Taylor Rose Payer joined the Dartmouth staff as the Cultural Heritage and Indigenous Knowledges Fellow in September 2020 and arrived in the Upper Valley in October. After completing her mandatory two-week isolation period, Taylor began working on site. Now able to work in person, she has started to review the Hood Museum’s files pertaining to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Taylor has also met with Library special collections and archival staff and is developing a research plan for relevant Library collections.
A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Taylor assists with developing relationships between the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College Library, and Native American and Indigenous communities built around collaborative and collections-based research. She earned her M.A. in Public Humanities from Brown University and B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies from Dartmouth College. While in undergrad, Taylor interned at the Hood where she developed a deep interest in collections, art, and museum education. Since then, Taylor has had various curatorial, research, and education roles at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center, the Portland Art Museum, Socrates Sculpture Park, and the All My Relations Arts Gallery.
