Museums, History, and a Future Born of Crisis

Dr. Samuel J. Redman is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Public History Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research focuses on studies American social, cultural, and intellectual history, and he received his B.A. in anthropology and history from the University of Minnesota at Morris and an M.A. and Ph.D. in American history since 1607 at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Redman is the author of three books. His first book, Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums was published by Harvard University Press in 2016, and was selected as a Choice Top-25 Outstanding Academic Title, Nature Top-20 book of 2016, and Smithsonian Top History Book of 2016. His second book, Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology (Harvard University Press 2021) explores the history and legacy of salvage anthropology, and then his third book, The Museum: A Short History of Crisis and Resilience was published by NYU Press in 2022, and is the subject of our conversation today, examines how cultural institutions responded to episodes of crisis over the past century in the United States.

Before graduate school, Redman worked at the Field Museum of Natural History, Science Museum of Minnesota, and History Colorado. While at Berkeley, Redman served as the Lead Interviewer for the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Homefront Oral History Project. He also helped to organize Berkeley’s Japanese American Confinement Sites Oral History Project and San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge Oral History Project. In collaboration with a New York City based non-profit organization, Voices in Contemporary Art, he has co-led Artist Interview Workshops for more than 300 conservators, curators, educators, and arts professionals.