SPACES The newsletter of the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program
No.3, 2006
I am writing this introduction to our third newsletter sitting on an airplane, returning from a week in Winslow, Arizona. I was there working with Lisa Young, Museum of Anthropology Research Scientist and MSP Affiliated Faculty member, who is directing a field school in archaeology at Homol’ovi Ruins State Park. The site Lisa is excavating with a group of undergraduate students dates from the 12-13th century and has great historical and cultural significance for Native American peoples living in the area, in particular, the Hopi. So what does this have to do with museum studies? An important dimension of Lisa’s project involves public outreach, interpreting her research for the public. For the week I was in Winslow, I met with her students and talked to them about how the archaeological materials they were excavating might be presented to the public. Thinking about this involves dealing with a long history intimately linked to the worldview of a living community. The students grappled with many issues including whether they were dealing with a single history or multiple histories, who owns these histories, and who has the authority to translate or narrate these histories to the public. Important stuff! The Homol’ovi field school also provided a special opportunity for MSP05 student, John Low, a Ph.D. candidate in American Culture, to engage in a number of activities associated with the archaeology program. John is spending six weeks in Winslow cataloguing archaeological finds and assisting the undergrads with their outreach projects. He will return to Ann Arbor for the second part of his internship which involves examining how researchers such as archaeologists collaborate with the Native American communities they are studying. This, in part, will be based on his observations at Homol’ovi as well as insights he will acquire from meeting with a number of individuals in the Midwest who serve as culture brokers or mediators for Native communities. John’s practical engagement experience involving the application of museum theory informed by his disciplinary expertise is an excellent example of the sort of synergy between theory and practice that drives the Museum Studies Program curriculum.
Student participating in the archaeology field school at Homol’ovi Ruins State Park.
This story is just one of many that unfolded over the course of last year. Thanks to a generous grant from the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, I was able to take a group of six U-M graduate students with me to Ghana in May to assist in a long-term project that involves the planning and building of a community-based cultural center in the town of Techiman. This project, like the experience at Homol’ovi, offered students an opportunity to take museum theory and apply it in the field. (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 MSP students Henrike Florusbosch (MSP03), Kathy Zarur (MSP05) and Leah Niederstadt (MSP05) look on as U-M architecture student Nyara Islam presents her plans for the Techiman Cultural Center to fellow architecture students and faculty at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Kumasi, Ghana). Back in Ann Arbor, the MSP encouraged dialogue about the museum world this year with a rich program of lectures and symposia, including a lecture series, “Museums and Community,” that brought museum directors from Dearborn, Detroit, and Grand Rapids to the U-M campus to discuss how their respective institutions engage their communities. We were especially pleased with the response to our “Conversations” series, a new presentation format that paired “luminaries” in the museum field with members of the U-M faculty to explore issues ranging from museums and science to civic engagement, botanical gardens, and the public role of museums. All four “conversations” have been telecast several times on Michigan’s public television station and are being packaged for further access through our website and as a DVD collection available for purchase. See our website for details about the series. In November we partnered with the Benson Ford Research Center at The Henry Ford (THF) to organize a one-day conference—held in conjunction with an exhibition at THF celebrating the 50th anniversary of Disneyland—that examined the impact of Walt Disney and Disneyland on American society. The museum’s Anderson Theater was filled to capacity at 300 attendees for this event. Given the obvious success of this event, we look forward to further collaborations with The Henry Ford on future public programs. Student research and practical engagement experiences, a varied list of public programs, expanding our list of partner institutions, providing a stimulating classroom experience—all these have been the focus of the early years of the Museum Studies Program. As we begin our fourth year, we look forward to demonstrating leadership in building an environment that fosters research relating to museums. A number of our students and affiliated faculty are already pursuing significant research projects focused on the museum and our Brown Bags offer a venue for reporting on this research. But we plan to do a good deal more to encourage our students to pursue research and critical practices associated with museums. And we seek to encourage more faculty research on museum-related topics as well. A major first step in this direction has been the appointment of Senior Museum Consultant Elaine Heumann Gurian as our program’s first Visiting Scholar. With a foundation for the new MSP program firmly established and company as esteemed as Elaine Heumann Gurian in our midst, we look forward to this exciting next phase of our program’s ongoing evolution.
Ray Silverman Director, Museum Studies Program
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 David A. Brandon, Ann Arbor 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 Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor 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.
Elaine Heumann Gurian Named Visiting Scholar MSP Director Ray Silverman recently announced the appointment of Elaine Heumann Gurian as a Visiting Scholar with the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program beginning with the current academic year. In making the announcement, Silverman observed, “Senior Museum Consultant Elaine Heumann Gurian has been one of the museum profession’s most innovative thinkers, a person who has brought a great deal of critical and creative thinking to the practice of working in museums. She is a practitioner who regularly steps back to think and write about big issues concerning the museum and its role in society.” As an independent consultant-advisor, Elaine Heumann Gurian has worked with many museums in a career now entering its fourth decade. Recent clients include the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution, Mystic Seaport, the Barnes Foundation, and the National Archives of Guatemala. She is also well known as first Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the United States Holocaust Museum. Gurian’s visits have already become a regular part of the MSP academic calendar. She has made several public appearances under the auspices of the MSP and has engaged students directly in her annual visits to our year-long proseminar. Gurian’s Ann Arbor schedule has brought her into contact with museums on campus and with colleagues at institutions throughout southeast Michigan, allowing her to create and re-establish professional relationships across the region. Gurian’s appointment as Visiting Scholar will bring her to the U-M campus for a twoweek residency in the late winter for the next three years. Gurian herself is excited by the new opportunity. When told of her appointment as Visiting Scholar, she responded, “Thank you for taking my work seriously enough to consider it worthy of such an august title. I am thrilled to be able to join the Museum Studies Program and look forward to both learning and teaching. I will continue to emphasize that the ‘doing’ of and the ‘thinking’ about museum work are indelibly intertwined. Practical work is especially useful when it comes from thoughtful philosophical underpinnings and theories need to be tempered by the experience of the workplace. I hope I bring both to share with the students.” We have no doubt that she will.
