Candace Richards
Assistant Curator, Nicholson Collection
BA (Hons) Syd.
Candace Richards is the assistant curator of the Nicholson Collection, and has been part of the Sydney University Museums team for more than 15 years. Candace's research interests bring together ancient world studies with contemporary museum practice to re-evaluate how and why collections were formed and explore the ways archaeology and antiquities collections can offer new insights into human endeavor.
Candace is particularly interested in multi-disciplinary and collaborative approaches to research design and exhibitions, with a particular interest in reception of the ancient Mediterranean across time.
Candace is an archaeologist interested in Mediterranean and Balkan archaeology and has worked on research and commercial excavations in Europe and Australia. She is a senior team member of the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project (Cyprus) and is undertaking her PhD on the prolific reuse of architecture in the area of Nea Paphos, Cyprus from the Hellenistic period to the modern day.
- Mediterranean and Balkan archaeology
- Reuse and recycling in antiquity
- Archaeology of board games
- Digital humanities approaches to museum collections and archives
- The historic roles of women in museums and gendered approaches to institutional histories.
- Finding Naukratis in the Nicholson Collection
- Woodhouse Archive Flickr project
- The ‘Hidden’ Women of the Nicholson Museum
- Recycling Paphos (PhD research topic)
- Curator, Hercules: Myth and Legacy, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2022-November 2024. Exhibition catalogue.
- Curator, Pharaonic Obsessions, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2020 – current. Exhibition catalogue.
- Curator, Mediterranean Identities, Across the Wine Dark Sea, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2020 – current. Exhibition catalogue.
- Curator, Roman Spectres, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2020 – current. Exhibition catalogue.
- Curator, Impressions of Greece, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2020 – current.
- Co-curator, Animal Gods: Classics and Classification, Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney. November 2020 – November 2022. Exhibition catalogue.
- Curator, The art of Storytelling, Nicholson Museum, The University of Sydney. July 2018 – February 2020.
- Digital content designer/developer, The Sea and the Sky: Ancient Cypriot Art, Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney. February 2016 – February 2020.
- Curator, Memento: Remembering Roman Lives, Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney. October 2015 – February 2020. Exhibition catalogue.
- Co-curator, Children in Antiquity: Greece and Egypt, Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney. July 2015 – November 2017. Exhibition catalogue.
- Carlyle Greenwell Research, Scholarship, The University of Sydney (2021).
- The Leone Crawford Travel Grant, Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation (2019).
- Cultural Heritage Program Grant, ANSTO for project ‘Scientific Analysis of the Nicholson Museum's Animal Mummy Collection using neutron tomography’ (2017).
- Richards, C. (2023). 'Unexpected legacies: The collections of classicist William J. Woodhouse (1866–1937), then and now’ Journal of the History of Collections.
- C. Richards and M. F. Whitford (2022) 'Displaying the fragmented: Damaged and mutilated ancient Egyptian figures from Sir Charles Nicholson’s collection' Breaking Images: Damage and Mutilation of Ancient Figurines. Oxbow Books. pp. 259-291.
- C. Richards and E. Guerry (2022) 'Rediscovered: The Shabti of Senseneb, a Museum Provenance Study' Collections vol. 18/3
- C. Richards (2021) 'Beyond the curator: Understanding the women who helped to shape the Nicholson collection' Classicum. 47.2. pp.3-15.
- C. Richards (2021) 'Playing games at the Paphos Theatre: an examination of graffiti games uncovered by the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project' HEROM vol. 10. pp. 77-98.
- C. Richards, R. Vokes, Y. Inall, V. Lowry, and J. Oreskovich (2021) Egypt in Australia. University of Western Australia.
- C. Richards (2021) 'Beyond the Curator: Understanding the women who helped to shape the Nicholson Collection' Classicum vol. 47/2. pp. 3-15.
- G. Marsh-Letts and C. Richards (2021) 'Sir Charles Nicholson and the Nicholson collections at the University of Sydney' in Explorers, First Collectors and Traders of Textile from Egypt of the 1st millenium AD. Antwerp: Hannibal Books. pp. 75-85.
- Salvemini, F. Lord, C. and C. Richards (2020) ‘Neutron Imaging, a Key Scientific Analytical Tool for the Cultural Heritage Project at ANSTO - Investigation of Egyptian Votive Mummies’ Materials Research Proceedings 15. 256-261.
- C. Richards (2022) 'Senseneb's Shabti at the Chua Chak Wing Museum' Sophi Magazine, issue 9.
- C. Richards (2022) 'The (many) lives of spolia' The Illawarra Pavilion, Wollongong Art Gallery, exhibition catalogue.
- C. Richards (2020) 'The Case of Mrs Brunell: naming women in museum archives' Blogging the history of women in Ancient World Studies AWAWS.
- C. Richards (2020) 'The Hidden Women of the Nicholson Museum' Blogging the history of women in Ancient World Studies AWAWS
- C. Richards (2017) ‘Personal Touch: Engaging students with Roman funerary inscriptions using the Nicholson Museum’s exhibition Memento: Remembering Roman Lives.’ Teaching History Vol 49, No. 3. History Teachers Association of NSW
- C. Richards (2017) 'Reinventing Heritage buildings isn't new – the ancients did it too' The Conversation January 3 2017
See Muse Magazine for further popular articles on the collections.