Mapping “East Asias” in New England (VMS-0050)

Spring 2026 · VMS 0050 · Tufts University · 3 credits · Undergraduate

Examines how various institutions in New England have collected and exhibited East Asian art and artifacts, focusing on the region’s major port cities in the 18th and 19th centuries as hubs of complex commercial, diplomatic, and cultural exchange between East and West. Explores the short-lived Chinese Museum in Boston, the development of Asian art collections at the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Harvard Art Museums’ role in shaping the field of Asian art history, and the newly opened Korean Collection at the Peabody Essex Museum. Activities outside the classroom include cultural artifacts housed and displayed in museums, the MFA Japanese Garden, Boston Korean War Memorials, and the MIT Public Art Collection. Archival research using primary and secondary sources.

Course codes: VMS-0050, VMS 0050, VMS0050, VMS-50, VMS 50, VMS50

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