Beginning December 1, the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology will close its classrooms and limit access to its collection as Phase II of their renovation project commences. Designed to modernize the museum’s learning spaces, the renovations are expected to continue through September 2026 and will bring updated classrooms, new offices, and improved climate control systems to the Peabody.
Phase I of the renovation, completed in early 2024, addressed concerns surrounding the care of collections. While the first phase focused largely on the basement and infrastructure supporting the collections, Phase II turns attention toward the museum’s role as a teaching space. Ryan Wheeler, Director of the Peabody, specified the upgrades included in Phase II.
“Phase two is focused on the first floor and the second floor, and a lot of the things that we’re going to do are safety focused, like fire suppression. Right now, we just have steam heat on the first and second floor … At this point, we have two usable classroom spaces, whereas we’ll have three or four that we’ll be able to use [with the renovations], which is really exciting. [There will be] better work office spaces for some of the staff.” said Wheeler.
The renovations will also feature a tribal consultation space, allowing for convenience surrounding sensitive and private conversations about certain collections. Marla Taylor, Curator of Collections at the Peabody, highlighted how this intentional addition to the space will demonstrate the Peabody’s prioritization of tribal visitors.
“There will be the creation of a tribal consultation space, a dedicated space within the institution to host our tribal visitors, to have the sensitive conversations that we need to have around the collections that are here and what needs to be sent home and what is appropriate to stay. Right now, I steal a classroom from the education team and shut down the building, because we have such big open spaces, to ensure privacy for those conversations. I’m looking forward to having a dedicated space that’s for that work so that people can understand how seriously we’re taking the process,” said Taylor.
Marcelle Doheny, Instructor in the History and Social Science Department, noted her frequent use of the Peabody. Doheny highlighted how the artifacts provide students with a new perspective to the story, allowing them to see the objects rather than purely reading about them.
“Sometimes [the Peabody] is an extra layer to a story so you’re actually seeing an indigenous perspective. Sometimes it’s to work on the skills of using material culture to understand stories so that you’re not just reading documents, but you’re looking at material culture and what that can tell us. It really depends on what topic I’m doing,” said Doheny.
The Andover Anthropological Society (AAS) hosts regular club meetings at the Peabody, involving a year-long project related to artifacts in the museum. Isabel Djerejian ’26, Co-Head of AAS, discussed how the faculty at the Peabody helped to map out their club project for the upcoming year of renovations.
“[The Peabody] helped us strategize before the renovations. They said that we could browse the collections virtually on the Peabody website, and then decide from there what we want to focus on for our project, and then they’ll most likely be able to bring them to the new space. We have to choose a new location for meetings, so we can’t meet at the Peabody anymore,” said Djerejian.
Lainie Schultz, Curator of Education at the Peabody and club advisor for AAS, expanded on the specific conversations she had with members of the club last year. She mentioned that the Peabody would be relocating to a swing space in the Dean of Students Office in George Washington Hall, which will provide AAS with a meeting space.
“We have a really easy solution because now we know we’ll be in the Dean of Students space… We brainstormed ideas and prepared thoughts on what directions the club members might want to take in their collections-based research. You need to keep building and allow the possibility for new members to come in who weren’t there last year. We brainstormed on what we might do, what directions the club might choose to take, and how the Peabody could also support,” said Schultz.
Taylor also noted that increased conveniences and facilities created by the renovations will bring many more opportunities for members of the Andover community to engage with the museum.
“The easier we can make it to use the spaces, the more users we will have, and the more consistent we can be. It’ll make it easier for you to come and use this space. It’ll make it easier for faculty to know how to come in and use the space, [since] ease and familiarity make things more welcoming… Adding those possibilities and flexibility hopefully will expand the ways that people are thinking about using this space and [make them] want to use this space,” said Taylor.
