Salem as Muse: Salem Stories

Salem as Muse: Salem Stories is a curator-led talk at the Peabody Essex Museum exploring the museum’s exhibition *Salem Stories*. The program is the final installment in PEM’s 2026 “Salem as Muse” series, presented as part of the museum’s Salem 400+ celebrations.

Karina Corrigan, PEM’s Deputy Chief Curator and H. A. Crosby Forbes Curator of Asian Export Art, will discuss how the exhibition was developed and offer an insider’s view of this team-curated project. *Salem Stories* uses 26 A-to-Z vignettes to examine the people, places, and events that have shaped Salem, beginning with Indigenous communities and concluding with an 1885 leatherback turtle specimen representing zoology.

When: Friday, December 4, 2026

Showtimes: 3–4:15 pm

Venue: Morse Auditorium, Peabody Essex Museum

Tickets: Included with museum admission

Presenter: Karina Corrigan, Deputy Chief Curator and H. A. Crosby Forbes Curator of Asian Export Art at PEM

About the presenter: Corrigan specializes in the material culture of global connections. She studied historic preservation at the University of Pennsylvania and American material culture at Winterthur and the University of Delaware. At PEM, she oversees research, access, acquisitions, and interpretation related to the museum’s extensive collections of art made in China, Japan, and South Asia for export. She has organized twelve exhibitions, including *Power and Perspective: Early Photography in China* and *Asia in Amsterdam: The Culture of Luxury in the Golden Age*, and led the curatorial team behind the 2020 exhibition *Salem Stories: A to Z*.

Exhibition discussed: *Salem Stories* presents 26 vignettes, one for each letter of the alphabet, about Salem’s communities, history, locations, and cultural legacy. The exhibition opens with “A” honoring the Native peoples who have lived in the area for thousands of years and ends with “Z” highlighting a large leatherback turtle specimen dating to 1885.

Run time: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Note: The talk is scheduled before the holiday shopping season in downtown Salem.