The Princeton University Art Museum has named Joanne P. Baron as Peter Jay Sharp, Class of 1952, Curator and Lecturer in the Art of the Ancient Americas, effective September 15. An archaeologist and scholar of Maya art and writing, Baron has a particular interest in Classic Maya ceramics, iconography, and hieroglyphic writing, and is one of few contemporary scholars with expertise in ancient Maya texts. In her new role, she will shape the  research, study, interpretation, display, and growth of the Museum’s collections of the art of the ancient Americas. Baron joins the Museum from Dumbarton Oaks, where she served as a  postdoctoral fellow in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology.

Baron begins her tenure at the Museum just ahead of the opening of its new building, which quadruples the space for changing displays drawn from the Museum’s globe-spanning collections, now numbering more than 117,000 objects. The Museum’s holdings from the ancient Americas are a particular strength, consisting of over 3,000 works representing thousands of years of artistic production, and are one of the finest collections of this material in the U.S. Objects in the collections include hallmark examples of stone carving, metalwork, ceramics, and textiles from ancient Indigenous cultures across the Americas. Mesoamerica is an area of great strength, with masterpieces of Olmec jade work, Maya painted vases and figurines, and Zapotec urns.

As Sharp Curator and Lecturer, Baron will steward these collections and define their public  presentation through the development of exhibitions, publications, research (including  provenance research), and acquisitions. She will also teach regularly in the Department of Art  and Archaeology and the Program in Latin American Studies.

Baron brings to her role at the Museum both a professional network of academic researchers and a history of public engagement, particularly with diasporic Indigenous communities of  Mesoamerica now residing in the U.S. These connections will continue to grow and will strengthen the Museum’s commitment to ethical engagement in collecting, research, and stewardship.

Baron previously studied nearly 100 of the Museum’s most significant Maya objects through her  work with the Kerr Archive at Dumbarton Oaks, which contains approximately 60,000  photographs of more than 9,000 works of art from across the Americas. Based on her analysis  of hieroglyphic inscriptions on the works pictured in this archive, Baron developed a new  vocabulary to describe Maya art guided by indigenous Maya traditions. This approach will  present new possibilities for engagement with Princeton’s collections. In addition to her position at Dumbarton Oaks, Baron has participated in the assessment and management of collections at the University of Delaware Museums and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

“I am delighted to welcome an innovative scholar of Joanne’s caliber to shepherd one of the strongest collections in the United States for the study of the artistic and cultural achievements of historic Central and South America,” said James Steward, Nancy A. Nasher–David J. Haemisegger, Class of 1976, director. “Her outstanding scholarship combined with her  demonstrated commitment to public engagement and her eagerness to find new ways of  connecting this material with other global collections make her an exciting scholar curator to watch.”

“It’s an honor to join an institution with such a robust collection of ancient American works,  particularly at a moment of tremendous excitement for the Museum,” said Baron. “I’m eager to begin collaborating with colleagues, students, and broader communities to share the richness of  these artistic traditions.”