Elaine Heumann Gurian meeting with MSP05 students in the Proseminar in Museum Studies.
Research Spotlight: Enhancing Science Learning through Museum Evaluation [Ed.: MSP alum Renee Miller has worked as a museum evaluator for Arlington, Virginia-based Randi Korn & Associates since 2004. Renee studied at the University of Michigan School of Education as a doctoral student where her interest in science education led to her involvement with numerous evaluation studies at science centers and beyond, both as a student and a professional. In this edition of SPACES, Renee offers insight into some of her current research activities.] Although my job title includes the word “evaluator,” I have learned this word is really a conversation stopper. I am working on a concise description of what I do for a living, so I can recite it to strangers at cocktail parties or in an elevator. For whatever reason, “evaluators” scare people, so I have tried calling myself a “researcher” instead. “Researcher” gets a better reaction, but still regularly garners blank stares. I am using this article to test my evolving response to the “what do you do?” question, which is currently, “I do research to help museums develop successful, visitor-centered programs and exhibitions.” Still vague, but now purposefully vague; it provides an entrée to conversation. As a museum evaluator (a.k.a. researcher) I have the opportunity (some would say luxury) to visit many museums. My museum work takes on many forms and covers an array of MSP03 student, Renee Miller (upper right) working with young students participating in “Archivist Day” at the Pequot Museum in Mashantucket, CT.
MSP Students Shine in MMA Presentations Three Museum Studies Program students were featured speakers at the Annual Meeting of the Michigan Museums Association, held in Detroit and Bloomfield Hills, in October 2005. Panel presentations on student research and practical engagement experiences are now a regular offering at the Annual Meeting and Michigan MSP students have been invited speakers from the start. Participants are selected from a pool of applicants drawn from museum studies, public history, and historic preservation programs across the state. As in previous years, those Michigan students selected to present in 2005 displayed a breadth of research interests that mirror the disciplinary richness of the Museum Studies Program.
Featured presenters included: Deirdre L. C. Hennebury (MSP04), An Exploration of the Spatial and Ideological Character of the Art Museum: A Comparative Study of the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern Leilah Lyons (MSP03), Designing an Integrated Assessment Mechanism into Interactive Multimedia Games Leah Niederstadt (MSP05), “I Think The Walls Are Too Dark”: Foreign Involvement in the Management of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies Ethnographic Museum, Addis Ababa University Watch for more MSP students to be featured in student panels at this year’s MMA Annual Meeting to be held in Flint, October 17-19.
topics. In addition to the more sciencey museums, exhibitions, and programs that I find familiar and comfortable, I have dabbled in decorative arts, historic sites, art museums, etc. While there are similarities across the different museum environments, as an outside consultant I am never quite sure what I will be walking into. Exciting and challenging? Yes, but equally daunting. At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, I thank the U of M Museum Studies Program for helping me hone the skills necessary to conduct research in such diverse settings and preparing me to successfully navigate their respective cultures. Regardless of context, my research centers on teaching and learning. My primary research involves an NSF funded project at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center (MPMRC) in Mashantucket, Connecticut: Archaeology Pathways for Native Learners. Pathways, an experiential
MSP03 student, Leilah Lyons, delivering her paper on designing an integrated assessment mechanism for interactive multimedia games at the Michigan Museums Association Meeting.
science learning program, pairs Native American and inner-city youth with professional archaeologists in authentic research environments. As Pathways evolves, the Museum is confronted with two critical questions: 1) in what ways can professional scientists and current research be integrated into informal science education programs to enrich the experience for all participants? and, 2) how does Pathways specifically, MPMRC generally, respond to the needs and concerns of local communities (e.g., indigenous and scientific)? Many assume that providing youth access to scientists and authentic scientific research experiences will enrich sciencelearning programs; however, how to make the most of such experiences is debatable. Is it enough to simply provide scientists and youth access to one another? Or, is it important to critically examine both the nature of the scientists’ participation and the scientist-program
participant relationship? When a program is responsible to multiple communities, sometimes with competing agendas, how should the respective needs and concerns be prioritized? My work with MPMRC provides a window into how one museum has grappled with these questions and has shaped the Museum’s response. I have documented the MPMRC’s experience through the experiences of Pathways’ participants. While I do not have all the answers, Pathways and the associated research have planted the seeds of conversation. And that is my hope as a museum researcher (a.k.a. evaluator)— to start conversations.
Research Spotlight: Heritage Tourism: A Tale of Three Cities [Ed.: MSP03 student Luna Khirfan is also a doctoral candidate in the Program in Urban and Regional Planning in the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Luna’s varied educational experiences both here and abroad and her extensive travels have informed fascinating research currently underway at U-M. We’ve asked her to share the details of her doctoral research in this edition of SPACES.]
