SPACES The newsletter of the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program
No.2, 2005
Welcome to our second issue of SPACES. With this issue we begin what we hope will be an annual tradition of producing a newsletter at the beginning of each academic year, featuring reflections on the past year and offering visions for the year to come. The Museum Studies Program is currently gearing-up for the fall and the beginning of our third year. Last year was a successful year. MSP04, our moniker for the 2004-05 cohort of museum studies students, was an excellent group. Brad has included news of their exploits throughout this issue of SPACES. Another great group entered the program this fall. Again, it represents a marvelous range of disciplines—anthropology, classical art and archaeology, women’s studies, history, information studies, American studies, musicology and art history. Many of you have already heard the sad news of the passing of Charles H. Sawyer, the founder of the University of Michigan Museum Practice Program. He passed away on February 25, at the age of 98. There was a lovely memorial service held at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church here in Ann Arbor on March 10, and on May 21, roughly 75 former students, colleagues and friends gathered at the University of Michigan Museum of Art for a special tribute to Charlie. Individual remembrances, musical interludes, and a slide presentation chronicling Charlie’s life provided a moving testimony to the legacy Charlie left both here at the university and at so many museums around the country. Marjorie L. Harth, who administered the former Museum Practice Program from 1973 to 1981 and worked closely with Charlie, represented our Program at the event in my absence. She also generously agreed to prepare a wonderful remembrance of Charlie’s life and contributions for this issue of SPACES.
Williams College Lambert Professor of Anthropology Michael F. Brown speaks on “The Struggle over Indigenous Knowledge” at the final lecture in the MSP repatriation series.
Last September we announced plans to name the Program’s new administrative home the Charles H. Sawyer Center for Museum Studies (SCMS). In conjunction with the event we launched a modest capital campaign to raise the funds required for securing this space in the new wing of the University of Michigan Museum of Art as well as funding to seed an endowment to support student internships and our public programming. To date we have had a number of significant gifts, which we very much appreciate (see the list of contributors in this issue), but we are still a long way from realizing our goals of $150,000 for the Sawyer Center and $100,000 for the MSP Endowment. Please consider adding your support to that already so generously given. Our newsletter is filled with evidence of the exciting programming that is being supported by these gifts. (continued next page)
Newsletter Editor, Bradley L. Taylor Newsletter Design, Chris VanWyck CiesaDesign Staff Director, Raymond Silverman Associate Director, Bradley L. Taylor Unit Administrator, Peggy Morgan Senior museum consultant Elaine Heumann Gurian, flanked by MSP Director Ray Silverman, and Associate Director, Brad Taylor, at Gurian’s March lecture, “Singing and Dancing at Night,” at the Michigan League.
Last year our public programs were especially rich and varied. In addition to presentations by renowned figures in the museum field, including Elaine Heumann Gurian and directors from prominent local institutions such as the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Detroit Zoo, we presented a year-long colloquium, “Ownership, Appropriation, Repatriation: Museum Collections in a Changing World,” which featured perspectives on the topic from an array of disciplines. We also launched a brown-bag series run by and for our students that showcased their research and reflections on their practicum experiences.
Museum Studies Program University of Michigan 4700 Haven Hall 505 South State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1045 Office phone: 734-936-6678 Fax: 734-786-0064 www.umich.edu/~ummsp ummsp@umich.edu Regents of the University of Michigan
We are very excited about the events scheduled for this coming year, beginning with our “Museums and Community” lecture series in the fall, a conference on the impact that Walt Disney and Disneyland have had on American culture and design, co-sponsored with The Henry Ford in November, and “Conversations”—dialogues between leading figures in the museum profession and members of the University of Michigan museum studies community—being planned for the winter semester. More information about these events may be found in this issue of SPACES as well as on the UMMSP website.
David A. Brandon, Ann Arbor
On a personal note, I recently returned from a couple of trips to Africa. I visited Mombasa and Lamu (Kenya), Zanzibar and Ghana, where I met with colleagues regarding several projects dealing with museums and museum studies in Africa. One of our visions for the Program is that it have a significant international dimension. In fact, a number of our students have already pursued internships overseas—MSP03 student, Henrike Florusbosch, just completed her internship at the National Museum of Mali in Bamako—you’ll enjoy reading her “Letter from Mali.”
Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor
Finally, I’d like to encourage any of you who have an affiliation with the current program or with the former Museum Practice Program to please send us news of your museum-related activity. This issue of SPACES offers profiles of Steven Hamp, MPP alum and current President of The Henry Ford, and Cynthia Yao, an alumna of the MPP and Founding Director of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum. With your help future issues will offer a more comprehensive “News of Alums” page. We hope to hear from you soon!
