Christy Sher, PhD candidate, recently visited the Clendening History of Medicine Library and the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas to conduct object-based research in support of her dissertation project. At the Clendening Library, Christy examined the library’s complete collection of Japanese medical manuscripts, prints, and paintings. At the Spencer Museum of Art, she studied works by Japanese artist Maruyama Ōkyo as well as Edo–Meiji period Japanese woodblock prints in the museum’s permanent collection that are directly related to her dissertation.

While at the Spencer, Christy also visited the exhibition Street Nihonga: The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani and met with Dr. Kris Ercums, Curator of Global Contemporary and Asian Art, to discuss additional works in the collection. She also visited The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to view the exhibition Water Embodied: Flow and Meaning of Water in Japanese Art. Research conducted during Christy’s visits to archives and museums at the University of Kansas will inform her second and fourth dissertation chapters.

This trip was generously supported by the Murnane Travel Grant and the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine Research Fellowship.