Photo of the old souq (market place) in Al-Salt, Jordan, documenting one of the research sites featured in MSP03 student Luna Khirfan’s study of tourism and urban planning in the Middle East.
The distinctive characteristics of the historic city stem from local cultural expressions which themselves result from the various societal processes that interact among each other and with the physical environment. Both the urban form and the life within the historic fabric attract tourism, a major source of national income for many developing countries. However, current planning approaches perceive historic cities as tourism products, emphasize their physical attributes, and focus only on tourist activities. They overlook local residents’ needs hence jeopardizing the socio-cultural and physical sustainability of the historic city leading to the loss of its distinctiveness, the quality that initially attracts tourism.
My dissertation research explores an alternative approach to planning, one that incorporates the local perspective and investigates how the active involvement of local residents in the planning process affects the destination’s distinctiveness and sustainability. It proposes a model that examines the impact of local cultural expressions or self-representations on the urban form, the tourist experience, and the desired outcomes of distinctiveness and sustainability. The dissertation conversely tests how these outcomes influence the ability of the historic city to meet the needs of residents and tourists, while competing in the global heritage tourism industry.
My research investigates three case studies: Aleppo in Syria, Acre in Israel, and Al-Salt in Jordan. Currently, each of these cities has a historic preservation and tourism development project, each with a museum component. However, each project adopts a different approach and level of integration of residents’ needs. During the past year, I spent at least a month in each of these historic cities, where I performed multiple tasks to collect the required data. These included: 1) interviews with planners and residents; 2) surveys with residents and tourists; 3) observations of the sociocultural interactions within the historic city; and 4) analyses of architectural features, material culture, and documents and archives. While I am still at the data analysis stage, it is possible to offer some initial results. Most importantly, it seems obvious that tourism planners perceive the city as a “product” to be marketed and sold for tourists. They mostly ignored residents’ needs. Residents and tourists on their part perceived the city as a social, cultural, and physical experience. The results also indicate that the majority of residents thought that the historic city suits tourists’ needs more than their own needs. There exists a consensus among both residents and tourists that the condition of and the care given to historic monuments and to museums vastly surpass those given to ordinary buildings like residences and shops. Additionally, the majority of tourists thought that their interactions with local residents constitute an important aspect of their experience, something that prompts planners to stress the need for “tourism education” among local residents. However, some tourists expressed their displeasure with certain aspects of the local culture, especially women’s dress code, which may actually suggest the need to educate foreign tourists about local cultures, probably through local museums. Finally, one of the recommendations that I expect my research to offer would be the need to use museums as cultural venues that serve the needs of both local residents and foreign tourists.
Brown Bag Sessions Provide Safe Arena for Testing New Ideas MSP students maintain an active program of brown bag sessions throughout the academic year that add to informal learning opportunities available within the Museum Studies Program and contribute to the creation of a museum studies “culture” at the University of Michigan. Since the program is managed entirely by students (led very ably this year by MSP04 student Deirdre Hennebury), the topics chosen for discussion/presentation are as varied as the interests of the students themselves. Many of the sessions are given over to student presentations of their summer field experiences; some are “test runs” by students that are being prepared for presentation at professional meetings; and others allow students to learn about faculty research in an informal setting. Attendance varies according to the academic calendar and the temperature outside but many of the brown bag sessions this past year have played to full houses. The popularity of these sessions is true testament to the vitality of academic life in the program. • Sea of Genes: The Art of Exhibit Conceptualized, Jennifer Zee (MSP04), MFA Student, Art + Design and Museum Studies • Building Connections: Architecture, Audience, and Object at the Cranbrook Art Museum, Deirdre Hennebury (MSP04), PhD Student, Architecture, Urban Planning and Museum Studies • The Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry, Shannon O’Dell, Curator, The Gordon H. Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry • Developing a Musical and Cultural Inheritance, Joseph Lam, Chair of Musicology, School of Music; Director, Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments • A Museum for Three Roles: (Dis)connecting the Collection to the Community, Ipek Kaynar (MSP04), PhD Student, Architecture and Museum Studies • Interactive Development: The Beginning Stages of a New Exhibit at the Experience Music Project, Seattle, Diana Mankowski (MSP04), PhD Student, History and Museum Studies • The Future of Classical Weimar: Politics and Progress in German Cultural Heritage, Michael Andre (MSP04), PhD Student, Germanic Languages & Literatures and Museum Studies • “I Think the Walls Are Too Dark”: Foreign Involvement in the Management of the IES Ethnographic Museum, Leah Niederstadt (MSP05), PhD Student, Anthropology and Museum Studies • Engagement and the French Museum: From Oradour sur Glane to the Maisons Satie, Bradley L. Taylor, Associate Director, U-M Museum Studies Program • PURfecting the Public Understanding of Research, Shannon Davis (MSP04), Post-Doc, Biology and Museum Studies