Ray Silverman Director, Museum Studies Program
Laurence B. Deitch, Bingham Farms Olivia P. Maynard, Goodrich Rebecca McGowan, Ann Arbor Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor Andrew C. Richner, Grosse Pointe Park S. Martin Taylor, Grosse Pointe Farms Mary Sue Coleman, ex officio
About Our Logo The MSP mark is derived from an ideogram created by the Akan peoples of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The name of the design, nkyinkyin, may be translated “twistings” and embodies ideas of change, resilience, adaptability, and creativity.
Charles Sawyer Remembered [Editor: A memorial service was held for Charles H. Sawyer at the University of Michigan Museum of Art on May 21, 2005. Representing the Museum Studies Program on that occasion was Marjorie L. Harth (Swain), who administered the Museum Practice Program from 1973-1981 and was a former student, colleague, and friend of Dr. Sawyer. We invited Dr. Harth, now Emerita Professor and Director, Pomona College Museum of Art, to contribute an appreciation of Dr. Sawyer for this issue of SPACES. We are grateful to Dr. Harth for sharing this remembrance.] A proper man, as one shall see in a summer’s day; a most lovely, gentleman-like man. —A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, I, ii
Charlie Sawyer and his wife, Kitty, at the Michigan League in 1979.
Charles H. Sawyer, who died on February 25 at the age of 98, had a long and distinguished history at the University of Michigan. Director of the Museum of Art and a member of the History of Art faculty from 1957 until his retirement in 1972, he contributed broadly to the intellectual life on this campus, and beyond. We first met in 1966, when I entered the Museum Practice Program; and we worked closely together from 1973, when I returned
Sachs, he discovered a passion for museums. Soon thereafter, he entered the profession as the first curator of the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy (1930-40), and then director of the Worcester Museum of Art (1940-43). During the war he held several art-related posts, including one in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) as part of the effort to return works of art confiscated by the Nazis. Returning to Yale in 1947, he became director of
to the Museum and an administrative role in that program, until 1981 when I left for California. Charles subsequently served as my dissertation advisor, and we remained in touch thereafter. Knowing him—as teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend—was one of the blessings of my life. Charles Sawyer was educated at Andover, Yale (AB 1929), and Harvard, where, under the influence of Paul
Friends and colleagues gathered at the U-M Museum of Art in May for a tribute to the life of Charles H. Sawyer. At the podium, Susan Wyman; front row, from left, Brian Allen, Jacquelynn Baas, Marjorie Harth, and Marvin Eisenberg; back row, from left, Virginia Patton Moss and Cruse Moss.
Donations Further Museum Studies Mission Generous donations from the following individuals, received as of August 1, 2005, have provided critical seed money for the Museum Studies Endowment Fund and for the Charles H. Sawyer Center for Museum Studies. We are grateful to these individuals for their support of Museum Studies at the University of Michigan. Museum Studies Endowment Fund Katherine Burnett Kristin Fischer Amy Harris Pamela J. Newman Kates Diane Kirkpatrick Barbara Martin Ann G. Perry Beth A. Rubin Ann Reitz Saab Charles Sawyer Raymond Silverman Bradley L. Taylor Charles H. Sawyer Center for Museum Studies Fund Jacquelynn Baas Roger Berkowitz Tina Bissell Katherine Burnett Carol Canda Clark John H. Dryfhout Anna S. Greenstone Steven Hamp Leslie Hatfield Sharon Herbert Ellen S. Jacobowitz Ann Leveque James McIntosh Ann Reitz Saab Millard Rogers Stephen Rogers Charles Sawyer Raymond Silverman Walter M. Spink Bret Waller Patricia Whitesides For information on making a donation to either of these funds, please contact Ray Silverman at silveray@umich.edu
the Division of the Arts that included the Colleges of Architecture, Art, and Drama, the department of the History of Art, and the Art Gallery. While at Yale, he also created a new department of design directed by Josef Albers. In 1957, he moved on to Ann Arbor, becoming the second director of the Museum of Art.
of reference,” to use his favorite phrase. It took me years to grasp how wide his reach was, how broadly influential and universally admired. To say “I’m a student (or colleague) of Charles Sawyer, always produced fond stories and open doors. Much of that fondness attached to his devoted and engaging wife Katharine (Kitty) Clay, whom he married in 1934.
