College of Information Science and Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research Receive $350K NEH Grant for Cultural Heritage Collections Training
Specimens from the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research will assist in experiential training of the next generation of museum professionals through a National Endowment for the Humanities grant awarded to the College of Information Science and LTRR.
The University of Arizona’s Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) and College of Information Science (InfoSci) have been awarded a $349,357 grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities for Experiential training of the next generation of museum professionals through American Southwest cultural heritage collections.
The project, led by LTRR curator Peter Brewer in collaboration with LTRR Assistant Curator Shannon Harrel and InfoSci Associate Professors Berlin Loa and Andrea Thomer, provides paid internships for 12 undergraduates and 12 Master of Arts in Library and Information Science (MLIS) students to work with humanities collections and learn best practices in collection and archival management. This training will be centered around humanities collections that are an integral part of the museums program at the LTRR.
The educational programming serving both undergraduate and master’s students will be augmented by a targeted training workshop that will bring together these two student groups and the wider southern Arizona museums community. The project aims to build community for the students and create professional networking opportunities, while also filling a specific training gap identified within the region. The grant builds on the demonstrated success of students who have worked in LTRR’s dynamic collections through independent studies and internships over the past several years, including several InfoSci students.
The LTRR is home to the world's largest and most diverse collection of tree-ring specimens. Housed in the dedicated Tree-Ring Archive Building adjoining the Bryant Bannister Tree-Ring Building, the repository has two environmentally controlled floors containing 4.4 kilometers of shelving as well as a separate curation work area. The repository is the only federally recognized facility for the storage of tree-ring specimens, and contains many samples from federally protected lands.
“This is an incredible opportunity for students to gain experience working with cultural heritage materials in such a unique collection,” Loa says. “Of course, dendrochronology is important for our understanding of ecosystems and the scientific data is significant to the record of human interactions with nature, but objects from this collection have also been used in a recent art exhibit, reflecting the interdisciplinary scope of this curatorial work.”
“This collection reflects the way scholars at the U of A have had impact on arts and sciences both domestically and internationally,” Loa continues. “These students will be part of that legacy by ensuring that these collections are preserved long-term and made available to researchers. The collection is an example of the wide range of materials that we encounter as information scientists, as data scientists and as practitioners in cultural heritage preservation across libraries, archives and museums.”
Tree-ring research (dendrochronology) was first developed at the University of Arizona in the early 1900s. One of its founding aims was to establish archaeological timelines of occupation and migration for native populations in the American Southwest and to investigate the history and complex relationships between cultures, climate and environment through time. The LTRR collections include unique humanities material linked with the inception and development of the scientific discipline, along with its interwoven roots in anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, climatology and ecology. The collections also include materials of direct importance to descendant communities and the multi-cultural heritage and history of the American Southwest and beyond. The LTRR is the largest institution in the world dedicated to tree-ring research and is also the only institution of its kind to have a purpose-built repository and museum program.
Learn more about the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, or view recent stories of interdisciplinary research conducted by leading InfoSci faculty and researchers.