Practical Engagement Focus: A Letter from Weimar [Ed.: MSP04 student Michael Andre spent the summer of 2005 completing his field internship at the Stiftung Weimarer Klassik und Kunstsammlungen in Weimar, Germany. Michael, a doctoral student in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, used the MSP practical engagement requirement to create an opportunity in Weimar that nicely complemented his academic interests in his home department. We asked Michael if he would share his internship experience with us in the form of a letter to his MSP colleagues.] Grüße aus Weimar! Weimar, a city in the German Bundesland of Thuringia, was my home during the summer of 2005, when I interned at the Klassik Stiftung Weimar (Classical Foundation of Weimar). The Stiftung oversees institutions ranging from Goethe’s house to the Bauhaus-Museum, the Anna Amalia Library to the Nietzsche Archive. Its holdings include literature, the graphic arts, Goethe’s collections, aristocratic residences, parks and gardensamong the best of the German tradition, in a city that has also been associated with the worst. Although I had a desk in the offices of the Goethe-Nationalmuseum, I was often elsewhere. I hauled statuary at Schloß Tiefurt, hunted for missing chairs in the furniture depot of the Schloßmuseum, delivered an English-language tour of Schiller’s house, and rummaged through decades of accessions paperwork in an archival tower for a catalog dating from the 1830s. Through this work I learned much about the issues involved in running so vast an organization and more about the current problems the Stiftung faces. Since reunification the museal landscape in Germany has grown fuller and more diverse, yet the museum itself has become a flashpoint for the conflicts and disappointments of the Wende. After I arrived in Weimar a report was published detailing structural, corporate, and museal priorities in order to bring the institution into the 21st century. The promises of reunification were finally to be realized within the Stiftung–provocative language indeed, given the tremendous public attention. Despite spectacular examples of new museal thinking it remains to be seen whether the foundation as a whole will meet the demands placed upon it from both above and below. Nevertheless, it was a good sign that its inner workings reached the headlines of the local press. It was encouraging to see firsthand how much the museum can matter to its public. Weimar has continued to serve as my own point of entry into the world of the German museum and its public, just as Weimar’s golden age is central to my own work in German Studies. I am certain that I will return to the city for my own research, and I sincerely hope to be able to work there again as well. The city and its museums offer a unique opportunity to examine how the relevance of the past is continuously reconceptualized for the present. Michael Andre (MSP04) in Weimar, Germany.
Practical Engagement Focus: Campus Internship Choices Carry MSP Students from Gardens to the Stars Ten MSP students participated in practica with local museums as part of their program requirements during the 2005/06 academic year. These ten-week internships allow students to pursue interests related to their academic degrees 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 and establish a working relationship with a mentor at a local museum, where they engage as a junior member of the profession in that institution for a semester.
• Shannon Davis (MSP04) supported the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History’s mission of exploring how best to present scientific research to the university community by conducting an analysis of Public Understanding of Research (PUR) exhibits and programs developed at other museums and institutions. His analysis consisted of a literature review, staff interviews, and visits to other museums. Shannon’s work resulted in a detailed paper and a public presentation on his findings. • Olga Khroustaleva (MSP05) performed an observational study of the visitor experience at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, a local science center and community museum. Her focus on how family units, specifically, interact with the museum’s exhibits was intended to help the museum refine the presentation of these exhibits to their primary audience. • Hima Mallampati (MSP05) and Katie Raff (MSP05) continued an existing association with Prof. Elaine Gazda of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, working on the creation of an exhibit about the 1924 U-M excavation of Pisidian Antioch. Their work on this project was considerable—involving research, exhibit planning, exhibit design, label writing, installation, and writing for the catalogand culminated with the opening of the exhibit at the Duderstadt Center in early 2006. • Also at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, Christopher Dempsey (MSP05) worked with Kelsey curator Terry Wilfong to compile a catalog of the fragmentary musical instruments from the Egyptian Graeco-Roman period. Wilfong writes that the process has “helped me to think about this material in ways I never have before. It was really a revelation to me to look at these artifacts with Chris, and this will certainly benefit…eventual publication.” • John Low (MSP05) facilitated collaboration between the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians regarding the museum planetarium’s program “Stories My Ancestors Told.” John’s work sought to enhance an existing program and museum staff suggest that “John was, in fact, vital to gaining access to the very audience we most needed feedback from.” John’s internship will be developed into a published account of the experience and a public presentation on his work next year. • Also at the Exhibit Museum, Medha Tare (MSP04) worked as part of a research team on two studies to determine how the museum’s “Explore Evolution” exhibit has affected adult understanding of evolution and how children learn about scientific concepts. Medha was one of a team of three students who were actively involved in the creation of the exhibit in 2005. Medha’s internship thus provided her an opportunity to analyze the impact that her earlier exhibition work had on museum visitors. • Christine DeLisle (MSP05) performed a variety of tasks relating to the exhibit, “Rethinking the Photographic Image: The Best of Photography and Film from the George Eastman House,” at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Tina’s work involved research and subsequent writing for labels and text panels and assistance in shaping and contextualizing the exhibition’s overall language, didactics, and installation. • Leah Niederstadt (MSP05) assisted the Senior Curator of Asian Art in work relating to the installation of the new Asian galleries in the expansion of the University of Michigan Museum of Art. This work involved an extensive review of collections holdings looking for pieces that might be used to anchor the new galleries, reconciling holdings information, and editing object labels from previous exhibitions of Asian art from the UMMA collections. • Lydia Herring (MSP04) furthered work on the Centennial Shrub Collection (a selection of shrubs drawn from a 1930s list of what the institution should collect) at the University of Michigan Nichols Arboretum. Lydia supported this effort by developing and implementing an interpretive vision for the collection which sought to explain the significance of the collection, facilitate easy identification of the shrubs, and contextualize the collection within the Arb’s larger holdings.
