W&L Museums Move Online For anyone participating in online learning during this time, there are several resources available through the museums that can help enrich the virtual classroom experience.

By Erica Turman
March 26, 2020

The Museums at Washington and Lee University – Lee Chapel & Museum, the Reeves Museum and Watson Gallery – will be closed to all visitors through April 18.

However, the Museums at W&L remain committed to the mission of advancing learning through education and engagement with collections. For anyone participating in online learning during this time, there are several resources available through the museums that can help enrich the virtual classroom experience.

“Breaking the Chains: Ceramics and the Abolition Movement” is an online exhibit featuring several pieces of anti-slavery ceramics from the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as contemporary pieces that address social justice today. This exhibit, along with supporting resources, can be found here: https://exhibits-ucah.omeka.wlu.edu/.

“Building Visual Literacy: A Toolkit for Interdisciplinary Teaching from University Art Collections” is a site built by W&L museums and libraries staff. The site helps instructors use art in the classroom by offering a series of multidisciplinary lesson plans focused on objects in the W&L art collection. This site can be access here: https://teachingwithucah.academic.wlu.edu/.

An online collections database also contains records and photos of over 1,000 items in the museum collections that can be browsed through or searched via keyword at https://wlureevescenter.pastperfectonline.com/.

Finally, any instructor wishing to know how they might use museum collections or resources in their online classes can reach out directly to Museum Program Coordinator Cassie Ivey at civey@wlu.edu.

For further updates regarding the museums, follow their Facebook and Instagram (@wlu.museums) pages and reach out with any questions through direct message or by emailing rwilliams@wlu.edu.