Memory Keepers

The Provost’s theme for the 2018–2019 academic year was The Year of Why. The Penn Museum’s student curatorial team used themes from the Penn Book choice, Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey, to explore how objects connect us to memories of people and places we have lost. Their exhibition, Memory Keepers: Why Objects Matter, brought together objects from multiple Museum curatorial sections to examine how objects help us remember our past, the places from which we come, and the relationships we most value. After the exhibition opened in March 2019, the three student curators met with members of our Teen Ambassador program and held a pop-up exhibition of objects that held memories for the teens.