Talks

Upcoming talks, tours, events, happenings

Only events open to the public are listed. (Conferences or affinity-group ticketed events are not listed).

I am part of three Central New York Humanities Corridor Groups. If you are in this region (Buffalo – Syracuse), please consider joining us at our events.

HF8: Curating the Middle Ages

AM9: Beyond the Basics of DEIB: From Conversations to Sustainable Change in Museums and Archives

AM10: AI, Archives and Museums: gathering on 9/13/24. Follow this link to resources.

Please join us.

Presentations of Possible Interest

“Symbols Matter: Monuments, Museums, and Meaning-Making in the 21st Century”

Thursday, July 25, 2024, 5:30-7:00, Joseph M. Lobozzo Alumni House on the RIT Campus 

Join Dr. Juilee Decker, Professor of History and Director of RIT’s Museum Studies Program, for a lecture and discussion on symbols and their role in claiming historical narrative. After a brief survey of monuments and memorials in the U.S. prior to the American Civil War, Dr. Decker examines the “statue mania” of the 1870s to 1920s that emerged in response to the divisiveness of the Civil War and the overall increase in number of memorials and monuments honoring a variety of individuals, events, and subjects since then. Examining the material consequences of both the erection, removal, and recontextualization of memorials and monuments, Dr. Decker explains how every act taken in public spaces, including museums, plays a part in claiming historical narrative and co-creating with communities to effect change.

Refreshments will be available beginning at 5 pm. The talk begins at 5:30. Ample parking is available at the Lobozzo House.  

postponed – will be re-scheduled! For #InternationalMuseumDay2021, I will host a one-hour workshop “De-Mystifying the Publication Process: A Primer on Publishing with “Collections” Tues. 5/18/2021 via Zoom 6 pm EDT all are welcome! Free! Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6KhX6873aKmU3OI7G98chx8Kg49SB93cEKjezh4kTtJRqxg/viewform My goal is that you come away from our evening’s discussion empowered to seek out opportunities that will enable you to enter your voice into the conversation.

Past events

Only events open to the public are listed. (Conferences or affinity-group ticketed events are not listed here. For a fuller list, please see my short CV here OR contact me for my long-format CV.)

