Schedule

Description: Museums aren’t just historical repositories. They play an essential role in shaping how we see the future. To celebrate the Smithsonian’s 175th anniversary, Arizona State University led an effort to imagine possible futures for the national museums and the communities they serve. Join artist Brian Miller, Elizabeth Merritt of the Center for the Future of Museums, and Ruth Wylie of the Center for Science and the Imagination to discuss the project and explore how museums can ignite civic imagination.

Crude conceptions of disabled people abound in shallowly-written historical fantasy and popular imagination, but how was disability actually treated in historical cultures around the world? Our panel of archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and other experts sheds a modern, well-researched light on this oft-stereotyped area.

Understanding and preserving the past can be a challenge. How have new technologies, including developments in remote sensing and physical preservation, allowed us to study the past in a less destructive manner? Where do digital archives fit in? What about preserving digital media as artifacts?

What was the Ishango bone for? What games did the Romans play with d20s? We may never know, but archaeologists spend a lot of time working it out. For the rest of us, it can be hard to tell the difference between a fact, a likely fact, and a mere educated guess. Learn how to tell the difference to make your historical fiction and fantasy better.