Turmoil at the Harvard Semitic Museum

The entire staff of the Harvard Semitic Museum—home of one of this country’s most important archaeological collections—has been dismissed, leading to a rancorous contretemps concerning the institution’s leadership and its future direction.

The ten employees of Harvard’s primary archaeological museum are to be replaced by two new staffers and a part-time secretary. Travelling exhibits will no longer be sent around the country under museum auspices. Its vast collection of 19th-century Middle Eastern photographs is to be dispersed to other Harvard museums. The museum will now feature instead its important archaeological holdings, consisting of over 40,000 artifacts.