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SEAP 70th Anniversary Virtual Exhibits

Shadow puppet tree and mountain for SEAP 70th Anniversary
August 3, 2021

Be sure to check them out!

Over the course of the past year, members of the SEAP community have crafted two virtual exhibits exploring SEAP's history and celebrating its 70th anniversary. If you have not yet seen the exhibits, be sure to take a look!

(Re)collecting: SEAP 70th at the Museum

"(Re)collecting: SEAP 70th Anniversary at the Johnson Museum" uses the collections at the Johnson Museum to foreground the materialities and histories of individual objects and to connect these objects with broader flows of people, ideas, and things. These flows are what brought scholars to Cornell to study the region known today as Southeast Asia, and these flows also materialize the collection practices of individuals and institutions over time. As we investigate the biographies of objects and their collectors, we seek to discern patterns of power and procurement from this accumulation of rich stories; illuminate the efforts of individuals who may not yet be acknowledged in official, linear histories; and explore how objects in the collection continue to be used pedagogically by SEAP faculty today in ways that deeply influence the directions of current and future generations of scholars of Southeast Asia.

The full virtual exhibit is available here.
 

Building a Collection: Giok Po Oey and the John M. Echols Collection

Beginning with his hire in 1957 Giok Po Oey (1922-2010) worked tirelessly to build a world-class library collection of publications from and about Southeast Asia.  His efforts, in collaboration with Cornell faculty, students and others interested in the region, resulted in what is widely recognized as the leading collection of its kind in the world.  The foundation built during those formative years has created a legacy that has lasted far beyond Giok Po’s tenure as Curator when he retired in 1985, and now beyond his lifetime.  This exhibit will follow the growth of the collection during the early years as Giok Po worked closely with the founders of Cornell’s Southeast Asia Program to build up this magnificent treasure known around the world as the John M. Echols Collection on Southeast Asia.

The full virtual exhibit is available here.

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