Early in his tenure here, Sawyer created the Museum Practice Program, one of the country’s first. Catholic in approach, particularly for its time, the program accepted students of American history and archaeology, as well as art history, and worked closely with the Toledo Museum of Art, the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, and Michigan’s Kelsey Museum of Archeology. Responding to a perceived need for broadly trained professionals interested in community museums, Sawyer also instituted regional internships—at Cranbrook, Flint, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo—that were supported by NEA and NEH grants, which the program received from the first year they became available. The museum program changed over the years, including a shift in the 1970s to a new structure that included a summer session and replaced the Master of Museum Practice degree with a certificate in Museum Practice awarded in conjunction with the academic M.A. Its core values, however—the emphasis on objects, on the museum as educator, and on museum work as public service—along with a balance of classroom instruction and hands-on experience, have remained constant to this day. No higher compliment could be paid to what Charles created—no better demonstration of his wisdom, perspicacity, and the endurance of his legacy. It is deeply satisfying that he not only witnessed this rebirth but also knew that his name would continue to be associated with it. The naming of the Charles H. Sawyer Center for Museum Studies was a fitting tribute and one in which he delighted.
Principled, tactful, endlessly generous, and possessed of an impressive penchant for hard work, Charles Sawyer was the very model of the gentleman scholar. He taught by example as much as overt direction, maintaining what appeared to be a bottomless faith in his students; taking each of us seriously, he encouraged us to do the same. Until the very end of his life, his mind, memory, and open-hearted embrace of things new and surprising, were phenomenal. Well into his 90s, he found it amusing that people expected him to remember things he had done 75 years ago. “Fifty, maybe,” he once said, “But 75?!” In the next breath, however, he told me about watching José Clemente Orozco work on the murals at Dartmouth—in 1932. Reflecting on the many professional watersheds Charles witnessed during his lifetime in museums—the devastation of World War II that inspired a renewed commitment to museum education, the work of art, and American history; the ensuing growth of museums, their visibility, and their role in public life; the intensified ethical consciousness of the 1970s; the advent (and decline) of federal arts funding; the blockbuster phenomenon; the return to community consciousness (which was always fundamental to Charles’s philosophy)—it is astonishing to realize how many he engaged directly.
In retrospect, I realize how narrow a conception of Charles’s accomplishments I had for many years. To me, he was “ours”—he belonged to Michigan, to the University of Michigan Museum of Art, to the museum program, to this “frame
Charles Sawyer gave himself fully to the arts, to museums, to Michigan’s Museum of Art and to the museum program he founded. We have lost a great spirit, but one whose legacy is indelible. Marjorie L. Harth Emerita Professor and Director, Pomona College Museum of Art
Fall Lectures Focus on Museums and Community Following the success of the 2004/05 colloquium which focused on themes of ownership and repatriation, the Museum Studies Program announced a series of public lectures scheduled for fall 2005 which addressed the topic of museums and community. The speakers selected are all directors of Michigan museums whose institutions are known for the active role they play in serving their community, whether that community is racial or ethnic, politically or culturally defined, local or national. The exploration of this topic comes at a time when museums are under increasing pressure to serve local audiences, engage previously marginalized groups, and to anticipate the interests of virtual audiences that come to the museum from around the globe. Each of the presenters showed the unique way in which their institution has addressed this challenge.
9/22/05 “Ethnic Museums: Voices of the Disenfranchised” Dr. Anan Ameri, Director, Arab American National Museum 10/20/05 “Conscience, Controversy, and Community: Case Studies from the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History” Christy S. Coleman, Director, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History 11/8/05 “The Public Museum of Grand Rapids as Community History: Backward into the Future” Timothy J. Chester, Director and CEO, Public Museum of Grand Rapids For up to date information on all of our public events, please check our website at http://www.umich.edu/~ummsp/events.htm. To be placed on an electronic mailing list to receive information about forthcoming MSP public events, please write to Peggy Morgan at mmmorgan@umich.edu
Exhibition Project Provides Capstone Experience to Proseminar Sequence MSP students enrolled in the second semester of the year-long proseminar have the opportunity to spend the term working as part of a team to develop a proposal for a museum exhibition. A specific topic and museum setting are assigned to each group, and each team works with MSP faculty and “consultants”—content specialists from either the University or area museums—to develop detailed concept designs for an exhibition. At the end of the semester, a final proposal is presented to an audience comprised of members of the university and museum communities. The MSP faculty and students would like to thank the consultants who generously offered their time and expertise to this year’s exhibition projects.
MSP04 student Michael Andre talks about the concept design for the exhibition, “Remembering/Reinventing Community: Chene Street, Detroit.”
