About kelsey-museum.blog
Kelsey-museum.blog was the website for The Kelsey Blog. According to the website, the Kelsey Blog contains behind the scenes at the Kelsey Museum of Archeology. On the website’s homepage, news, events, and articles about the Kelsey Museum can be seen. On the website’s right-hand side, blog categories can be seen. These categories include Archaeological Research, Conservation, Curator Favorites, Events, Exhibitions, Fieldwork, From the Archives, Holdings, Newberry Hall, News, Staff Favorites, Students, Ugly Object, and Uncategorized. Visitors may also search for the specific blog or article they want to read by searching the blog title or typing in keywords at the search bar provided. To read other related articles, visit Law Office News.
Past Posts may also be accessed by selecting the month the blog post was published. A Tag Cloud is also available for easier access to blog posts visitors wish to read. Some of the Tag Clouds include amulet, ancient color, ancient Egypt, ancient Egyptian textiles, ancient glass, ancient medicine, archaeological conservation, archaeological fieldwork, archaeological research, archaeology, archives, collections, conference, conservation, conservation research, construction Dime, Egypt, El Kurru, excavations, exhibitions, field archaeology, figurine, Francis W. Kelsey, George Swain, graffiti, IPCAA, Italy, Karanis, Kelsey Museum, Less Than Perfect, mummy, Newberry Hall, objects, conservation, Oplontis, photography, pigments and dyes, Pompeii, Roman art, Roman period, Roman sculpture, Samuel H. Kress Fellow, Seleucia on the Tigris, Sudan, teaching classical studies, Terenouthis, terracotta, Turkey, ugly object, voting, and umich.
Interested individuals may also provide their email addresses to follow the Kelsey Blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
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On the website’s homepage, readers can see different blog posts about history, recent artifacts the museum has curated, announcements, and informative articles about certain artifacts. Among these blog posts include the Ugly Object of the Month. Caroline Roberts, a conservator at the Kelsey Museum of Archeology, shared photographs of the collection of high-quality marble samples which was dubbed the Ugly Object for the month of June 2020. Some of the rocks were white and gray marbles. The conservator also mentioned that she also saw what could be a yellow giallo antico marble, among others. The rock samples were weathered making them hard to classify and find out their exact marble type. Ms. Roberts stated that it is safe to say that the marble samples were some sort of decorative stones found in the interior and exterior surfaces of buildings in ancient Rome. The samples were from Carthage, Tunisia, and were bought by Francis Kelsey himself in 1893 from the Jesuit priest and archaeologist Père Delattre. According to Ms. Roberts, Mr. Kelsey acquired construction materials like the marble samples, to support his teaching. These ancient construction materials provide important access points to help understand ancient materials and technology and provide evidence of trade and connectivity in the Roman world.
According to the blog post, marbles with specific colors and inclusions were highly sought after. Many of the sample rocks may have traveled from other places in the empire before being cut and mortared onto a building in Carthage. A few of the Kelsey Museum’s marble samples were part of a recent archaeometric study to identify where they were quarried.
Another article that can be read from the website is the From the Archives. Sebastián Encina, Collections Manager at the Kelsey Museum, wrote the From the Archives #53 for the month of April 2020. The article was about Francis W. Kelsey’s written letter asking for 2,000 color reproductions of a mosaic of Virgil from Hadrumetum. According to the blog post, Mr. Kelsey reached out to colleagues across the Atlantic. Mr. Kelsey corresponded to a number of people in Europe particularly in Italy over the years. He has written many letters to advance his research on the Roman world. He also wrote letters on behalf of his colleagues. According to the blog post the archives at the Bentley Historical Library and the Kelsey Museum showcase these letters abundantly, and John Pedley’s 2011 book, The Life and Work of Francis Willey Kelsey: Archaeology, Antiquity, and the Arts, provides great context for this aspect of Kelsey’s life and career.
The collections of letters, journals, photographs, and receipts help paint a picture of a man who traveled often, was constantly working, and had a wide range of interests. By reading Mr. Kelsey’s journal entry, readers can glimpse his busy schedule that includes various appointments, lunch and tea meetings, travel, and time at the end of the day to write letters to his family and other contacts.
The Kelsey Museum not only has Mr. Kelsey’s written letter asking for 2,000 color reproductions of a mosaic of Virgil from Hadrumetum but also the reply from Italy in both English and Italian, along with the actual image of the mosaic. Mr. Kelsey’s letter expresses his regret for not being able to travel overseas to procure the image himself. According to the blog post, he had plans to return after his last visit in 1915, but circumstances outside his control prevented him from doing so.
