News
Native Americans Propose Changing Names In Yellowstone
Massacres like this were a major part of what some historians call a forgotten genocide during the colonization and settlement of the American West. The perpetrators of these massacres were sometimes honored with mountains, valleys and towns.
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Here’s Provocative Art That Really Provokes, And How Two Museums Are Handling It (Carefully)
At the University of Kansas’s Spencer Museum, one of the 16 flags in the project “Pledges of Allegiance” drew enough anger that the university president ordered it taken off the flagpole. The Blanton Museum at the University of Texas at Austin is displaying The City, Vincent Valdez’s life-size painting of a modern-day Ku Klux Klan […]
Carnegie Library Archivist Accused Of Stealing $8 Million Worth Of Rare Books Over Two Decades
“According to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, the library’s former archivist and an antique bookseller allegedly conspired to steal and sell over $8 million worth of rare books from the [Pittsburgh] library, including [Isaac Newton’s] Principia, valued at $900,000. The archivist, Greg Priore, and the bookseller, John Schulman, were arrested on Friday for the […]
Arts Orgs Fear They Simply Can’t Afford To Turn Down Donations From Ethically Dubious Sources
“Although the vast majority are concerned that taking the ‘wrong’ sort of money could damage their reputation, just one in four report that their organisation has any sort of ethical fundraising policy. The findings emerge out of a survey of over 500 arts workers who shared their views on ethical fundraising and sponsorship. Their comments […]
How AI Might Make The Vatican’s Amazing Archives Accessible
The Vatican Secret Archive isn’t much use to modern scholars, because it’s so inaccessible. Of those 53 miles, just a few millimeters’ worth of pages have been scanned and made available online. Even fewer pages have been transcribed into computer text and made searchable. If you want to peruse anything else, you have to apply […]
Controversial Statue Of Stephen Foster In Pittsburgh Comes Down
“The move followed an October decision by the Pittsburgh Art Commission, which found that the statue should be removed within six months and hosted in a private, ‘properly contextualized’ location. Many residents have held that the sculpture – showing a shoeless African-American banjo player seated at the famed composer’s feet – is condescending or outright […]
First Museum To Victims Of Lynching Opens In Alabama
“After two years of planning and construction, and having raised an estimated $20m from Google, the Ford Foundation and private philanthropists such as the billionaire activist siblings Pat and Jon Stryker, the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice [in Montgomery] will be inaugurated with a two-day ‘peace and justice summit’ starting […]