• “Evolution as Evidence,” presented by Shannon Davis, Medha Tare, and Jennifer Zee. Institutional partner: University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History and University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Faculty and staff consultants: Amy Harris and David Mindell. • “Carved Gardens: The Matthaei Hosts a Syrian Monument,” presented by Lisa Cakmak, Guillermo Salas Carreno, and Kathryn Marks Stine. Institutional partner: University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens. Faculty consultant: David Michener. • “Painting the Big Picture: The Civil War in Motion,” presented by Deirdre Hennebury, Lydia Herring, and Diana Mankowski. Institutional partner: The Henry Ford. Staff consultant: Nancy Villa Bryk. • “Remembering/Reinventing Community: Chene Street, Detroit,” presented by Michael Andre, Ipek Kaynar, and Erica Lehrer. Institutional partner: Business and Industrial Assistance Division, Steven M. Ross School of Business, the University of Michigan. Staff consultant: Marian Krzyzowski.
Henry Ford Chief Conservator Mary M. Fahey (center) speaks with MSP04 students (from right) Diana Mankowski, Lydia Herring, and Deirdre Hennebury about a panel from a 19th-century panorama painting in the conservation labs at The Henry Ford while MSP Associate Director, Brad Taylor, looks on.
Campus Internships Foster Engagement and Exploration Nine MSP students participated in practica with university museums as part of their program requirements during the 2004/05 school year. These ten-week internships allow students to pursue interests related to their academic degree while providing all of them with baseline experience in different facets of the museum profession. Students work with faculty advisors to identify a specific practicum opportunity, they establish a working relationship with a mentor at a campus museum, and they engage as a junior member of the profession in that institution for the better part of a semester. The experiences undertaken by MSP students this year were as diverse as the disciplines represented in our student body.
• Erica Lehrer worked in the Special Collections Library and the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan Graduate Library on the preparation and installation of an exhibit drawn from a collection of Judaica recently donated to the university. Erica gained considerable experience in working with donors and contributed an essay on collecting to the exhibit catalog. • Ipek Kaynar interned in the Education Department at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. She divided her time between observing the exhibition planning process, conducting research on education in art museums, and developing tracking as a part of the museum’s visitor studies. Ipek’s understanding of exhibition planning was enhanced through interviews she conducted with curators working on two of the museum’s exhibitions, “Art of the Lega” and “Twentieth-Century Art.” • At the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Deirdre Hennebury worked on two primary projects—the creation of a computer interface for a new mastodon exhibit and, as a trained architect, defining and organizing gallery spaces that were currently being remodeled. Deirdre’s contributions were praised by museum director Amy Harris who said that “Deirdre is more like a peer than a student . . . .She will make valuable contributions wherever she chooses to be.”
• Classical Art and Archaeology doctoral student Lisa Cakmak spent winter 2005 working with Prof. Elaine Gazda at the U-M Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. Lisa helped in the preparation of a proposal for an exhibit of Roman wall paintings. The final proposal included floor plans, object lists, goals for the exhibit, and a statement about the intended audience for the exhibit. The Kelsey team is currently looking for a museum to organize and host the exhibit. • Seizing an especially interesting opportunity, Kathryn Stine worked with University Hospital and the Gifts of Art Program to create a database to organize and manage a collection of 300 pieces of art that fills public spaces and patient corridors in the hospital. In addition to the database inventory, Kathryn provided condition assessments of the artwork, identified unlabeled artwork, and documented the location of the pieces throughout the hospital. • Art and Design student Jennifer Zee put her considerable talents to use at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History. Jennifer collaborated with Prof. Lacey Knowles on developing an exhibit that would focus on Knowles’s work on the evolution of grasshopper populations. This eventually led to the development of a comic book, which combined Jen’s skills as an illustrator with her goal of communicating scientific research effectively to a generalist audience.
• Prior to her departure for the National Museum of Mali, Henrike Florusbosch spent fall term 2004 cataloging works of African art and helping with two African exhibits that were installed at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Senior Curator Carole McNamara said that Henrike “has been a godsend . . . I wish I had her for a second semester!” Henrike’s subsequent field internship to Mali is recounted elsewhere in this edition of SPACES. • Michael Andre also chose to conduct his practicum at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Michael, a Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures doctoral student new to the world of museums, began by writing labels for prints intended for rotation in the 1300-1700 European gallery. This activity was followed by Michael’s conducting research and cataloging a collection of European prints scheduled to come to the museum. • At the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, Diana Mankowski cataloged ephemera and charity cookbooks for the Longone Center for American Culinary Research. Diana’s contribution was part of a concentrated effort to make this newly acquired collection of culinary history materials accessible to scholars around the world through the creation of a searchable database. Diana also participated in developing plans for interpreting the Center’s collection of nearly 3000 charity cookbooks.
[Ed.: Museum Practice Program alums and friends in the museum field can play a role in our efforts to place students in situations that will further cultivate their unique interests and talents. Please feel free to contact Associate Director Brad Taylor (bltaylor@umich.edu) with specific opportunities that may exist within your institution or consider special sponsorship of one of our students. Your participation at any level is greatly appreciated.]
