2005 AAM Annual Meeting Sessions
INDIANAPOLIS
COMPT Sessions
AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES: TOO MANY HISTORIC HOUSES?
Few issues are as important or relevant today as the future of the existing historic houses and the many more historic houses under consideration for opening as museums. Specific information will be provided on steps that historic houses should consider when deciding if becoming a museum is in their and their community’s best interest. Also addressed will be the ways in which professional training programs must respond to the new realities in the field of historic house management. Chair: Pauline Eversmann, Senior Curator of Education, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library; Winterthur, DE Panelists: Ken Turino, Exhibitions Manager, Historic New England, Boston MA Laura Roberts, Principle, Roberts Consulting, Cambridge, MA
David Sokol, Director Museum Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL
FROM THE PARKING LOT TO THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE – PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Henry Ford Museum offer professional development opportunities to all full and part-time staff members, interns and volunteers. Our programs are designed to provide development opportunities that will enhance the quality of the visitors experience and enhance the individual in both work and non-work related areas. This session is for any museum administrator, HR professional or operating manager who is committed to extending learning and development opportunities to their staff. Chair: Deb George, Manager of Professional Development, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN Panelists: Sheila Riley, Director of Collections, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN Irina Shifrin, HR Manager, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Richard Lefante, Deputy Chief Human Resources Officer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Jim Van Bochove, Director of Workforce Development, The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI Committee on Museum Professional Training
TEACHING MUSEUM TEACHERS: ISSUES IN UNDERGRADUATE PREPARATION OF MUSEUM EDUCATORS
Directors of undergraduate museum-education programs at two public universities committed to working with area museums introduce the rationales, structures, and formats of their programs; a seasoned museum educator reviews the most desirable and the most problematic of the qualifications sought in new hires, assessing what sorts of backgrounds are most useful to the work. Audience dialogue at the beginning and end of the session will clarify some tentative principles relevant to university degree programming and to professional hiring in museums. Chair: Elizabeth (Beau) Vallance, Associate Professor, Art Education, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, IL Panelists: David Ebitz, Associate Professor, Art Education, School of Visual Arts, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA Louise Cameron, Department Head, Interpretation, The Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis MO Andrea Morrill, Assistant Educator, Interpretation, The Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis MO
CAN UNIVERSITIES CULTIVATE MUSEUM LEADERSHIP? This session will address the role of the university in cultivating leadership and administrative skills that are crucial for the growth and sustainability of museums. University faculty will discuss course design and the successes of and limitations to introducing administration and leadership in the college classroom. Session participants will be asked to suggest readings that have influenced their effectiveness as an administrator, share case studies, introduce additional topics they believe are essential to present in a college-level course on historical administration, and share similar experiences as teachers and practitioners. Chair: Melissa Bingmann, Assistant Professor, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN Panelists: Bryant Tolles, Director, Museum Studies Program,, University of Delaware, Newark, DE Martha Morris, Associate Professor, Museum Studies Department, George Washington University, Washington, D.C Tania Said, Director, The Bead Museum, Washington, DC Jenny Benjamin, Director, Museum of Vision, San Francisco, CA.
INTERPRETIVE AGENDAS: FROM THE COLD WAR TO THE COUNTERCULTURE The session will examine the way in which aesthetic, cultural, economic, and political ideologies played a crucial role in the development of interpretive strategies in American history museums and historic sites from the 1950s through the 1970s. Attendees will be challenged to consider how ideology informs their own beliefs about proper interpretation in history museums and historic sites, to think more critically about what is presented at their own institutions, to analyze how interpretive strategies change over time, and to contemplate how such changes can be successfully managed. This is a session where museum-based historians can meet for meaningful discussion of conscious and subconscious ways in which various ideologies informed interpretation and a consideration as to whether the current preparation of museum professionals promotes an awareness of such influences. Chair: Kenneth Hafertepe, Director of Academic Programs and Graduate Studies, Department of Museum Studies, Baylor University, Waco, TX Panelists: William Moore, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, NC Donald Linebaugh, Director, Graduate Programs, University of Maryland College Park, MD James Baker, Curator, Alden House Museum, Duxbury, MA
THE “TEACHING MUSEUM” 101: INTEGRATING MUSEUM STUDIES INTO MUSEUM OPERATIONS Academic museums can gain direction and political stability by integrating museum studies curriculum into actual museum operations to the benefit of all parties. Successful “teaching museums” accommodate professional training within administrative strategy through feasible scheduling of effectively formatted curriculum and by deploying museum staff as faculty. Panelists representing different sides of the “teaching museum” equation (a) share recipes for designing effective exhibition, collections/registration, education, and conservation curriculum; (b) examine various administrative structures; (c) address common problems that arise; and, (d) describe benefits of being a “teaching museum.” Chair: Marti Allen, Director, Museum of Peoples and Cultures, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT Panelists: Bettina Raphael, Object Conservator, Southwest Conservation Laboratory, Santa Fe, NM Tatiana Lomahaftewa Slock, Associate Curator of Collections, Institute of American Indian Art Museum, Santa Fe, NM Wan-Chen Liu, Associate Professor, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Hsinchuang, Taipei, Taiwan
PRESIDENTIAL SITES: APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP AND COLLABORATION
This session will include discussions among directors, curators, historians and educators who are working to develop new leadership and collaborative approaches to preserving the history and times of the 43 Presidents in the over 135 American Presidential and First Ladies sites, museums, libraries, historic homes, monuments and grounds in the country. Leaders in NARA, NPS, NTHP, AASLH, and AAM will share ideas for collaboration with leaders in the Presidential State systems (such as Ohio, Texas, Illinois, and Virginia), and discuss the agendas, priorities, and challenges for preserving Presidential sites scattered all across the country - in both urban and rural communities. Chair: Thomas Culbertson, Director, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, OH Panelists: Sharon Fawcett, Deputy Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD Harry Klinkhamer, Program Officer, American Association for State and Local History, Nashville, TN
Leslie Starr Hart, Manager, Presidential Partnership Program, National Park Service, Intermountain Region, Fredericksburg, TX
James Vaughan, Vice President, Stewardship of Historic Sites, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DC
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