The Smithsonian’s Material Culture Forum has been instrumental in maintaining the sense of a scholarly community throughout the Smithsonian museums, libraries, and research and cultural centers since March 1988. The Forum exemplifies the ideal of “One Smithsonian” by providing staff with regular opportunities to interact with colleagues in other disciplines, share information about their fields, think about different directions in their research, develop new collaborative projects, or just to learn.
The Forum considers topics from the vast world of objects that the Smithsonian collects, preserves, studies, and presents. Meetings of the Forum are open to all, including members of the outside academic community. The Steering Committee is comprised of volunteer representatives from across the Smithsonian. Meetings are announced via an Institution-wide email as well as through a public list-serv.
