About

The Material Culture Forum was organized in 1988 with a mission of maintaining the sense of a scholarly community throughout the Smithsonian museums, libraries, and research and cultural centers. The Forum provides staff with regular opportunities to interact with their colleagues in other disciplines, to share information about their fields, to think about different directions in their research, to develop new collaborative projects, or to just learn. The Forum considers topics from the vast world of objects that the Smithsonian collects, preserves, studies, and presents. Quarterly meetings of the Forum are open to all, including members of the outside academic community.