon Greenhoe
The exhibit received numerous, voluntary feedback forms from visitors to the gallery. Some changes were made during the run of the exhibit to accommodate visitor requests, such as adding a QR code linking visitors to a spooky soundtrack. | Photo by Sarah Whaley
I was able to share the exhibit with my fellow Bradbury Center staff and volunteers, as well as some of my family. This was the first exhibit I carried out from beginning to completion. It is now reinstalled in the Bradbury Center for visitors to continue to enjoy. | Photo by Arlo Welty
The exhibit's accompanying virtual program featured a tour of the exhibit gallery, original works that couldn't be displayed, excerpts read from "The October Country" stories, and a Q&A with Bradbury Center staff. This virtual program made the exhibit accessible to a national and international audience of Bradbury fans. | Video by Jon Greenhoe
"October Country" Exhibit
I curated, designed, and installed the Bradbury Center's annual exhibit in the Cultural Arts Gallery at IUPUI and ran a virtual program. The exhibit was titled "October Country: The Marvelous and Macabre World of Ray Bradbury" and focused on his lesser-known stories.
Repatriation of Cultural Heritage
Through my work on the FBI Art Crime Team, I have been able to assist with returning ancestors and sacred objects to their descendant communities. Provenance research I conducted resulted in successful international repatriation.
It is critical to respect and honor the wishes of descendant communities awaiting the return of their cultural heritage while also ensuring the safety of the sacred objects during transit. | Photo by Kelly Poston
Customizing boxes to return cultural heritage to descendant communities is a challenge, requiring creative use of shipping materials. | Photo by Kelly Poston
Searching museum databases was part of my provenance research that resulted in successful international repatriation. Collecting institutions need to reckon with past histories of colonialism and return stolen cultural heritage to descendant communities. In some cases, items purchased legally by museums may still be of questionable origin due to the looting of heritage sites or grave-robbing. | Slide by Sarah Whaley
It is critical to respect and honor the wishes of descendant communities awaiting the return of their cultural heritage while also ensuring the safety of the sacred objects during transit. | Photo by Kelly Poston
The project culminated with presentations of our work at the historic site. The site interpretation team - Carey Champion, Dr. Brian Forist, Shelbie Porteroff, and I - shared the results of a survey regarding site interpretation and volunteerism, our recommendations for improving the interpretation manual, suggested partnerships, and a sample interpretation activity. | Photo by Sarah Whaley
The Friends of Beck's Mill and other site stakeholders were incredibly welcoming. They have gone to extraordinary efforts to preserve this treasured 1808 mill, in order to remember and teach about the area's pioneer history. | Photo by Sarah Whaley
Another Ghost Lab team created dramatic monologues for real or imagined people buried in the site's graveyard based on historical research, as a way to include stories of marginalized people not remembered by the site's standard history. This was a priority of the overall project, to elevate the stories of the diverse people whose lives unfolded on or around the site. | Photo by Sarah Whaley
The project culminated with presentations of our work at the historic site. The site interpretation team - Carey Champion, Dr. Brian Forist, Shelbie Porteroff, and I - shared the results of a survey regarding site interpretation and volunteerism, our recommendations for improving the interpretation manual, suggested partnerships, and a sample interpretation activity. | Photo by Sarah Whaley
Beck's Mill Ghost Lab
The Friends of Beck's Mill in Salem, IN partnered with the IU Center for Rural Engagement for an interdisciplinary, sustainability-focused project. The project involved community dialogue with stakeholders, research, and presentations of recommendations. I worked with the site interpretation team.
Hidden Health Hazards Poster
My colleagues Corey Barber and Dr. Holly Cusack-McVeigh and I created a poster that was presented at the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology's virtual 33rd Annual Conference to raise awareness about health hazards in museum collections.
Though the conference was virtual due to the pandemic, our poster reached an international audience to raise awareness about hidden hazards in museum collections that can adversely affect museum staff and visitors. | Certificate from ISEE 33rd Annual Conference
This conference allowed us to share relevant knowledge from the museum field with environmental epidemiologists. Interdisciplinary communication and collaboration is necessary to protect human health. | Screenshot of poster web platform
For our poster, we identified five specific health hazards in museum collections - silica dust, lead paint, arsenic, mercury, and infectious agents. We recommended mitigation methods and including safe handling and display practices in institutional policy. | Poster by Sarah Whaley, Corey Barber, and Dr. Holly Cusack-McVeigh
Though the conference was virtual due to the pandemic, our poster reached an international audience to raise awareness about hidden hazards in museum collections that can adversely affect museum staff and visitors. | Certificate from ISEE 33rd Annual Conference
I assisted with a two-day photoshoot of the Dee Birnbaum Textile and Jewelry Collection at the IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (IUMAA). We staged textiles and jewelry for shooting in a variety of ways to prepare for an upcoming exhibit. | Photo by Sarah Rosenkrans
I catalogued and condition reported some of IUMAA's ethnographic collections, including detailed sketches. | Photo by Sarah Whaley
Pre-pandemic, I was regularly volunteering at WonderLab Museum of Science, Health & Technology, encouraging playful discovery on the gallery floor. I plan to return now the museum is reopening to volunteers. | Photo by Sarah Whaley
I assisted with a two-day photoshoot of the Dee Birnbaum Textile and Jewelry Collection at the IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (IUMAA). We staged textiles and jewelry for shooting in a variety of ways to prepare for an upcoming exhibit. | Photo by Sarah Rosenkrans
Volunteer Work
I supplement my work in cultural institutions with volunteering at others to gain experience and skills working with different collections and audiences. I have volunteered at the IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Eagle Creek Ornithology Center, and WonderLab Museum of Science, Health & Technology.