Harvard grad hopes to build bridges between museums and communities
This is one in a series of profiles showcasing some of Harvard’s stellar graduates. Brittany N. Ellis ’19 can remember the moment she began loving museums. “I was in ninth grade, and my mom and I went to the Met [the Metropolitan Museum in New York],” she said. “I was in an ancient history class that focused on past societies through the lens of material remains, and I learned to appreciate objects as media for telling stories about people’s lives. I spent eight hours at the Met that day with my mom, using the objects to tell her stories of the Egyptians, Mayans, and Pueblo peoples. You haven’t been able to get me out of museums since.” There were plenty of museums in Ellis’ hometown of Pittsburgh, including the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History and The Andy Warhol Museum, where she served as an intern. At Harvard, she joined the student...