Museum Umbrella Renamed

A museum by any other name will still smell as sweet. Or sweeter, according to Daron Manoogian, spokesman for the newly-styled Harvard Art Museum.

The umbrella organization housing Harvard’s three art museums and four research centers, formerly known as the Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM), announced plans to change its name to the Harvard Art Museum, according to a statement released today.

The new name reflects a desire for cohesion and unity among the Harvard Art Museum’s many institutions.

“Along with comprehensive academic and facilities planning, we also needed to evaluate how we could better present ourselves as a united organization with a common mission,” said Thomas W. Lentz, Harvard Art Museum director, in the statement.

The name change coincides with an extensive reorganization of the collections of all three museums and renovations in the Fogg, which are set to begin in June.

Nora K. Lessersohn ’09, president of the Organization of Undergraduate Representatives of the Harvard University Art Museums (OUR HUAM), said that the University organization is “trying to convey that there are three individual museums under one roof.”

“People often confuse Harvard University Art Museums with simply the Fogg, so this is an attempt to remedy that discrepancy, but it’s yet to be seen if that will actually work,” Lessersohn said.

The organization’s former acronym, HUAM will be dropped entirely and not shortened to “HAM.”

“We won’t be using the acronym, for obvious reasons,” Manoogian said.

It is unclear how the name change will affect campus groups like OUR HUAM, which makes use of the now-outdated acronym in its title.

“I don’t want to be called OUR HAM,” Lessersohn said. “So hopefully someone will have a good idea.”

Despite the minor obstacle, Lessersohn said she still thinks the new name is a positive development.

Both Lessersohn and Manoogian agree that the new name is merely representative of important restructurings within the museum system.

“Our mission is and will continue to be teaching and research,” Manoogian said. “This name we don’t think is going to be the one thing that helps us do anything—it just adds on to all the other things that we’re planning on, and it helps us achieve our goals.”

Lessersohn added that the principle change is not in the name but behind it.

“It’s not the name change itself but the things the name-change represents, which is making it a more educational space with study centers and making it a more accessible space,” she said.

—Staff writer Nayeli E. Rodriguez can be reached at nrodrig@fas.harvard.edu.