Across the country, museum leaders and curators are re-examining their collections and the legacies of their founders. Some have objects in their collections that were acquired unfairly, stolen, or are seen as offensive today. Others work at institutions founded by people who are now considered bigoted. VPR reporter/producer Shanta Lee Gander spoke with Vermont Edition about these fraught legacies.
The question of creative legacy is central to the latest installment of Gander's Seeing…the Unseen and In-Between within Vermont's Landscape project.
The first story in the series wrestled with the idea of legacy, and how individual artists think about the creative legacy they’ll leave behind.
The second installment focuses on creative institutions like museums, and how they grapple with the more problematic parts of their legacies. For the latest installment, Gander spoke with Martin Mahoney, executive director of the Bennington Museum; Janie Cohen, director of the Fleming Museum of Art in Burlington; and Eva Garcelon-Hart, research center archivist for the Henry Sheldon Museum in downtown Middlebury.
Listen to the full interview to hear excerpts from these museum leaders, reflections on the collections and founders, and issues Gander hopes to explore in upcoming installments of the 'Seeing' series.
This interview is about VPR's "Seeing" series, an exploration of the individual and institutional aspects of creative legacy. Find part one here, and part two here.
Broadcast on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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