On Dec. 13, UNH ambassadors visited the HBHS library to host a first for the school: an Ancient Artifact Museum.

Portable and accommodating to any hosting school, the two ambassadors brought with them a collection of small, Roman artifacts that date to more than 2000 years old. All of the artifacts alluded to and were used in the more casual aspects of ancient Roman culture.

Anna Newman, Senior Lecturer at UNH, hosted the event with her husband. Their goal is to shed light to students on what ancient Roman life was like. Their collection doesn’t consist of large, gold pieces you may find in a museum. Instead, the showcased pieces are small, some bronze and used in everyday life by common people. In Newman’s portable museum, she allows for students to touch and use the artifacts as they would have been used, a vast change from what a normal museum would allow.

“I want to give the high school kids an opportunity to actually touch items that, in a museum, you would probably not even see,” said Newman. Newman had found some of the pieces she brought with her while in exploration in Switzerland.

The museum was a hit among students, and a pleasure to offer at HB for the day. The museum is the first of its kind to be hosted here at Hollis-Brookline High School.

“I think this kind of opportunity is so unique to students. It is really amazing, as a Latin student, also to able to actually see some of the artifacts and to understand what life was like,” said Justin Holmes ‘20, who was the Videographer for the event.

Students all with varying interests stopped by the museum which lasted from 10am-2:30pm. “I stopped in [the museum] because I felt it was something interesting to do and I like history myself. Roman history especially is one of my interests,” said Teagan Hudzik ‘19.

The library staff hopes to bring back Professor Newman and her Ancient Artifact Museum annually to continue to spread her teachings here at HBHS and to give students more of an opportunity to interact with ancient artifacts.