Is the Indiana Jones Era Really Over?

Harrison Ford Might Be Hanging Up His Fedora, But the Imperial Theft His Movies Glorify Lingers

In 2009, soon after the fourth Indiana Jones film came out, the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) awarded Harrison Ford with the Bandelier Award for Public Service in Archaeology.

In his speech, Ford expresses his gratitude to the AIA and for the work archaeologists are doing today to “understand and interpret the past to learn from it and enjoy a better future.” But he added, “it is quite disarming to see that the Indiana Jones films have been an inspiration to archaeologists.”

I was thinking about this speech while watching the previews …

by Jackie Mansky | June 30, 2023

Where I Go: The Candy Wrapper Museum

Your Trash Is My Treasure—And a Sweet Reminder of the Past

by Darlene Lacey | April 6, 2023

In 2019, an unassuming package arrived at my front door.

Inside was a sooty 2-by-4-foot scrapbook filled with candy wrappers over 70 years old. On the surface, a piece of trash—one …

When War Comes for the Museum

I Led the Rescue of Syria’s Cultural Heritage—Here’s What We Need to Do to Protect World Treasures from Politics and Strife

by Maamoun Abdulkarim | May 11, 2022

Protecting cultural heritage during crises and wars is a big challenge, especially if conflict erupts suddenly and consumes a country with violence.

As head of the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums …

California African American Museum Executive Director Cameron Shaw

Running a Museum During a Global Pandemic Is Creativity Every Single Day

October 1, 2021

Cameron Shaw is the executive director of the California African American Museum (CAAM). A native Angeleno, she previously served as CAAM’s deputy director and chief curator; before that, she was …

How Museums Help Diverse Nations Reimagine Themselves

By Embracing the Ambiguity of Old Myths, the Best Exhibits Broaden a People’s Sense of Belonging

by Elizabeth Weiser | October 10, 2019

Museums are often dismissed as irrelevant diversions, as places apart, as tombs for pasts that don’t have much to do with the present.

But I study the world’s heritage museums—the …

A Mexican Cultural Center That Builds Bridges, Not Walls, With the U.S.

Tijuana’s CECUT Draws Southern Californians by Programming with Cross-Border Appeal

By Alan I. Bautista Plascencia | June 22, 2017

Each culture absorbs elements of cultures near and far, but afterward it is characterized by the way in which it incorporates those elements.
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