Mark your calendars! PA Giving Day is Wednesday, March 26, 2025!
PA Giving Day represents a critical milestone in our fundraising efforts for the Peabody. Last year we raised 65% of the Peabody’s annual support from 57 donors in just one day. This year our goal is to exceed previous success by engaging even more PA alumni and friends of the Peabody in this collective day of giving.
For those inspired to give early, please visit the PA Giving Day page here! Please be sure to select the “Peabody Institute of Archaeology” under the “designation” section. Any gift made in advance of the event will count toward PA Giving Day totals.
This year we hope to have more match challenges and even more support! Be sure to follow our social media on PA Giving Day for some inspiring posts from students who have been impacted by the Peabody.
A Dialogue Between Director for Advancement Initiatives, Jennifer Pieroni, and former Peabody Institute Work Duty student and current Peabody Advisory Board member, Ben William Burke ’11.
Archaeology isn’t just about uncovering and studying ancient items—at Andover, it’s about shaping a more informed, ethical, and engaged society. By learning archaeology, Andover students gain experiences to understand the world better, think critically, and contribute meaningfully to the future by better understanding the past.
At a recent Peabody Institute meeting, I met Ben William Burke ’11, whose enthusiasm for the Peabody was inspiring. As a new member of the Andover community, I wanted to understand why the Peabody had left such an indelible mark on Ben and why he continues to support it today.
By email, Ben shared: “As a work duty student at The Peabody, I received unparalleled access to its extensive collection and cultural immersion programs. These experiences brought me face to face with — and taught me the value of — perspectives different from mine. In those moments, I was challenged to understand before correcting, to empathize before judging, and to build on the past in a way that respects it.”
Ben Burke ’11 (Back row, third from the right) on the BALAM student trip. This was a multi-week cultural immersion and archaeological adventure through the greater Yucatán Peninsula sponsored by the Peabody Institute.
Today’s Andover students gain the transformational learning opportunity of being a part of an organization that leads in the field of repatriation and reflects Non Sibi by teaching students that archaeology is not just about personal discovery but about responsibility: to the past, to descendant communities, and future generations. Through hands-on study, students engage in meaningful, ethical work prioritizing respect over self-interest.
Ben noted, “There is not an avenue in my life that isn’t positively affected by The Peabody’s lessons in empathy and respect. I support The Peabody because I understand the value in learning to value other’s perspectives – especially when they are different from my own.”
Supporting the Peabody means investing in education that shapes responsible scholars and professionals. By supporting the Peabody with an annual gift, you can help elevate a place where teaching and learning are deeply connected to respect, collaboration, and cultural preservation. Join us in ensuring that the study of archaeology serves our Andover students and also society as a whole.
Among the newest student clubs on offer to the Phillips Academy community as of this term is the Andover Anthropological Society: a group of students of superior intelligence who recognized ahead of their peers that doing research with cultural materials is incredibly fun, and an excellent use of one’s free time.
Now with a membership of ten, club members selected as their inaugural project an accession of Arctic materials surface-collected by Patricia Hume near Utqiagvik (previously Barrow), Alaska during six summers between 1959-1969, and donated to the Peabody Institute in 1998. Meeting weekly at the Peabody, so far the AAS has received collections handling training and begun to build direct experience doing close-looking analysis of cultural materials; perused the Pat Hume accession file and visited storage, doing archival research AND learning some basics of museum practice (I’m very efficient); learned about the Bureau of American Ethnology and delved into 20th century ethnographies from the region (thank you, OWHL reference librarians!); and started to explore various themes and approaches for their group project. These have included connecting collections to Iñupiaq language, exploring notions of gender and household structures, and questioning anthropological terms like “effigy” to build more robust interpretations of people’s material expressions of spirituality and religion – just to name a few.
AAS members closely examining “household” items from the Pat Hume accession and debating whether I was messing with them in my claims for what they were. [Not pictured: all the female members of the club. I promise it was just unlucky they had to leave before I could take any photos…]
Whichever direction(s) the club ends up taking, what they learn will enter into the Peabody’s database, enhancing our own understandings of these collections here and the ways in which we’ll be able to connect others to them in the future.
I happen to have the privilege of serving as faculty advisor for this club, and it has been a joy getting to know these students, and having them teach me about Iñupiat culture. Bookmark this blog and stay tuned to learn more about the AAS from the AAS itself!
For the past two years, the Peabody has been dealing with an endlessly noisy neighbor. Falls Music Center, a new home for music at Phillips Academy, has been under construction since early 2023.
