Closed for Labor Day
August 30 - September 1
The Museum will be closed Saturday, August 30 through Monday, September 1 for Labor Day weekend.
Curriculum-Based School Programs Available
September 2 - December 5
The Lam Museum offers a variety of hands-on curriculum-based programs for grades K through 12. Programs use artifacts from the Museum’s collections to teach students about peoples and cultures of the world. All programs are designed to support the Competency Goals and Objectives of the NC Standard Course of Study. Programs must be scheduled in advance. Visit the Programs page for more information.
Life Outside the Temple: Chavín de Huántar and its People
Monday, September 15, 5pm
Archaeologists Dr. Matthew Sayre and Dr. Silvana Rosenfeld of High Point University will discuss their project investigating the emergence of institutionalized social inequality through the lens of ritual practice at Chavín de Huántar, a major Formative Period site in the central Andes of Peru (ca. 1500–200 BCE). While the monumental core of Chavín has long been recognized as a ceremonial and political center, their research focuses on the domestic sector of La Banda, located across the Mosna River from the temple. Through archaeological excavation and material analysis, the project explores the relationships between ritual production, economic provisioning, and social differentiation. Preliminary findings suggest that La Banda residents were involved in crafting symbolic and ritual paraphernalia for use in the ceremonial core, providing a unique opportunity to study bottom-up processes in early complex societies. By integrating analyses of domestic architecture, ceramics, botanical and faunal remains, and craft production, the research seeks to reconstruct intra- and inter-household variability and assess patterns of inequality in a formative context.
This lecture is sponsored by the WFU Department of Anthropology, Latin American and Latino Studies, and Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies. Admission is free.
Booth at Reynolda House Community Day
Saturday, September 20, 10am-2pm
Visit the Lam Museum’s booth at Reynolda House to see authentic cultural artifacts related to the spread of tobacco from the Carolinas throughout the rest of the world. Visit reynolda.org for event information.
Booth at Historic Bethabara Park Apple Fest
Saturday, September 27, 10am-4pm
Visit the Lam Museum’s booth at Historic Bethabara Park to see Native American artifacts from the Yadkin River Valley and crack nuts with a nutting stone. Visit historicbethabara.org for event information.
Booth at Winston-Salem Recreation and Parks Treat Trail
Saturday, October 11, 4:30-6:30pm
Look for our booth on the Treat Trail at Bolton Park for a Day of the Dead activity and candy.
Lumbee Storytelling
Monday, October 13, 10:00am-2:30pm
Join the Lam Museum’s annual Indigenous Peoples Day celebration with a kid-friendly day of crafts and Indigenous stories of how things came to be. Amanda Jacobs Ballard, a member of the Lumbee (Tuscarora and Waccamaw-Siouan) tribe of NC, will be telling stories 10:00am-10:30am, 12:00pm-12:30pm, and 2:00pm-2:30pm. She is an indigenous storyteller, dancer, and artist. Simple crafts will be available throughout the day. Admission is free.
The Living Landscape of the Ancient Maya
Wednesday, October 22, 6pm
As Westerners, we grow up privileging living human beings above all others. We are the only ones who are truly aware of the world around us, exerting free will upon an otherwise largely barren stage. This worldview contrasts sharply with the ancient and modern Maya and other Mesoamerican groups, who grant full agency and personhood over a wide range of other beings—from mountains and caves to houses and the dead. The Maya who live in this world depended on their nonhuman neighbors to survive and thrive, just as those same neighbors depended on humans for their own survival, resulting in a covenant between the different communities that is central to understanding most aspects of ancient Maya life. In this talk, Dr. Brent Woodfill, Professor of Anthropology at Winthrop University, will discuss how the acknowledgment of this vastly different worldview transforms how we understand Maya economics, politics, and the ethics of conducting fieldwork itself.
This lecture is sponsored by WFU Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies, and the Department of Anthropology. Admission is free.
Curanderismo 101
Thursday, October 30, 6pm
The Lam Museum welcomes Yaya McBride, a curandera, leadership guide, and cultural healer. Curanderismo is an ancestral healing tradition rooted in the wisdom of Mesoamerica, the Amazon, and pre-Hispanic Latin America, a medicine of the people that reminds us how to return to balance. In this program, we’ll explore the spiritual tools and rituals of curanderas and shamans: limpias, prayer, plants, and ancestral connection, as a path to reduce stress and reconnect with purpose. Together, we’ll remember the sacred technologies that once helped entire communities thrive, and offer them as a gift to students, educators, and anyone navigating the intensity of modern life. This is not just a talk; it’s a prayer of remembrance, an invitation to experience your own healing, and a call to reclaim the rhythm, voice, and wisdom within. Admission is free.
The Upper New Archaeological Project: Uncovering Deep Histories of Appalachian Resilience
Thursday, November 13, 6pm
On September 27, 2024, the floodwaters of Hurricane Helene transformed the landscape of the New River headwaters in northwestern North Carolina, as well as the lives of many of the people who call it home. Although the disaster was unprecedented in living memory, the archaeological record of the watershed attests to millennia of complex human interactions with the environment, including different responses to climate change. The Upper New Archaeological Project (UNAP) explores this deep history through analyses of legacy collections and geospatial data and targeted fieldwork at Native American sites in Watauga and Ashe Counties. In this talk, Dr. Alice Wright, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Appalachian State University, will discuss some of UNAP’s preliminary findings and future plans, highlighting patterns of continuity and resilience among the diverse Appalachian communities who have lived along the Upper New River over the last 10,000 years. Admission is free.
Closed for Thanksgiving
November 26-29
The Museum will be closed Wednesday, November 26, through Saturday, November 29, for Thanksgiving weekend.
Closed for Winter Break
December 13-January 3
The Museum will be closed Saturday, December 13, through Saturday, January 3, for Winter Break.
Curriculum-Based School Programs Available
January 5 - May 29
The Lam Museum offers a variety of hands-on curriculum-based programs for grades K through 12. Programs use artifacts from the Museum’s collections to teach students about peoples and cultures of the world. All programs are designed to support the Competency Goals and Objectives of the NC Standard Course of Study. Programs must be scheduled in advance. Visit the Programs page for more information.