Practical Engagement Focus: A Letter from La Jolla
[Ed.: MSP04 student Jennifer Zee has recently completed an MFA degree from the University of Michigan’s School of Art + Design. She had gained considerable experience in museums earlier, applying her talents as a graphic artist in museum settings on campus and at home in California. We encouraged her to stretch herself in a new content area for her field internship and Jennifer discovered the perfect opportunity at the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. Jennifer’s abilities as an artist continue to amaze us, as does her ability to successfully convey complex scientific concepts in visual form. Jennifer’s letter from La Jolla demonstrates the breadth of her creativity and talent.]
Young boy wearing one of Jennifer Zee’s finished Sting Ray costumes.
Dear MSP friends, I’m writing from my internship at the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), La Jolla, California. The Birch serves as the public interface for this marine science research institution. It’s a small aquarium, but its exhibits are very well done, from the simulations of natural California coastline habitats in the aquaria, to the interactives in the “museum” area of the aquarium, dedicated to large marine science themes. Two exhibits are currently open: an exhibit about earthquakes and “The Art of Deception,” an exhibit about marine life camouflage. As an intern in the Exhibits Department, my primary responsibility is to work on the development of an upcoming exhibit about marine genomics. I create “conceptual drawings” to illustrate some of my ideas as well as those that fly around the exhibit design brainstorming table. The visualization helps others to critique and can also be used as a springboard for new ideas.
The challenge is that most visitors don’t know what genomics is, much less marine genomics! Visitors need to be taught the basics of genetics in order to be able to appreciate genomics. The basic idea is that the ocean is packed full of information in the form of bacterial DNA. Inside bacterial genomes, that is, their entire set of genetic material, one can find valuable information about survival under high pressure in the deep ocean, underwater adhesives, and even, potentially, cancer treatments, just to name a few bacterial properties. How can we get the public excited about a topic that is usually so inaccessible? At a brainstorm meeting today, I came up with the idea of “Dance Dance Protein.” Based on the popular arcade game, Dance Dance Revolution, in which the player steps on one of four arrows, in time to the music and in accordance to visual cues, I proposed switching out the arrows for DNA bases—A, T, C and G—and the reconfiguring of the visuals. Stepping on bases simulates the creation of codons (triplets of bases, which form amino acids) which, when in a strand, form proteins. The Sea of Genes (SOG) Committee were very enthusiastic about this idea and, later this afternoon, we will visit a local arcade to conduct some research. In addition to exhibit design, I have been asked to help the Education Department create learning materials, such as worksheets. The most interesting project however, is the design and creation of costumes for “The Art of Deception.” In a small theater area, kids can select a curtain with prints featuring water, pebbles, sand or seaweed. The plan is to have costumes of animals that use different mechanisms of camouflage in each of these habitats. I am working on three sets of three costumes: round ray, butterfly fish, and leafy sea dragon. The costumes can also be used in programs and classes.
The aquarium is located 5 minutes from the Pacific Ocean and every so often the aquarists bring in an unexpected surprise organism. The red tide (a natural occurrence in San Diego) has brought in the very rare black jellyfish, a very large, purple-black colored organism, some of them being the size of small toddlers. They were placed in one of the exhibit tanks and an e-mail was sent out to all the staff to alert us to the newest addition. I ran downstairs to view these bulbous, bruise-colored jellies, and I was immediately enraptured! One of the perks of working at the aquarium is that if there is anything new and wondrous on the local marine organism front, we’re the first to know! The staff here have been very welcoming and I’ve found my experience so far to be a great immersion into museum life. It’s great to see how what I have learned through the Museum Studies Program applies to practical museum work. Thank you MSP for this unique internship opportunity. Children’s Sting Ray costume designed by MSP04 student Jennifer Zee during her internship at the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, CA.
Practical Engagement Focus: From Aquaria to Archives and Schiller to Disney: Summer Internships Offer Exciting Options to MSP Students Field internships require museum studies students to participate in an intensive three-month practice-based experience, shaped in consultation with museum studies faculty, at a museum of their choosing. These practica may be undertaken at museums in the U.S. or abroad and generally involve students’ participating in a variety of museumrelated activities. The capstone of this experience is a written reflective essay comparing the internship experience with readings and discussions of history and theory drawn from the MSP proseminar sequence and cognate classes. As has been the case in previous years, MSP field internships allow students to pursue personally meaningful opportunities across the globe. Several of the opportunities are explored in greater detail elsewhere in SPACES.