Incoming Class Impressive in Talent and Experience Each spring, the MSP Steering Committee spends several weeks reviewing applications from students who have applied for admission to the Museum Studies Program. We continue to be impressed with the caliber and disciplinary diversity exhibited by those students who end up forming the coming year’s cohort. No class of students is quite the same, much to the delight of those of us who come to know the students through their participation in the graduate proseminar. This year’s class also comes with an impressive vita filled with previous museum or museum-related experiences. We look forward to bringing you news of these students in the months to come.
• Christine DeLisle, History and Women’s Studies • Christopher Dempsey, Musicology • Heloise Finch, Anthropology and History • Olga Khroustaleva, School of Information • Kelly Kirby, Anthropology • John Low, American Culture • Hima Mallampati, Classical Art and Archaeology • Leah Niederstadt, Anthropology • Katherine Raff, History of Art • Kathy Zarur, History of Art
Founding Director of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, Cynthia Yao, Museum Practice Program Alumna.
Alumni Profile—Cynthia C. Yao Museum Practice Alum Caps Career in Museum Field with Honors . . . and a New Book Former Museum Practice Program student Cynthia Yao (Class of 1979) completed her thesis requirement for the program in a way no one else had done before . . . by creating her own museum! As Founder and Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum from 1978-2000, Cynthia launched what has become one of the most celebrated science centers for children in the nation. During Cynthia’s tenure, two million visitors came to the Hands-On Museum, with an additional two million visiting the museum’s traveling exhibitions at science centers throughout the U.S. The new museum found a home in an unused 19th century firehouse, where the efforts of Cynthia, community volunteers, trustees, and staff were rewarded with three successful capital campaigns, annual budget growth from 25K to 1.5M, numerous grants from institutions such as the Kresge Foundation, the IMLS, the NSF, and the State of Michigan, and, of course, an enviable reputation within the museum community. Cynthia is full of praise for the training and support she received while a student in the University of Michigan’s Museum Practice Program. “Michigan gave me the support and encouragement I needed to explore the world of museums at a time when I was busy raising four children. I gained the educational depth and practical skills that provided me with a wonderful and rewarding career.” While a student intern at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Cynthia received several grants that supported travel to museums on the East and West Coasts where she furthered a growing interest in science centers and children’s museums. And the rest is now history. Cynthia credits her affiliation with the University in helping persuade others of her vision for the Hands-On Museum: “I think that because many people in the community knew I was a graduate of the museum program, people paid more attention to my suggestion of turning the firehouse into a museum. I think if I did not have this credential . . . I probably would not have been as successful.” And her success is indeed unquestionable; Cynthia was recently inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. Since leaving the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, Cynthia has maintained a busy schedule as a consultant to science centers and children’s museums both here and abroad and compiling and editing the forthcoming volume “Handbook for Small Science Centers” (AltaMira Press). In Cynthia’s inimitable manner, she has lined up 55 contributors to write about small science center operations. And no one doubts that the new volume will be a resounding success for Yao and yet another important part of her legacy to the museum field.
A Letter from Mali [Ed.: MSP graduate student Henrike Florusbosch has spent much of 2005 in West Africa following completion of a campus-based internship at the University of Michigan Museum of Art where she cataloged works of African art under the supervision of Senior Curator Carole McNamara. The Dutch native moved to Mali in early 2005 with her family to complete her MSP field internship requirement and to begin research for her doctoral dissertation in the Department of Anthropology. After a short return to Ann Arbor in June, Henrike returned to Mali where she will reside for another year. We asked Henrike if she would share her internship experience with us in the form of an extended post card to her MSP colleagues.]
