archive

Andrew Leith ('05)

Andrew Leith graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 2005 with a B.S. in Anthropology, with Honors. His foci within anthropology were museology and historical archaeology, and his minors included art history and studio art. During his time in the Anthropology Department at Loyola Andrew studied under Dr. Adams, Dr. Amick, Dr. Breidenbach, Dr. Calcagno, Dr. Fry, and Dr. Miller. Dr. Amick was his academic advisor. Andrew was also involved at the D'Arcy (now LUMA) museum, serving as a gallery assistant. He pursued independent studies in historical archaeology under Dr. Amick's supervision and served as an intern a the Field Museum during his senior year, excavating and processing artifacts from Chicago's Chinatown. 

After graduating Andrew continued on at the Field Museum as a volunteer for several months and was hired as a Collections Management Assistant in the Field Museum's Anthropology Department in early 2006. There he worked on several large collections inventories and moves, assisted with research visits, NAGPRA related consultations, and archival collections housing. In 2011 he enrolled in the Masters of Arts Program in the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago focusing in historical archaeology. Between 2014 and 2016 he pursued a second masters degree in historic preservation from the University of Texas at Austin. After working for ICOMOS documenting heritage sites in Jamaica, he returned to Chicago in the fall of 2016.

Andrew currently serves as the Conservation and Collections Program Manager at the Chicago Cultural Alliance, where he works with staff at 36 local museums, historical societies, and cultural centers to develop sustainable programs in collections management and implement scaled best practices in collections care.