Six museum studies students completed field internships during the 2005/06 academic year. • Jennifer Zee’s (MSP04) talents as an artist were put to a variety of fascinating uses at the Birch Aquarium of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. As a member of the Exhibits Department, she created drawings illustrating her concept of “Dance Dance Protein,” based on a popular arcade game, as a means of making the concept of marine genomics easily understood by young audiences. Similarly, for the Education Department, Jen designed and created costumes— round rays, butterfly fish, and leafy sea dragons—that helped children learn about camouflage in various underwater habitats. • Deirdre Hennebury (MSP04) was actively engaged in the development and installation of a new exhibit, “Architectural Visions: Treasures from the Cranbrook Collection,” launched as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations at the Cranbrook Art Museum. Deirdre also contributed significantly to the accessioning of several gifts to the museum, doing research and interviewing artists in order to provide reliable documentation for the accessions. • Diana Mankowski (MSP04) worked as part of a team preparing for an exhibit celebrating 50 years of Disney music in American music history at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Diana’s contribution ranged from adapting the basic scope of the exhibit and imagining how it might be realized visually, to final visual conception, and the selection of objects to be included in the exhibit. • Erica Lehrer’s (MSP04) field internship took her to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw—a museum preparing for its official opening in 2008—where she participated in discussions with the museum’s architects, provided support to the director, and served as translator on a book project. In work outside the museum, Erica joined a group in the excavation of a destroyed Jewish cemetery in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains and attended several conferences. • Michael Andre’s (MSP04) assignments at the Stiftung Weimarer Klassik und Kunstsammlungen in Weimar, Germany encompassed work at both museums and archives. He hunted for missing chairs in the furniture depot of the Schlossmuseum, delivered an English-language tour of Schiller’s house, and rummaged through decades of accessions paperwork in an archival tower for a catalog dating from the 1830s. These multiple tasks impressed upon Michael the myriad issues involved in running a vast cultural heritage institution. • Back in the U.S., at the Yale Center for British Art, Ipek Kaynar (MSP04) broadened her understanding of museum publications through work in the photographic rights and permissions department. In addition, Ipek’s expertise in museum architecture allowed her to provide much appreciated insight about the architecture of the building as it relates to exhibit design. She also furthered her interest in how architecture affects the movement of visitors through museum space. Six students have elected to conduct extended three-month field internships to conclude their practical engagement requirements during the summer of 2006. Details on these projects will be reported in the next issue of SPACES. • • • • • •
Katie Raff, Art Institute of Chicago Olga Khroustaleva, The District Six Museum (Cape Town, South Africa) Christine DeLisle, Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) Christopher Dempsey, The Henry Ford (Dearborn, Michigan) Kathryn Marks Stine, The New York Public Library (New York City) John Low, Homol’ovi Ruins State Park (Winslow, Arizona) and the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology
Philanthropy Update: 2005/06 Donations Support Sawyer Center and Endowment Fund Generous donations from the following individuals, received as of June 30, 2006, 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 Beth Barban Dorfsman John H. Dryfhout Ann S. Greenstone Ellen S. Jacobowitz Steven Hamp Leslie Hatfield Sharon Herbert Ann Leveque James McIntosh Ann Reitz Saab Stephen Rogers Millard Rogers Charles Sawyer Raymond Silverman Walter M. Spink Bret Waller Patricia Whitesides We are pleased to announce that we have reached our goal for the Charles H. Sawyer Center for Museum Studies (the MSP administrative offices that will be located in the new addition to the U-M Musem of Art), and we have raised $75,000 towards the $100,000 endowment goal. We ask for your help in raising the final $25,000 for this critical endowment. The returns from this fund will support the special education and travel needs of MSP students for years to come. In fact, recent student field internships in Cape Town, Warsaw, Bamako, and Weimar would not have been possible without the additional resources this fund provides. Help us assure that future cohorts of MSP students will be able to experience the “Michigan Difference!” For information on making a donation to either of these funds, please contact Ray Silverman at silveray@umich.edu
MSP Welcomes Incoming Student Cohort for 2006/07 The MSP Steering Committee met in the spring of 2006 to select a new cohort of students for admission to the Museum Studies Program. Each year difficult choices need to be made to assure the formation of a cohort that represents both a diversity of intellectual points of view and life experiences. Students and faculty alike observe the obvious benefits of this approach; students not only learn new content in the program from faculty but they discover new orientations to that content through open discussions with other students in the proseminar sequence. The art historian learns to appreciate how an anthropologist’s interests in objects may differ from her own; an information student’s interest in museum technology may be informed by an education scholar’s knowledge of how people learn. No student cohort is ever quite the same. While we enjoyed our 2005/2006 cohort immensely, we look forward to working with this year’s group of students and anticipate the insight, energy, and creativity they’re sure to bring to the program. Welcome aboard! • • • • • • • • • • • •
Donald Buaku, Urban Planning Alison Byrnes, Art + Design Andrew Ciancia, Education Morgan Daniels, Information Kelly Fayard, Anthropology Susan Frekko, Anthropology Mya Gosling, Southeast Asian Studies Ksenya Gurshtein, History of Art Keun Young Kim, Anthropology Jason Nargis, Information Anna Perricci, Information Tamara Schreiner, Education
Public Programs: Conversations Series Breaks New Ground for MSP Public Programs A new chapter in public programs offered by the Museum Studies Program was ushered in with a series of four public “conversations” held between local scholars and renowned practitioners on topics ranging from museums and science to museums and civic engagement, community, and gardens. Record numbers filled the University League’s Hussey Room on a number of winter evenings to observe these discussions and participate in the extensive question/answer sessions that followed. The conversations began in January and ran as follows: Museums and Science Rob Semper, Executive Associate Director, Exploratorium Tim McKay, Thurnau Professor of Physics, University of Michigan Thursday, January 26, 2006, 7:30 p.m. Museums and Civic Engagement Liz Sevcenko, Director, International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience Julie Ellison, Professor of American Culture and Director, Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, University of Michigan Thursday, March 9, 2006, 4:00 p.m. Museums and Community Elaine Heumann Gurian, Senior Museum Consultant Ray Silverman, Director, Museum Studies Program, University of Michigan Tuesday, March 14, 2006, 7:30 p.m. Museums and Botanical Gardens Michel Labrecque, Curator, Montreal Botanical Garden David Michener, Assistant Curator, Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Aboretum, University of Michigan Thursday, March 30, 2006, 7:30 p.m.
