About the Project & Team
The aim of this project is to help the statues on Duke's campus speak, to tell their own stories. By combining historical research with mobile and web technologies, we will present the “autobiographies” of the statues on Duke’s campus. Through various aspects of this website, we will also examine how they fit into the fabric of the university's history and the long-standing practice of setting up honorific portrait statues.
This project is generously supported by the Wired! Lab at Duke University.
Elizabeth Baltes is the director of the Statues Speak project. She is Assistant Professor of Art History in the Department of Visual Arts at Coastal Carolina University. Although her research focuses primarily on the sculpture of the ancient world, she is also interested in the historical practice of setting up honorific portrait statues––and what happens when they no longer reflect the values of contemporary society.
ebaltes@coastal.edu
Christy Kuesel (Duke, Trinity '19) is an undergraduate research assistant for the project. She is majoring in English and minoring in German with a certificate in Policy, Journalism, and Media Studies. She helped to compile historical photos and documents and she assisted in writing and recording audio files for the statues.
Darrah Panzarella (CCU, CoHFA '18) is an Art History major and undergraduate research assitant for the project. She was responsible for researching the process of bronze casting and helped to narrate the bronzecasting video.
Mary Kate Weggeland (Duke, Trinity '19) is majoring in Art History, with a concentration in Museum Theory and Practice. She is an undergraduate research assitant for the project and has contributed to the Omeka site and has designed Duke Explore app tours.
Jessica Williams (Duke, Trinity '19) is an undergraduate research assitant for the project. She is majoring in Art History with minors in Psychology and Political Science. She helped to compile historical photos and documents and she assisted in writing and recording audio files for the statues.
Many thanks to Hannah Jacobs (Duke), Ed Triplett (Duke), Michael DiGiorgio (CCU), and Alexandra Knox (CCU) for their time and technical expertise. Thanks also to Kristin Huffman, Paul Jaskot, and the Wired! Lab at Duke for continued support of this project.