The Legacy of Boston Jewelry with Dr. Emily Stoehrer, Rita J. Kaplan & Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Feb 04, 2019

Episode 13

Dr. Emily Stoehrer is the Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, where she oversees a collection that spans 6,000 years and includes more than 22,000 objects. Over the last decade, Emily has curated numerous exhibitions at MFA Boston, lectured internationally on jewelry-related subjects, and taught courses on fashion and design.

Most recently, Emily co-curated “Boston Made: Arts and Crafts Jewelry and Metalwork” and co-authored the related publication Arts and Crafts Jewelry in Boston: Frank Gardner Hale and His Circle. She was also a contributor to Maker as Muse: Women and Early Twentieth Century Art Jewelry and On and Off: Jewelry in the Wider Cultural Field.

Emily is a member of the board of directors for the Society of North American Goldsmiths and is currently writing a book on jewelry and celebrity culture. She has a Ph.D. in Humanities from Salve Regina University and a master’s degree in Fashion & Textile Studies from Fashion Institute of Technology.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

  • How MFA Boston came to be one of the few museums in the United States to have a jewelry curator.
  • The inspiration behind the “Boston Made: Arts and Crafts Jewelry and Metalwork” exhibit and the process for bringing it to life.
  • How the historical Boston Arts and Crafts scene developed its own bold and unique jewelry style.
  • How the recent “Past Is Present” exhibition highlighted MFA Boston’s revival jewelry collection.
  • Advice for starting out in the field of jewelry history and curation.

Additional resources:

Episode Transcript

Sharon Berman