We are extremely grateful to the university faculty members who participated in the Conversation series and to those units who served as cosponsors of the series—the Office of the Dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, The Exhibit Museum of Natural History, Matthaei Botanical Gardens, and Nichols Arboretum at the University of Michigan. Additional funding was provided by the Office of the Vice President of Communications. The conversations were videotaped and have each been aired several times on Michigan TV2, the university’s local public television channel and are being made available for telecast to research universities across the country. In addition, we are planning to stream the recorded conversations on our MSP website. The conversations format has proved so popular that we are already exploring the possibility of presenting additional conversations in the future. For information on the purchase of DVDs from the first series and additional conversations to be presented on campus, keep your eye on the MSP website, http://www.umich.edu/~ummsp.
Michel Labrecque (left) engaged in a discussion with David Michener (right) during their “Conversation about Botanical Gardens.”
MSP05 student Olga Khroustaleva’s prize-winning photograph in this year’s U-M International Institute’s annual Individual Fellowships Photo Contest.
Kudos and Congrats Olga Khroustaleva’s (MSP05) photograph “Road Signs” was awarded first place in the annual photo contest for students whose research or internship projects were supported in part by University of Michigan International Institute fellowships. John Low (MSP05) was co-curator of the exhibit “Keepers of the Fire: The Potawatomi Nation,” running through December 2006 at Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac. Leilah Lyons’ (MSP03) research interests in educational software and her work with the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum were the focus of a feature article in a recent edition of Rackham Alumni Magazine. Congratulations to all!
Public Programs: 2007 Colloquium to Explore Museums and Controversy Following the success of our 2004/05 colloquium on repatriation, the Museum Studies Program is pleased to announce preliminary plans for “Exhibiting Controversy: From Mapplethorpe to ‘Body Worlds’ and Beyond,” a new colloquium which will explore how museums have responded to notions of controversy both historically and in the present day. The colloquium will feature leading figures from the academic community and the professional museum field, many of whom have shown considerable personal courage in confronting important social and cultural issues at times when others would have preferred to silence them. A good deal of planning for this series of talks has already taken place. Our preliminary list of speakers and topics includes:
Public Programs: African Content Rounds Out 2005/06 Program Offerings The 2005/06 academic calendar was filled with large-scale public programs– the fall lecture series on Museums and Community, the Disney Conference in November, and the winter Conversations series. Nonetheless, to take full advantage of the visits of several renowned Africanists to campus this past year, the Museum Studies Program sponsored two additional public lectures that highlighted issues having to do with museums in Africa. The relatively modest size of the program allows us the flexibility to take advantage of such opportunities and we are indeed pleased to have hosted the following presentations this year. • Boureima Diamitani, Director, West African Museums Programme “The West African Museums Programme: Its Role in the Development of Museums in Africa” • Johan Lagae, Professor, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Ghent University “Revisiting the Congo’s Colonial Past: A Curator’s View on the ‘Memory of Congo’ Exhibit” We are grateful to the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies and the Africa History Group at the University of Michigan for their enthusiastic co-sponsorship of these events.
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David Pilgrim (The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia)
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Dennis Barrie (Mapplethorpe Photos)
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Alice Greenwald (The World Trade Center Memorial Museum)
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Robert Juette (“Body Worlds” and the Ethics of Displaying Human Specimens)
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Kristin Hass (Controversy on the Mall: Museums and Memorials in Washington, D.C.)
Initial response to “Exhibiting Controversy” has been unfailingly enthusiastic. MSP Associate Director Brad Taylor affirms that “broadly conceived public programs such as ‘Exhibiting Controversy’ are an absolutely essential means of bringing scholars and museum professionals together to discuss topics that matter to all those who care about libraries, archives, and museums. The University of Michigan Museum Studies Program remains committed to fostering such engagement to advance research and practice in all these domains.” The presentations featured in “Exhibiting Controversy: From Mapplethorpe to ‘Body Worlds’ and Beyond” will be offered at various times during the 2006/07 academic year. Watch our website (http://www.umich.edu/~ummsp) for specific dates to be announced by the end of 2006.
Alumni Profile Museum Practice Alum Caps Career as Scholar/Teacher with Pomona Directorship Though she was a student herself in the Museum Practice Program (1968 graduate), Marjorie (“Cricket”) Swain (now Harth) is surely best known to most at Michigan from her distinguished work as mentor and teacher in the program in the 1970s and 80s. Working first with Charles Sawyer and then Bret Waller, Cricket developed and taught survey courses in museum history and philosophy, advised students, oversaw countless internships, and sponsored student exhibitions on topics ranging from African images to decorative maps to the avant-garde in Paris, to single out only a few of her many roles. By the time she left Michigan in 1981, Cricket had advanced to the position of Acting Chair of the Museum Practice Program. Admirable progress for a young professional who later recalled that her first gallery talk as intern at the Toledo Museum of Art was “as terrifying as any assignment I’d ever faced.” Drawn west by an ideal opportunity and the California sun, Marjorie Harth assumed the position of Director of the Galleries of the Claremont Colleges (later the Pomona College Museum of Art) where, making the transition from theory to practice, she enjoyed a career of over 20 years. During her tenure as Director, Harth oversaw the acquisition of major additions to the Pomona collection including first edition sets of three of Goya’s major etching series, drawings for Rico Lebrun’s Genesis mural, and a set of 17 preparatory drawings for José Clemente Orozco’s mural Prometheus. While continuing to teach, she also authored numerous catalogues and articles—including the recent appreciation of Charles H. Sawyer that appeared in American Art—worked as a consultant, presented at panels, symposia, and public lectures, served on numerous boards and committees, and was recognized along the way with fellowships and awards. Over the years, Harth has developed a unique perspective on the museum field, one that emerges from her work in both the academic and professional worlds. This has informed her observation that a number of the major issues in the field persist and that solutions in the museum gallery are rarely as simple as they may seem from the classroom: “Museum programs need to be sure their students know their history, understand the philosophical basis as well as the logistical details of their institutions, and expect that the most important decisions they make will almost surely not be straightforward.” As our conversation concluded, Marjorie Harth’s thoughts turned once again to her Michigan roots: “It gives me great pleasure to know that [Michigan’s museum program] continues to offer high quality instruction and to prepare professionals to enter a field that so badly needs them and from which they will gain so much.” For the many students who gained from her attention and counsel during her years at Michigan, it comes as no surprise that Harth’s thoughts continue to return to those entering the field.
