Haley Bryant
D.C.based museum scholar and professional interested in all things museum labor
About
I am a museum scholar and professional living and working on the traditional homelands of the Pistacaway and Nacotchtank peoples. Learning about the history and importance of museums alongside, and in many cases from, members of these communities has been integral to my growth, as have the teachings of the traditional inhabitants of the lands that now host the University of Toronto where I study--the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe, and the Huron-Wendat peoples.My doctoral research is focused on the intersections of contract-based, contingent labor in American museums and the ethically-driven, community-focused work museums strive to do in response to both community expectations and literature on best practices; work that often falls under the umbrellas of "DEAI" (Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion), and/or "decolonization".While pursuing my Master of Arts in Anthropology and Museum Training at the George Washington University, I undertook an apprenticeship-style ethnographic study of a Washington D.C.-area community archiving project. Through this work I explored how contemporary archiving practices, such as grant-funded minimal-processing projects and a push for greater accessibility of archival materials, may reify neo-colonial notions of heritage and historical truth.Outside of academia, I have worked in both front-of-house and back-of-house roles in museums and archives--always as a volunteer, intern, or contract worker. My responsibilities have included: archival processing assistance, volunteer program management, curatorial research assistance, collections research assistance, collections management and digitization, and project management. My most recent contract positioned me as a digitization specialist in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History where I oversaw the imaging of more than 20,000 ethnological objects and managed the digitization lab for the National Anthropological Archives.At present, in addition to my studies I am a part-time Museum Program Associate at a small historic house museum called President Lincoln's Cottage, where I also serve as president of UAW Local #63, the first museum union local in the District of Columbia.Don't hesitate to get in touch!
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