Apply Now: The 2023 MESDA Summer Institute

The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts at Old Salem Museums & Gardens is accepting applications for our 2023 MESDA Summer Institute in Early Southern Decorative arts and Material Culture.  The dates for the 2022 Summer Institute are June 4, 2023 through June 30, 2022.  Applications are due February 15, 2023 and are online at http://www.mesda.org/SI

The MESDA Summer Institute is a rigorous multi-disciplinary decorative arts and material culture field school  for graduate students, museum professionals, makers, and independent scholars. The 2023 MESDA Summer Institute will use decorative arts and material culture of the Lowcountry as its laboratory. Summer Institute Fellows spend a month working closely with MESDA’s unparalleled collection and research resources. Using primary-sources and object-based analysis fellows gain experience with decorative arts across a range of media and learn how to create compelling object- and place-based narratives. The curriculum includes lectures and collection studies with leading curators and scholars, hands-on workshops with master craftspeople, and an intensive week-long study trip from Charleston, South Carolina, to St. Mary’s, Georgia.

The MESDA Summer Institute is a highly competitive program for graduate students, museum professionals, makers, and independent scholars. Each summer we accept about eight fully-funded fellows to participate.  The Institute is taught in collaboration with the University of Virginia and fellows receive graduate credit through the University of Virginia’s Graduate Program in the History of Art and Architecture.

To learn more visit our website: http://www.mesda.org/SI

About the MESDA Summer Institure

Since 1976 the MESDA Summer Institute has trained students, scholars, and museum professionals in the study of the decorative arts and material culture of the early American South.  Through its unique combination of hands-on object exploration, primary source research, and intensive fieldwork, the Institute has shaped American material culture scholarship in a profound way.

About the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts

The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) is the preeminent center for the research and study of Southern decorative arts and material culture.  MESDA is home to the most comprehensive collection of southern decorative arts and related research resources in the country. The museum is internationally recognized for its contributions to the study and understanding of the history, decorative arts, and material culture of the American South.  MESDA is part of Old Salem Museums & Gardens.