microcosms
a special humanities project of the university of california office of the president
The Microcosms Project, founded and directed by History of Art and Architecture professors Mark A. Meadow and Bruce Robertson, is an interdisciplinary study of the history, functions and future of material collections in the UC system. The collections of the University of California are found on all nine campuses, in all divisions and in most disciplines. Encompassing everything from archeological artifacts to zoological specimens, the UC has over 150,000,000 artifacts and specimens housed in more than 1200 collections, comparable in scale to the Smithsonian Institution.
Microcosms is a collaborative project, involving among others art historians, archaeologists, historians of science, artists, geographers and museum personnel. In addition to creating the Microcosms Database of Material Collections in the University of California, Microcosms also hosts conferences, mounts exhibitions, designs courses about the university and the history and theory of collecting, and works on policy issues for UCOP related to material collections.
The Microcosms Project each year offers a Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) position to a student in the Department of History of Art and Architecture. Prior Microcosms GSRs have been involved with the Microcosms Database, conference planning, course development, exhibition design and historical research.
For inquiries, please contact Prof. Mark Meadow: meadow@arthistory.ucsb.edu.
For more information, visit: microcosms.ihc.ucsb.edu.