[Ed.: Marjorie Harth generously provided thoughtful written responses to several open-ended questions posed to her by the newsletter editor. The full text of her responses can be found on the MSP website, http://www.umich.edu/~ummsp, which readers are encouraged to consult. If you are an alumnus of the Museum Practice Program and have pursued a career in the museum profession, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact the newsletter editor at bltaylor@umich.edu to share your story.]
After completing the U-M Museum Practice Program in 1968, Marjorie “Cricket” Harth taught in and directed the program, before moving to California to direct the Pomona College Museum of Art.
Curricular Highlights: Exhibition Projects Merge Theory/Practice in Proseminar Finale During the second semester of the MSP proseminar sequence, students are assigned to participate as a member of a team charged with developing an exhibition proposal or investigating a specific challenge facing the museum. A specific topic and museum setting are assigned to each group, and each team works with MSP faculty and appropriate staff from area museums to develop a concept for an exhibition. A final proposal is presented to an audience comprised of members of the university and museum communities at the end of the term. The MSP faculty and students would like to thank the project consultants who generously offered their time and experience to this year’s exhibition projects. • Woodward Avenue and Beyond: A History of the Michigan Department of Transportation, presented by Chris Dempsey, Olga Khroustaleva, and Katie Raff Partners: Michigan Department of Transportation Liaisons/mentors: Tony Kratofil, Deputy Region Engineer, Michigan Department of Transportation; Deborah Deacon Odette, UM-MPP Alum • Inns, Islands, and Inbetweens: Fantasy and Adventure in Children’s Books at the University of Michigan’s Special Collections Library, presented by Tina DeLisle, Leah Niederstadt, and Kathy Zarur Partners: U-M Special Collections Library Liaison/mentor: William Gosling, Curator, Children’s Literature Collection, U-M Special Collections Library • Compiling a Cornucopia: A Template for the Future of the Toledo Zoo Museum, presented by Heloise Finch, Kelly Kirby, John Low, and Hima Mallampati Partners: Toledo Zoo Liaison/mentor: Mitch Magdich, Curator of Education, Toledo Zoo
Curricular Highlights: Site Visits Enhance/ Deepen MSP Classroom Experience Each year the MSP classroom experience is augmented by a series of site visits to local and regional museums where students enjoy the opportunity to learn directly from the staffs of some of our nation’s leading institutions. These trips are planned carefully by faculty to assure exposure to a variety of different types of museums (e.g. history museums, gardens, science centers, zoos) and museums with differing missions and target audiences. In addition, site visits are structured so that host institutions can emphasize specific professional practices— how public programming happens, what standards guide the ethical treatment of living collections, how technology is being used to redefine science education, etc. Museum staff members are unfailingly enthusiastic in their support of students entering the profession and we continue to be impressed with the care and energy they invest in making each site visit a success.
Among the highlights of the 2005/06 academic year were the first MSP site visits to Grand Rapids museums, with the Public Museum of Grand Rapids and the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park each hosting MSP students for a half-day session. We were welcomed at PMGR with a concert on their restored theater organ (playing “The Victors,” no less) before being led on an extensive tour of the exhibits with heads of each of the museum departments serving as our
guides. Lunch in the museum boardroom overlooking the Grand River allowed students to dine in small groups with museum staff and board members, a highly personalized and much appreciated opportunity. At the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Chief Curator Joe Becherer served as host, providing a behind the scenes tour, time to visit the indoor gardens (including the butterfly garden), and a brisk walk through the outdoor sculpture park to observe
the latest addition to the sculpture collection being installed. Students left with gift bags filled with sculpture books and collections guides and with a true appreciation for a day’s worth of “west side” hospitality in Grand Rapids. In fact, warmest thanks are extended to all those institutions that played such an important part in the education of our Museum Studies Program students this year. • Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum • Arab American National Museum • Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History • Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park • The Henry Ford • Public Museum of Grand Rapids • Toledo Museum of Art • Toledo Zoo • University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History • University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology • University of Michigan Museum of Zoology MSP05 students talking with Professor and Curator Henry Wright during a site visit to the U-M Museum of Anthropology.
MSP05 students and Associate Director, Brad Taylor, standing under Leonardo da Vinci’s bronze horse during a site visit to the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI.
Museum Studies Program University of Michigan 4700 Haven Hall 505 South State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1045