This collaborative project with the Smithsonian involved researching the identity of a boy in a cast-iron coffin found underground near Columbia Road NW by utility workers in 2005. Over a dozen GW graduate students worked side-by-side with nationally known Smithsonian experts for more than two years to help give the boy an identity. The mystery of this young boy's life and a strong sense of responsibility to properly identify him kept the entire team focused and determined. By dating of the coffin, the clothing, and the remains, and researching land records, the boy was assumed to be a Columbian College student, who had been buried in land that once served as the College’s graveyard. GW’s archives on the history of Columbian College proved to be an essential resource and led the Smithsonian team to locate possible living descendents. Through DNA matching, the boy was conclusively identified in September 2007 as William Taylor White, who had died in 1852 at the age of 15 from lobar pneumonia. He had been a student in the Columbian Academy Preparatory School of the College that later became GW. The researchers believe that the coffin was inadvertently left behind when the cemetery was later moved.

The student research team was led by the Smithsonian’s Deborah Hull-Walski and included GW students (now alumni) Dena Adams and Randal Scott. The boy in the coffin is an example of the unique opportunities GW can offer to students due to the rich museum resources in the D.C. area, most notably as a result of GW’s long-standing (43+years) of partnership with the Smithsonian Institution for museum studies training. 

A special on the "Boy in the Coffin" will be shown as part of a special on the Smithsonian's Physical Anthropologist, Dr. Douglas Owsley. This special will air on the History Channel on March 29 at 8pm.

AAM Celebrates 100 Years

From April 27th to May 1st, the American Association of Museums hosted their annual meeting in Boston, highlighting 100 years of service to the museum community. A number of Museum Studies were in attendence this year, using the opportunity to converse with future museum colleagues on some of the more pressing issues in museums today.

Museum Studies Program Celebrates 30 Years

That's right, the GWU Museum Studies Program has hit the 30 year mark! Launched in 1976, the Museum Studies program of the George Washington University continues to provide the preparation and training for tomorrows museum professionals. Drawing on Washington's unique community of seasoned museum experts, GW Museum Studies has used its influence as the largest, if not the oldest, museum studies program in the country to place hundreds of students in museum careers for three decades. To celebrate the event, Museum Studies threw a special party during the AAM Annual Meeting, held at the Old Boston Statehouse, with help from alumna Rainey Tisdale.

See the pictures here.

Museum Studies Oral History Class Takes a Look at AAM's Top 100

Museum Studies students had a unique opprotunity this year to record the thoughts of some the museum community's greatest. Students from Pam Henson's Oral HIstory class attended AAM's Annual Meeting to conduct interviews with members of AAM's Centennial Honor Roll.

Museum Studies' own Marie Malaro was among the 100 named to the Centennial Honor Roll. The list of honorees can be found here.