The noise started early in construction as a massive mountain of dirt was excavated from the building site. Next came the drilling for the geothermal wells. We could feel the vibrations in the ground as the wells reached 500 feet deep in an effort to maintain PA’s commitment to sustainability. Alas, despite our repeated (yet playful) requests, we were not allowed to sift through the back dirt to look for pieces of Phillips Academy history.
Over the next months, the building rose behind us and carried all the sounds of construction as the steel frame went up and carefully crafted practice and performance spaces were built. Most spaces within Falls Music Center are acoustically separated to isolate noises and capture the most “live” sound possible. The sounds were a constant background to much of our work moving back into the Peabody after our building project.
My favorite discovery during the construction was that the window in the main stairwell of the Peabody looks directly into the glass stairwell of the Falls Music Center. I have to admit that more than once I tried to wave at the construction workers. Unfortunately, no one waved back.
Towards the end of 2024 the fences around Falls Music Center came down, the sidewalks were repaved, the grounds were cleaned up, and the sounds diminished. I can’t say that we have missed them, but we definitely notice their absence.
Now, Falls Music Center is open to students and I look forward to a new type of noise – the stray notes from the incredible student musicians and sound of increased student presence in our little corner of PA.
Last month we were delighted to welcome back Ramson Lomatewama to Phillips Academy Andover (PA) where he worked with students and campus community members in fused glass workshops.
Ramson Lomatewama is an award-winning Hopi glass artist, kachina doll carver, jewelry maker, and published poet from Hotevilla, Arizona. This is his second year working with the Peabody Institute to bring fused glass workshops to the PA campus community. Ramson has also participated in various virtual, and in-person talks at PA, sharing his poetry, art, and life stories with students and the broader public. You can view these virtual talks on our Peabody YouTube page.
Ramson speaking to one of the fused glass community workshops.
Ramson creates stained glass, blown glass, and fused glass art. Ramson’s glass art is viewed as “a contemporary expression of ancient and artistically rich people… evoking a beautiful, yet humbling mindscape which we all long to find.” He is the first hot glass artist from the Hopi Tribe. Ceremonies and cultural activities continue to play a major role in his life. He has showed works at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Museum of Northern Arizona, Fusing Traditions, a traveling exhibition, and the San Diego Museum of Man (now known as the Museum of Us).
Stained glass artwork by Ramson Lomatewama.
Blown glass ‘spirit figure’ sculptures by Ramson.
Blown glass vessel by Ramson.
Ramson is an educator on several levels. Early in his career, he was a middle school and high school teacher, and for many years, served as adjunct faculty at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Ramson also taught glass art for Hopitutuqayki (The Hopi School), an arts apprenticeship program located on the Hopi reservation. Ramson’s studio, Hotevilla Glassworks, is the first and only Hopi owned working glass studio. Check it out here!
Students at work, creating their own fused glass pieces in their class workshops.
Working with fused glass seemed a little daunting at the beginning of the workshops, but a quick demonstration by Ramson with helpful instructions gave students the courage and motivation to dive in. The plethora of glass pieces to work with – stringers, millefiori, frit, swizzle sticks, dichroic, and ribbons – came in many shapes, textures, and colors. Students worked side by side creating their pieces of art, asking Ramson questions about his techniques and listening to stories about his life and art journey.
“Working with fused glass, you need to be prepared to forfeit control…” was Ramson’s important insight that would hold true from assembling our glass pieces to the final kiln firing of our pieces. No matter the shape or size of your glass piece – after firing – it would melt down to around 6mm thick. Ramson calls this the “6mm rule.” I found it best to go into a fused glass design with no plan, as your final product would tend to come out a little different from what you’d imagine… most of the time it would look even better!
This year I created two pendants and (hopefully) some pieces to assemble into earrings. You can see my “before and after” photos of my glass pieces at the end of this blog. In the meantime, see below for some finished pieces by PA community members.
Finished fused glass pieces from the PA community workshops.
We are very fortunate to have acquired a stained-glass piece that Ramson created for the Peabody. We look forward to completing its installation in the Peabody’s front transom window once the next iteration of the building renovation is complete.
Ramson’s stained glass piece, commissioned by the Peabody.
We are very grateful for the time that Ramson dedicates to working with and educating our PA students and campus community! We hope to have him back next year! For more information about Ramson and the PA fused glass workshops, check out this article by the Andover Magazine (i.e. page spread #10-11, Digging Deeper article).