Greetings from Mali, West Africa! I am doing an internship here at the National Museum of Mali (NMM) in the capital Bamako. Why choose Mali, which is after all still one of the poorest countries in the world? And why would a country like Mali, facing problems like high child mortality and severe desertification need a museum in the first place? Like most African countries, Mali inherited its museum from its colonizers, the French. However, what makes the Malian case different is that its former president, Alpha Oumar Konare, saw early on the importance of museums and other cultural institutions precisely for poor countries like Mali. Because of Konare’s cultural politics, the NMM is now one of the biggest and most advanced museums in Africa. One of the primary challenges that the museum is currently working on is the diversification of its audience. At present, most visitors are tourists, with Malian school children making up the second largest group, but the museum is trying to come up with programming that will appeal to other groups too. As an anthropologist, I was most interested in this aspect of community involvement, so I decided to spend the major part of my internship in the department of education and outreach. In practice, this meant that I trained to be a guide myself. After watching the different guides for a few weeks, I was ready to give my first tour, for some fifty 12 year-olds, and soon I was giving tours on an almost daily basis, sometimes even in the local language, Bamana! Guiding schoolchildren really made me part of the team, and my hands-on experience provided me with credibility that worked to my benefit when I subsequently attempted to develop new programs for the museum. For example, when a UNESCO organized exhibit commemorating the struggle against slavery came to the museum for a few weeks, many of the guides felt that this exhibit was “like a book on the wall,” with too much text and no objects—it would not be an easy task to guide our appointed groups of high school students through this. Based on these concerns, we created a “discovery tour” through the exhibit for students as well as a leaflet on how to manage this “discovery tour” for the guides. When other visitors started to ask; “Can we have one of these too?” we realized that attracting new audiences and improving the existing programs for schoolchildren might in fact be one and the same thing. The experience in Mali has been immensely important in my development as a museum professional. While the dynamic relation between theory and practice is at the center of the Museum Studies Program, I found that these dynamics are especially important in an African context, where they are complicated by the fact that the “theory” we use is too often imported from the West, and not very applicable to African realities. We need not only integrate theory and practice, but also “western” and “African” perspectives, so that the answer to the question, “why would one do a museum internship in Africa” would be obvious: because we can learn a lot from these museums. [Ed.: Henrike Florusbosch’s experience in Mali was made possible due to a generous and deeply appreciated gift from UMMSP donor Helmut Stern. For information on sponsoring a UMMSP field internship experience, please contact UMMSP Director, Ray Silverman.]
MSP03 student Henrike Florusbosch shown with education department colleagues during her Winter ’05 internship at the National Museum of Mali (West Africa).
Alumni Profile—Steven K. Hamp Museum Practice Alum Presides over America’s Greatest History Attraction Little did Steve Hamp think that an internship at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village would lead one day to a presidency in which he would oversee an ambitious new direction for the 75-year-old institution. And yet Steve’s tenure at The Henry Ford began back in 1978 during a ninemonth internship while a student in the University of Michigan’s Museum Practice Program. “It was a wonderful beginning,” says Hamp. “Our class was very diverse, with students from a variety of different fields and several from other countries. In addition to the friendships I gained, my major take-aways were exposure to the fabulous array of humanities programming and academic offerings on the University of Michigan campus and the nine-month internship that concluded our degree work. I left the program feeling prepared to enter the field, both academically and experientially. For me, the Museum Practice Program was a terrific experience.” In his career at The Henry Ford, Hamp has been involved in the development and implementation of every aspect of the attraction’s educational and visitor
experience, programming, and business agenda. He has conceptualized, planned, coordinated, and implemented many of The Henry Ford’s major exhibitions, presentations, and visitor amenities. He oversaw a fundamental revision of The Henry Ford’s operating structure and successfully concluded the largest capital campaign in the institution’s history. He also restored and expanded the physical plant, launched the Henry Ford Academy, introduced an IMAX® theatre and the Benson Ford Research Center to the attraction’s campus, restored and refurbished Greenfield Village and opened the Ford Rouge Factory Tour. Hamp’s contributions have been recognized nationally. In 1999, Hamp was recognized as a Michiganian of the Year by The Detroit News. In 2000, he was honored as the first recipient of the Helen and William Milliken Distinguished Service Award by the Michigan Environmental Council. In 2002, Hamp was awarded the Civic Leader Award from the Governor’s Arts Awards and an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the University of Michigan. Steve has participated in the new Museum Studies Program as a guest
President of The Henry Ford, Steve Hamp, is an alumnus of the Museum Practice Program class of 1978.
lecturer in the museum studies proseminar and as a featured speaker in the program’s Museum Studies Forum. Steve generously opens the museum’s collections to today’s MSP students and provides access to high level staff as speakers, project consultants, and mentors. Steve’s commitment to the University and to a new generation of museum studies students continues 25 years after his graduation in his role as co-chair for the capital campaign committee for the new Charles H. Sawyer Center for Museum Studies. Steve is married to Sheila Ford Hamp, has three children . . . and still resides in Ann Arbor.
Site Visits Enrich Proseminar Sequence An integral part of the MSP student experience is time spent on the road visiting museums in the area and learning directly from the expertise of professionals in the workplace. Not only are students exposed to various types of museums but to a breadth of experience that complements classroom discussion. Faculty note a direct correlation between museum site visits and the level of energy and interest that surfaces in the proseminar class. Case studies presented at site visits are often a topic of discussion throughout the two-term proseminar sequence. Site visits are planned several times each term and usually involve a half day spent at two museums. Faculty work with each host museum to plan a series of activities that can involve the participation of multiple staff or might involve spending the entire session with a key individual—this year, for instance, Bill Booth, President of COSI Toledo, spent an entire afternoon working with our students directly. We are very cognizant of the commitment these individuals are making to training the next generation of museum professionals and would like to thank them and their institutions for hosting these visits for our MSP students during the 2004/05 academic year.
