07/12/2026
SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: ELLA MARSHAL
Senior archaeology major Ella Marshal (she/her) dedicated her capstone project, titled "The Legacy of the Williams Museum: Exploring the Impacts of the Curation Crisis Through the Examination of the Bryson Appalachian Collection," to rescuing a forgotten chapter of local and campus history.
For nearly three years, Ella has spearheaded the massive undertaking of removing, recataloging, reorganizing, and reanalyzing over 1,000 artifacts from prolonged storage in Bryson Gym, where they had been sitting neglected since roughly 2003. The collection, predominantly featuring 19th and early 20th-century farm implements, cooking utensils, and craft tools for woodworking, leatherworking, and textiles, was originally housed in the campus-based Williams Museum from 1978 to 1988. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, Ella’s research traces a narrative spanning nearly a century, beginning with the construction of Williams Chapel by Asheville Farm School students in the 1930s and following the artifacts through their eventual displacement.
By analyzing this specific collection, her study examines the broader "Curation Crisis," a widespread phenomenon where collecting institutions cannot adequately care for artifacts due to a lack of resources and staffing. Ultimately, Ella's work not only ensures these artifacts finally receive proper conservation but also outlines future possibilities for their use, fulfilling her core mission to rediscover and disseminate knowledge about a rich material culture that was nearly lost to time.
