Also by Jennifer Carlson and Abhinaya Rangarajan.
The University of Tulsa Department of Special Collections and University Archives and the McFarlin Fellows hosted a reception and dinner Thursday, February 25th. The speaker for this event was TU’s own Dr. Robert Pickering, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Museum Science and Management Graduate Program. The evening started at 6:30 with cocktails and conversation. The dinner, themed around Southwest cuisine, was served at the Pat and Arnold Brown Reading Room, where Dr. Pickering then presented his talk, titled “The Future of the Past: Bringing Archaeology of the Past into the 21st Century”, to a full room of McFarlin Fellows members and their guests.
The lecture was about how technology is changing and advancing museum practice in the galleries and in the curation and care of collections. Dr. Pickering articulated the need for technology and interactive components to be incorporated into modern museum management. He also noted the many potential collaborations between different TU degree programs and the Gilcrease Museum, making particular mention of the Computer Engineering program as well as Museum Science, and other traditional disciplines such as History, Anthropology, and Art. Students and museum enthusiasts, he tells us, both today and in future, will be able to enjoy the works as they always have and also be able to engage with the collections with new technologies and interactive exhibits.