Fernald previously served as Executive Director of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., January 8, 2024—The Harvard Museums of Science & Culture (HMSC) welcomes Caroline Fernald as their new Executive Director, as announced by Hopi Hoekstra, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences: “Through the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture, the extraordinary collections of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences foster curiosity and a spirit of discovery in all who visit them,” said Hoekstra. “I’m delighted to welcome Caroline to Harvard to advance this important mission and further our efforts to enhance the public understanding of and appreciation for the natural world, science, and human cultures.”
HMSC was established in 2012 to develop a strong, coordinated face for the four public-facing Faculty of Arts and Sciences museums at Harvard: the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, and the Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, as well as partner research museums, the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Harvard University Herbaria, and the Mineralogical and Geological Museum. HMSC celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2023.
Fernald says she is excited to work with Harvard faculty to engage their students directly with the museums’ collections: “Something that I really enjoy about museums and higher education is the focus on connecting students directly with the objects. That was what compelled me to want to work in museums to begin with. I am looking forward to advancing HMSC’s mission, sharing my enthusiasm for museums and each institution’s collections with the broader public, and connecting the research and expertise of each museum’s faculty and researchers with engaging public programs and exhibits,” Fernald said.
As Executive Director of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley, Fernald coordinated the repatriation of Native American ancestral remains and cultural items through the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) process. Additionally, she worked to share the importance of repatriation with the museum’s vast network of stakeholders.
Before joining the Heart Museum, Fernald led the Millicent Rogers Museum, an art museum in Taos, New Mexico. One of her favorite exhibits featured paintings, textiles, and pottery depicting plants native to the area and highlighted their impact on local communal art practices—an interdisciplinary approach she intends to bring to HMSC. She has also taught courses on Native American, Mesoamerican, and South American art histories at the University of Oklahoma (where she obtained her doctorate in Native American Art History).
Fernald succeeds Brenda Tindal, an award-winning educator and scholar with a celebrated track record for building inclusivity in museum spaces. Tindal joined HMSC as Executive Director in May 2021 and was appointed FAS Chief Campus Curator in February 2023. Fernald said she looks forward to working with both former HMSC directors Brenda Tindal and Jane Pickering, William & Muriel Seabury Howells Director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology.
“I’m very fortunate that I’ll have both of them as colleagues and consultants,” Fernald said. “My hopes are to continue to build off of the successes that they’ve already established. The Harvard Museums of Science & Culture have really fascinating programming, and I’m excited about the diversity of what HMSC offers. Building off of these successes and getting more people into the museums, that’s what I’m all about.”
HMSC coordinates diverse programming for all ages and dynamic rotating exhibitions. New exhibitions include Shehuo: Community Fire, a bilingual photographic exhibition at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Swimming with Sharks at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the installation of a replica of King Tut’s throne in the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, and an exhibition on the history of surveillance in the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments.
For more information on visiting the museums and upcoming events, including the new ArtsThursdays series, HMSC membership, and enews sign-up, please visit hmsc.harvard.edu.
About the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture
The HMSC mission is to foster curiosity and a spirit of discovery in visitors of all ages by enhancing public understanding of and appreciation for the natural world, science, and human cultures. HMSC works in concert with Harvard faculty, museum curators, students, and members of the extended Harvard community to provide interdisciplinary exhibitions, events and lectures, and educational programs for students, teachers, and the public. HMSC draws primarily upon the extensive collections of the member museums and the research of their faculty and curators.
History
The Harvard Museums of Science & Culture (HMSC) partnership was established on July 1, 2012, by former Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Michael D. Smith, to develop a strong, coordinated public face for the six research museums that are within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard:
See hours and admission rates on each of the HMSC museum websites:
- Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
- Harvard Museum of Natural History
- Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East
- Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology
Bethany Carland-Adams
Public Relations Specialist
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture
617 959 3481
bcarlandadams@hmsc.harvard.edu