About the Brown University Curator

The position of University Curator was introduced by President Vartan Gregorian in 1995 to provide oversight for the artworks and cultural properties used to furnish the 235 buildings on the Brown campus. The University Libraries, the David Winton Bell Art Gallery, and the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology each employ curatorial staffs to oversee their own collections. In addition, the Public Art Committee, a sub-committee of the Trustee Committee on Facilities and Design, takes responsibility outdoor sculpture. Otherwise curatorial care for acquisition, cataloguing, and maintenance for campus artwork is the responsibility of the University Curator.

The University Curator chairs the Committee on Campus Collections, whose members advise and consent on the management of artworks and cultural property used to furnish campus buildings.

The current University Curator is Robert P. Emlen, Senior Lecturer in the Department of American Civilization and Adjunct Professor of Art History at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Collections:

Courses Taught:

Topics in Material Culture Studies
- American Folk Art
- Gravestones and Burial Grounds
  - 2001
  - 2004
- Houses and their Furnishings in Early America
- The Neoclassical Ideal in Early America