Our Peabody annual report for academic year 2023-2024 has just been released! This report features educational participation at the Peabody, building project updates, work duty, and more! In addition, our annual report features new acquisitions, institutional highlights, and workshops along with updates on our collection and NAGPRA work. Thank you to everyone who supported the completion of another wonderful year at the Peabody!
Hi, all. My name is Lainie Schultz, and I am the brand-new Curator of Education here at the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology. I come to this position from the George Peabody Museum of Anthropology (aka the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, or PMAE), where I was previously the Head of Teaching and Learning. It is also where my career in museums began, as an undergrad looking for a federal work-study position. At the time I just thought it would be a relatively painless way to make some money, but it turned out I genuinely cared about museums and the relationships they build with descendant communities. Who would have guessed?
This led me to graduate school in anthropology, and a few more museum stops along the way. In between stints at the PMAE I was introduced to the culture of morning and afternoon tea in the Repatriation Unit of the National Museum of Australia (sometimes the tea is coffee); was thrown into the world of First Nations humor during consultation visits at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (do you know how to pronounce Kwakwaka’wakw? Gitxaała? just bragging…); learned to throw a returning boomerang at Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural and Education Centre (key word “throw.” darned thing never returned); pretended along with the Cultural Collections and Community Engagement section of the Australian Museum that our already well-worn office demountables were only “temporary” (humor came in handy there, too); marveled like the nerd I am at the Berndt Museum of Anthropology’s catalogue records (THEY ARE. SO. COMPLETE.); and stayed with family I didn’t know I had before while at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre (that had nothing to do with the cultural center, but it really meant a lot to me).
I don’t know what new experiences the RSPI will be throwing at me, but I am ready for it all.
PA Reunion Weekend only comes once a year and it is one Saturday that I don’t mind working. Now that I have been at the Peabody for over 16 years (gasp!), I am privileged to have forged connections with dozens of students over the years and I really love seeing them return as alumni.
For anyone who doesn’t know, the Peabody Institute has long been a part of the Phillips Academy work duty program. PA students are required to do some type of work on campus during their time as part of their education. The Peabody has been one of those work venues for about 20 years now. While time requirements for work duty have shifted over the years, this has long been an important link between the Peabody and students. Running the work duty program was a primary focus of mine for 8-10 years and I really enjoyed getting to know the students.
Now, some of those students come back as adults and share their memories with me. Being a part of their PA experience and leaving any type of impact on them is truly one of the best parts of my job. I look forward to many more opportunities to connect!
It’s been a few months since we shared our last building update and so much has transpired since staff have been back in the Peabody. These last few months have been busy for the Peabody staff, as they worked on moving the collections, moving furniture back into the building from offsite storage, and organizing/cleaning the building to welcome Phillips Academy classes in the spring term.
The largest and most involved of these projects, is moving the collections from temporary spaces around the building to our newly renovated, sustainable, and secure collections space, putting all holdings in one place! This project is ongoing and requires a great deal of care as the collections team transport items to their new housing and mapping out how items’ locations are organized and tracked. We also are extremely grateful for our Peabody volunteers and work duty students who have helped with this project!
Creating new housing for collection itemsTracking locations in the new collection space
In addition to moving the collections, the Peabody is organizing our classroom spaces to welcome back students this term. With our furniture back onsite and in place, we are ready to have students back through our doors (just in time!) with classes starting this week!
The Peabody library – now fully accessible – received a deep clean and is ready to serve as classroom and meeting space for students and out colleagues across campus.
Peabody staff returning books to shelves on the second floor landing.
With things returning to normal, we are only opening our doors at this time for Phillips Academy classes and events. This is a “soft opening” as we continue organizing our new collection spaces and preparing for our next round of building renovation. We will continue to keep the updates coming as we enter the warmer months of spring. Stay tuned for some exciting content from the Peabody to be shared on our social channels this PA Giving Day – Wednesday, March 27th!
Human Origins students learn about the history of the atlatl, an ancient hunting and warfare device.
Mark your calendars! PA Giving Day is Wednesday, March 27, 2024! Last year the Peabody Institute garnered 60 gifts and $25,000 in match funds!
For those inspired to give early, please complete the PA Giving Day form here! Please be sure to select the “Peabody Institute of Archaeology” under the “designation” section. Any gift made in advance of the event will count toward PA Giving Day totals.
This year we hope to have more challenges, more social media posts, and even more support!
The Peabody 