• • • • • •
Cranbrook Art Museum COSI Toledo The Toledo Museum of Art Cranbrook Institute of Science The Henry Ford The University of Michigan Museum of Art • The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology • The University of Michigan Nichols Arboretum • The University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History
MSP04 students visiting the U-M Nichols Arboretum in April 2005.
“Applied Theory” the Focus of Summer Internships Museum Studies Program students often spend the summer after their first year in the program completing a field internship requirement, which takes them off campus to complete a three month appointment in a museum situation of their choosing. Students consult with faculty advisors months in advance to discuss their interests, identify prospective museum hosts, interview, and negotiate a plan of work with their museum host. The nature of the experience varies depending on student interest and the needs of the host museum. Most students are engaged in a variety of activities during their internships, all conducted under the supervision of a professional mentor. As a final requirement of the program, students submit a written reflective piece to MSP faculty in which they compare the lessons learned during their museum experience with the theory and history they have studied in the proseminar sequence and their cognate courses. Over the 2004/05 academic year, eight MSP students completed their required practica at art museums, consulting firms, history centers, zoos, and archives. Henrike Florusbosch shares her experience elsewhere in SPACES. The remaining students undertook the following assignments: • Both Catherine Lyon Crawford and David Choberka played an active role in the ongoing reinstallation of the permanent collections at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Cat worked in the classical antiquity galleries, studying objects and making recommendations as to how those objects could best be utilized to support the institution’s new thematic approach to installation. Cat’s contribution was received with an invitation to continue her relationship with the museum after her practicum had ended. • David Choberka worked with a different team at the DIA on the reinstallation of the galleries of nineteenth-century European art. David’s final report mentions his good fortune on being part of the museum at such a critical point in its history— “an invaluable chance to be involved in an important art museum’s effort to remake itself using the latest innovative theories and techniques produced by the museum studies community.” • Renee Miller completed her practicum as the first part of full-time employment with the consulting firm of Randi Korn & Associates. Renee conducted an extensive evaluation of the MarsQuest exhibition for the Space Science Institute, calling it a “wonderful experience” that provided invaluable insight into the realities of scheduling, learning to balance the real with the ideal, and understanding the role of evaluation in museum culture. • Nicole Sielken was engaged in several projects at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo including conducting an evaluation for a new wolf exhibit, participating in the research and development for
new interpretive panels throughout the zoo, and attending regular “chats” with animal keepers as Education Department liaison. Colleagues cited the strong contribution Nicole made to their ongoing education. • Working for the Franklin Furnace Archives, a New York City based performance archives, Leilani Dawson brought her School of Information expertise to bear researching various thesauri that have been developed to organize, classify, and provide access to materials in this subject area. Leilani’s practicum yielded a set of recommendations for how the archives should best proceed with developing descriptive standards for their collections. MSP students have been very well received within their host institutions. In fact, out of the 2004/05 interns, well over half were offered full time employment as a result of their practica experiences. We have asked two of them, Katie Johnson and Meg Glass, to share their thoughts about the importance of this aspect of their education and update us about what they’re doing today.
Katie Johnson My internship in the Costume and Textile and Registration Departments at the Cincinnati Art Museum led to my current job as an Education Assistant at the same institution. By working closely with the Museum's collections (building mounts, doing condition reports and digitizing collections), I grew into a more effective programmer. For example, I am working with the Assistant Curator of Adult Programs to pilot a Survivoresque Art History program to engage the young professional community with the collection. I also have the task of sculpting a cohesive internship program from the various unpaid internships that go on at the Art Museum throughout the year. As I go about the diverse aspects of my job, I have realized that the most valuable part of my internship was watching how professionals from different museum departments work together and also constructively compete to fulfill the, sometimes conflicting, goals within the Cincinnati Art Museum's mission.
