The Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology will celebrate its 150th anniversary year by opening All the World Is Here: Harvard’s Peabody Museum and the Invention of American Anthropology. Unveiled within a beautifully restored 4th floor gallery, this new exhibition will feature an astonishing array of over 600 objects from Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, many on display for the very first time. Together they will be woven into a compelling narrative tracing the early history of the museum’s collections and the birth of American anthropology as envisioned and shaped by the museum’s second director Frederic W. Putnam. On view at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology.

On view in the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Scale: A Matter of Perspective examines the concept of scale and its power to transform perceptions of the world and our place in it. Featuring a wide selection of microscopes and telescopes from the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments and an array of models, miniatures, and cultural and scientific artifacts from collections across the University, the exhibition will challenge visitors to make connections to the world in surprising new ways. 

We live in a time when an alarming array of plants and animals struggle to even exist in a world that is increasingly dominated and altered by an exploding human population. Showcasing the work of artist Christina Seely, in collaboration with Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris of The Canary Project, this exhibition presents a provocative and powerful new perspective on the biodiversity extinction crisis. Next of Kin: Seeing Extinction through the Artist’s Lens, uses special photography techniques, lighting and sound design, and specimens carefully chosen from the collections of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology to generate an exchange between the viewer and animal kingdom and evoke empathy with our “next of kin”. On view at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

An interdisciplinary collaboration at Harvard University has created a full-scale reproduction of an ancient Egyptian throne belonging to Queen Hetepheres (about 2550 BC).  The chair’s materials are based on the ancient original: cedar, bright blue faience tiles, gold foil, gesso, cordage seating, and copper. This experiment in archaeological visualization is a triumph of reconstruction because the only guidance came from thousands of tiny, jumbled fragments and 90-year old expedition records. The reproduction chair is the centerpiece of the new exhibit, Recreating the Throne of Egyptian Queen Hetepheres. On view at the Harvard Semitic Museum.