  • September 2022, Delft, Netherlands, “Multispectral Imaging for Historical Artifacts: A Case Study Using an 8th-Century Biblical Scroll,” co-authored with Etta Arnold, Izzy Moyer, Alana Bourgeois, Parker Mei, Roger Easton, Jr., and David Messinger, GCH 2022 – Eurographics Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage. Download paper here: https://diglib.eg.org/handle/10.2312/gch20221231
  • March 17-18, 2022, Leiden, Netherlands Women, Collections and Museums Conference, paper: “Re-Inscribing Women: Telling the Stories of Women & Museums, Archives, and Collecting Institutions in the 21st-Century”
  • Friday, November 19, 2021, Frameless Symposium, “AR Fantasia: An Augmented Reality Musical Experience,” with collaborators Joe Geigel, Yunn-Shan Ma, and students from Music and Computer Science. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arj1m6HehJE
  • Friday, November 5, 2021, Bournemouth University, United Kingdom, 19th Eurographics Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage, “Triggering the Past: Cultural Heritage Interpretation Using Augmented and Virtual Reality at a Living History Museum” co-authors Kunal Shitut, Joe Geigel, Juilee Decker, Gary Jacobs, and Amanda Doherty.
  • Fall 2021, site host with Christine Kray, Hostile Terrain 94, a global pop-up exhibition focused on undocumented migration. Exhibition on view through January 11, 2022. Learn more: http://tinyurl.com/HT94RIT and view the AR experience here: http://tinyurl.com/HT94RITar
    • Screening of Border South film, November 3, 2021
    • “Making Undocumented Migration Visible: A Talk with Jason De Léon, Ph.D,” November 10, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R4CHx5tyq8, funded in part by Art Bridges
    • “Gathering Thoughts: Reflections on Hostile Terrain 94,” November 17, 2021
  • Saturday, October 16, 2021, virtual, CIEL (Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning) conference, hosted by New College, University of Alabama; Speaker in session on “Preparing Students to Address Emerging Issues of the Future”
  • Wednesday, September 22, 2021, Guest Lecture with University of Colorado-Boulder, Museum Studies Program
  • Monday, September 13, 2021, Buffalo Museum of Science, Featured Speaker with Becky Wehle and Peter Wisbey for Museum Association of New York (MANY)’s Partnership Forum. Topic: “Museums and Universities in Partnership.” https://www.aam-us.org/event/western-ny-partnership/ and https://twitter.com/RITmuse/status/1437517947115876352.
  • Friday, July 23, 2021, Invited Talk, “Moving the Needle : Exhibitions and Activism,” For this talk, I centered the conversation on the curatorial process and shared visuals of the works as well as the installation venues. I also framed how objects of material culture can provoke and engage all of us as productive tools in deliberative democracies. https://fiberworldshow.com/
  • Thursday, May 28, 2021, session “EMP Skill Share | Steps You Can Take to Level Up: Networking & Demystifying the Publication Process” In this panel Juilee Decker, Tory Cox, and Michelle Reynolds discussed ways you can “level up” by making the transition from graduate student to emerging museum professional and author. We shared ideas and outlets for networking and mentioned a few preliminary steps you can share your voice and vision through authorship. Organized by the National Emerging Museum Professionals Network. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDaevwJRNH0&t=4080s
  • Wednesday, February 10, 2021, Guest Lecture with University of Colorado-Boulder, Museum Studies Program
  • January 26, 2021, Panel Discussion on Publishing in the Museum Field, as part of the CurCom Conversations, American Alliance of Museums Curators’ Committee, other panelists include Charles Harmon and John Fraser.
  • January 13, 2021, Co-presenter with Hinda Mandell, “Crafting Democracy: Fiber Arts and Activism Curators’ Talk,” Weaver’s Guild of Rochester, Rochester, NY
  • November 19, 2020, Co-presenter “XR & Museums: Mixing Disciplines, Extending Boundaries & Delivering Multi-Modal Experiences in a Post COVID World,” in the session “Plays Well with Others,” 2020 Frameless Symposium. See us here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPfYqpIUryU&list=PLKmzcvVL2RTuuGGUdMwWVytUchdjTdG7n&index=5 (minutes 18:51-39:00, approximately)
  • November 13, 2020, Guest on History Lunch Break, an initiative of Greensboro History Museum 12:00-12:30 ET in conversation with Glenn Perkins, the museum’s Curator of Community History at Greensboro History Museum. We talked about collecting during COVID, specifically the Greensboro initiatives and my work as community curator as part of the crowdsourced initiative A Journal of the Plague Year: COVID-19 Archive. Streamed on Facebook as well as Zoom and Youtube. Watch it here.
  • October 20, 2020, Blurring Boundaries and Dissolving Silos: Developing an XR Museum Project in Collaboration, co-presenting in VR with Amanda Doherty, Joe Geigel, Andy Head, Gary Jacobs, Yunn-Shan Ma, and Kunal Shitut, https://account.altvr.com/events/1574790389796176741. Invited talk for Educators in VR series: Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)’s team behind the XR Museum Project share their insights, tips, and expertise developing a collaborative XR project, mixing disciplines among faculty and students, thereby encouraging the dissolution of silos in a university environment. Presenters include faculty and students from the following disciplines: 3D digital design, computer science, fine arts, museum studies, music, and theatre. (Image below) Stream here.
  • October 19, 2020, Curatorial Conversation with Prof. Christine Chin’s Photography Course, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY, Houghton House and Davis Gallery & via Zoom
  • October 8, 2020, Panelist for the session “Toning Down and Tuning In: Addressing Archival Silences of Covid-19 Community Curation,” Organized by Marissa Rhodes, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University
  • September 13, 2020, “From Aspiration to Activism: Fiber Arts at Woodlawn from Nelly Custis to Crafting Democracy” Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House, Alexandria, VA (via Zoom): In this talk, I examined the life and (needle)work of Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis Lewis (1779–1852), grand-daughter of Martha Washington, whose aspirations included decorative arts as well as an interest in preserving George Washington’s legacy. In much the same way that she carefully manicured his posthumous identity through written accounts that she shared with information seekers, Nelly fashioned herself as a learned craftswomen, as evidenced by her work in the collection at Woodlawn. Her creations are more than mere evidence of skill and pursuit of an aspiration: they help to define her and play a role in constructing her identity. This talk was part of the exhibition’s run at Woodlawn, which closed September 14, 2020.
  • August 2020, “Casting a Legacy: Enid Yandell & Watch Hill’s Chief Ninigret“ & Book Signing at the Ocean House Seaside Ballroom, Watch Hill, RI (in person and via Zoom). All proceeds from this event were donated to The Watch Hill Conservancy. Thank you to the gracious hosts of Watch Hill.
  • May 2020, “Memorials and Museum Practices,” Museums and Race Conference
  • November 2019, “Virtual Historic Docent for a Living History Museum,” Demonstration using Hololens of AR/VR project, Frameless Symposium, Rochester, NY
  • October – November 2019, Offered a series of four unique, audience and museum-specific lectures related to launch of monograph Enid Yandell: Kentucky’s Pioneer Sculptor:
    • November 17, 2019, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
    • November 15, 2019, Georgetown College, Georgetown, KY
    • October 4, 2019, Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY
    • October 3, 2019, Filson Historical Society, Louisville, KY
  • 2019, Interview with Jayne McGrew, Kentucky Educational Television (Louisville, KY), for their hour-long show to launch in March 2020 on Enid Yandell and their Suffrage Centennial celebration show to air in Fall 2020, https://youtu.be/D5JVRw7ncrA.
  • November 2019, Kentucky Book Fair, Lexington, KY, organized by the Kentucky Humanities Council
  • December 2017, “Immersive Technologies & Museum Functions,” Frameless Symposium, Rochester, NY
  • June and July 2016, Invited Scholar on public art/monuments, memory, and commemoration in the age of #BlackLivesMatter, NEH-sponsored conference “The Legacy of the Civil War: Changing Memories Over Time,” held at Virginia Commonwealth University, the Museum of the Confederacy, and the Virginia Historical Society http://legacyofthecivilwar.org/


Juilee Decker, Ph.D.

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