Katie Johnson (MSP03) greets participants at a Cincinnati Art Museum Outreach Program held at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Meg Glass I completed my MSP internship at the Valentine Richmond History Center last summer, after which I was immediately hired as interim Archives Manager (during my internship the current Director of Archives retired). Soon thereafter I became the Director of Archives and Photographic Services. I am responsible for all aspects of managing the Archives, including acquisitions, cataloging and inventorying, exhibitions, collections management, reference and research services, and photographic sales and permissions. My MSP internship not only prepared me for my current museum work; it also directly helped me to find a job! During the summer of 2005, seven additional MSP students undertook their required practica at museums around the world, further underscoring the diverse nature of interests represented in the program. We will report on their experiences in the next issue of SPACES. • Michael Andre, Stiftung Weimarer Klassik und Kunstsammlungen, Weimar • Ipek Kaynar, Yale Center for British Art • Erica Lehrer, Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw • Diana Mankowski, Experience Music Project, Seattle • Jennifer Zee, Birch Aquarium of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla • Despina Margomenou, Detroit Institute of Arts • Deirdre Hennebury, Cranbrook Art Museum
MSP03 student Meghan Glass was hired as Director of Archives and Photographic Services after completing an internship at the Valentine Richmond History Center in Richmond, Virginia.
Disney Imagineers/Academics Present at Fall Conference One of the highlights of this fall’s public programming was a full-day conference that explored the influence of Disneyland on American culture and design. It was organized in conjunction with “Behind the Magic: 50 Years of Disneyland,” an exhibition developed by The Henry Ford that celebrates the golden anniversary of the opening of Disneyland. This conference, a collaborative effort of the Benson Ford Research Center at The Henry Ford and the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program, was held on Friday, November 11 in the Anderson Theater at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. UMMSP Associate Director Brad Taylor met with Judy Endelman, Director of the Benson Ford Research Center, before the conference to talk about the latest plans for this special event. BLT: Judy, I hear that you’ve got a pretty diverse group of individuals lined up to speak at the Disney conference. Who do you have coming from the Disney organization? JE: We are very excited about our Disney representatives. There are two top executives coming from Walt Disney Imagineering. Marty Sklar is Vice Chairman and Principal Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering. He was a student at UCLA when he began his career in public relations at Disneyland, one month before it opened to the public in 1955. Tom Fitzgerald is Executive Vice President, Senior Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering. He leads the Imagineering teams who create the innovative parks, lands, and attractions for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts worldwide. BLT: That’s quite a coup! How did you persuade them to come to Dearborn? JE: The Henry Ford is partnering with Walt Disney Imagineering to create a new exhibit, “Behind the Magic: 50 Years of Disneyland.” This exhibit, created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the park, will look at how an extraordinary group of gifted individuals, the Walt Disney Imagineers, brought visionary Walt Disney’s ideas to life. It opens in Henry Ford Museum this fall and will then travel to other sites. The Walt Disney Imagineering leadership is excited to have their story told in the exhibit and to have a chance for a deeper discussion of the parks and their impact at the conference.
BLT: Who else is coming to speak? JE: Karal Ann Marling, Professor of American Studies at University of Minnesota and guest curator for the exhibit will participate, as well as Donna Braden of our staff, who is serving as the exhibit curator. Linda Groat, Professor of Architecture at the University of Michigan, will be another speaker. BLT: I understand that conference attendees will have a chance to see the big Disney exhibit that opens this fall. What can you tell us about what they’ll be seeing? JE: They will be treated to a behind-thescenes look at the legacy of Walt Disney and his brainchild, Disneyland. Hundreds of images, artifacts, prototypes, concept drawings and designs, stories and films from the Disney archives will be in the show, most of which have never been on exhibit.
Steering Committee Provides Critical Support to Museum Studies Program The Museum Studies Program benefits considerably from the support and counsel of a committee of dedicated individuals drawn from academic schools and departments and practitioners from the university’s museums, libraries, and archives. The content of monthly Steering Committee meetings can range from goal setting, policy making, and the long term evolution of the program to discussions about prospective public speakers, creating partnerships within the museum community, and establishing national and international profiles for the program. One of the most important contributions the Steering Committee makes each winter is in the admissions process, helping to select next year’s cohort. We are grateful to the following individuals for their work on the Steering Committee over the past year. • Richard Ford Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology; Director Emeritus, UM Museum of Anthropology • Diane Geraci Director, U-M Science Libraries • Amy Harris Director, U-M Exhibit Museum of Natural History • Margaret Hedstrom Associate Professor, School of Information • Stuart Kirsch Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
Museum Studies Program University of Michigan 4700 Haven Hall 505 South State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1045
• David Michener Assistant Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment; Assistant Research Scientist, Department of Biology; Assistant Curator, U-M Matthaei Botanical Gardens • Dwayne Overmyer Professor, School of Art + Design • Zbigniew Pasek Assistant Research Scientist, Mechanical Engineering • David Scobey Associate Professor, College of Architecture and Urban Planning; Director, Arts of Citizenship Program
• James Steward Professor, Department of History of Art and School of Art + Design; Director, U-M Museum of Art • Thelma Thomas Associate Professor, Department of History of Art; Associate Curator, UM Kelsey Museum of Archaeology