Article Abstract:
Many art museums have become elitist temples of culture, while the museums' traditional educational mission has been neglected. The recent exhibition 'The Glory of Byzantium' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, exemplified this trend. The exhibition featured many beautiful works of art, but failed to link them to the social, economic or political context in which they were produced. The classical rooms that have recently been renovated also fail to provide information on the cultural context for works such as the Cycladic figurines.
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Article Abstract:
Archaeologists should seek alternative sources of funding and develop low-budget research projects in response to financial cutbacks at the National Endowment of Humanities. Federal support for Old World archaeology has been nearly eliminated. Meanwhile, the Archaeological Institute of America has recently instituted a dissertation fellowship for work in the western Mediterranean and Italy. The Institute continues to pursue its longstanding mission to seek private donations to support Americans doing archaeological research abroad.
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Article Abstract:
James Henry Breasted, who lived from 1865 to 1935, was the father of American Egyptology. After taking his doctorate at the University of Berlin, he pursued a successful career as a scholar at the University of Chicago, where he sought to import the high academic standards he had been exposed to in Europe. He helped to found the Oriental Institute and to make it a center for the study of ancient Egypt.
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