Summer Institute of Museum Anthropology

博物馆收藏的人类学材料是美国的宝藏。它们通过展品和节目吸引和激励数百万美国人，成为向广大受众传播知识的重要教育资源。博物馆保存的文物：文物、艺术品、电影和摄影，也是过去和现在文化实践的宝贵科学记录。它们是物理和视觉材料的数据库，可以随着时间的推移问题和方法的变化而一次又一次地检查、分析和重新评估。实物记录了没有书面来源记录的文化行为的动态方面；它们是直接从过去没有文字的社会获得信息的为数不多的方式之一。然而，这些藏品并没有被充分利用。许多感兴趣的研究人员无法有效地利用博物馆收藏品，因为他们缺乏接近或评估这类数据的技能和方法，这带来了明显的挑战。在美国，很少有研究生级别的博物馆研究课程。这些项目中很少有项目能够提供学习收藏所必需的实践学习。希望挖掘美国博物馆研究潜力的学生要么不得不出国留学，要么接受培训。其结果是，我们没有充分利用国家在博物馆收藏品组装和维护方面的投资。博物馆人类学夏季研究所(SIMA)就是为了满足这一需求而创建的。这是一个为期四周的强化住宿项目，以史密森学会人类学系为基础，提供博物馆研究方法方面的培训。它每年招收来自全国各地的12名研究生，他们希望通过实物研究为文化人类学领域的发展做出贡献。它还接受两名教员，他们来学习如何在自己的母校用藏品授课。SIMA是一个严格的项目，包括正式的课程时间、个人研究工作和广泛的指导。来自国家科学基金会的支持包括学生和教员研究员的参与费用，以及将访问专家和史密森学者的专门教职人员聚集在一起，他们的时间贡献给SIMA。史密森博物馆提供了大量的收藏品作为学习的实验室，让学生有机会深入研究世界上最伟大的人类学研究收藏品之一。在2009年至2017年期间，SIMA为103名学生、34名收藏实习生和7名大学教授提供了培训，并聘请了来自66所大学和22个州的18名学者作为客座教师。SIMA有一个可靠的培训模式，以前的学生参与者正在获得大学职位，在那里他们将SIMA作为自己教学的模式。这笔赠款将通过以下方式扩大SIMA模式的范围：(1)扩大研究的收藏品类型，特别是胶片和摄影；(2)扩大教授的方法，以了解收藏品中遇到的材料范围(古代DNA、动植物)；以及(3)通过招募和培训更多样化的学生和教师。所有这些活动的目标是培养能够有效地在研究中使用人类学收藏品的新一代美国学者。这些新学者将振兴博物馆，使其成为生产和传播知识的场所。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Museum collections of anthropological material are an American treasure. They engage and inspire millions of Americans through exhibits and programs, serving as an important educational resource for communicating knowledge to a wide audience. The objects: artifacts, art work, film and photography - that museums preserve also constitute an invaluable scientific record of cultural practices, past and present. They are a databank of physical and visual material that can be examined, analyzed, and reassessed again and again as questions and methods change over time. Objects document dynamic aspects of cultural behavior that are not recorded in written sources; they are one of the few ways to gain information directly from past societies that did not have writing. However, these collections are not being used to their full potential. Many interested researchers cannot effectively utilize museum collections because they lack the skills and methods to approach or evaluate this type of data, which presents distinct challenges. There are few graduate-level courses in museum-based research in the United States. Few of these programs can offer the hands-on learning that is essential for the study of collections. Students wishing to tap into the research potential of American museums either have had to study abroad or to train themselves. The result is that we are not fully capitalizing on the investment the nation has made in the assembly and maintenance of museum collections.The Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology (SIMA) was created in response to this need. Based in the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Anthropology, it is an intensive four-week residential program providing training in museum research methods. Each year it accepts 12 graduate students from across the country who show promise to contribute to development of the field of cultural anthropology through object research. It also accepts two faculty fellows who come to learn how to teach with collections at their home institution. SIMA is a rigorous program that includes a mix of formal class time, individual research work, and extensive mentoring. Support from the National Science Foundation covers student and faculty fellows participant costs and the bringing together of a specialized faculty of visiting experts with Smithsonian scholars whose time is contributed to SIMA. The Smithsonian offers its extensive collections as a laboratory for learning, giving students an opportunity for in-depth work with one of the greatest anthropological research collections in the world. Over the period of 2009 to 2017, SIMA has provided training for 103 students, 34 collection interns and 7 university professors, and engaged 18 academics as guest faculty from 66 universities and 22 states. SIMA has a solid model in place for training, and former student participants are gaining university positions where they are using SIMA as a model for their own teaching. This grant will broaden the scope of the SIMA model by (1) expanding the type of collections examined with a particular focus on film and photography, (2) expanding the methods taught to understand the range of materials encountered in collections (Ancient DNA, flora and fauna), and (3) by recruiting and training a more diverse set of students and faculty. The goal of all these activities is to create a new generation of American scholars who are able to use anthropological collections effectively in their research. These new scholars will revitalize museums as sites where knowledge is produced as well as disseminated.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.