Graduates of the Johns Hopkins Cultural Heritage Management and Museum Studies programs gathered with family members and faculty at the Evergreen Museum & Library, which houses collections from the Garrett family, on May 18 for a garden reception and a tour ahead of commencement festivities.
At the invitation of the Philip Franklin Wagley Director and Curator of John Hopkins University’s Evergreen Museum & Library and Director of the Homewood Museum Lori Finkelstein, 20 graduates of the MA in Cultural Heritage Management and MA in Museum Studies programs and guests embraced the opportunity to enjoy in-person fellowship in a setting closely tied to their field of study.
“Over the last several years, Program Director Sarah Chicone and I have worked hard to create an engaging field trip experience for our cultural heritage management and museum studies graduates when they come to Baltimore for commencement,” said Karina Wizevich, associate program director of the Museum Studies program.
“Since our programs are delivered online, many of our students have never visited Baltimore, explored our beautiful campus, or met one another in person,” she said. “We hoped this event would help students feel welcomed into the Johns Hopkins community, while giving them an opportunity to tour the exhibit spaces and build relationships with classmates, faculty, and alumni.”
“Visiting Evergreen Museum gave me a greater appreciation for how the Garrett family expressed a worldly lifestyle through the design of their home, and how the artwork, architecture, colors, and mosaics all worked together to tell that story.” said graduate Sarah Bigham. “My time in the Johns Hopkins Museum Studies program was a refreshing change of pace from my career as a Coast Guard officer and enabled me to explore career paths aligned with my passion for wildlife education and public engagement. Equally meaningful were the connections I made with classmates, from learning together online to celebrating our graduation in person.”
“We were thrilled to be able to host JHU colleagues and students at Evergreen as part of commencement festivities,” Finkelstein said. “The goal of JHU Museums is to provide students with opportunities for research, learning, and meaningful personal engagement. Collaborating with the cultural heritage and museum studies program adds an important dimension to the work that Evergreen does to fulfill this goal. It’s a privilege to be able to share Evergreen with graduates of the program and to count them as members of the JHU Museums community.”
Housed in a Gilded Age mansion surrounded by 26 acres of gardens and woodlands, Evergreen Museum & Library is home to a renowned collection of fine and decorative arts, rare books, and manuscripts assembled by two generations of Baltimore’s Garrett family between 1878 and 1952. Originally constructed in 1858, the mansion as later expanded extensively by the Garrett family to accommodate their eclectic collections. Today, Evergreen is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as both a museum and a teaching resources for Hopkins students and scholars.
“It was a great pleasure to be in a space that creates this ‘power of place’ that becomes a classroom and also functions as a museum and historic site. Having the opportunity to meet my classmates face-to-face, in the real world, created this culminating triumphant moment of ‘We did it!’ I found myself throwing my arms around them in big hugs because it had felt as though I’d known them for years,” said Cultural Heritage Management graduate Jenna Owens. “The program provided essential tools and, even before completing the program, I had already started using much of what I was learning in my courses. I am so grateful for the challenge of this program and the support the faculty.”