Road Reports

Krista Schmidt Bids MoMS Farewell...

      In a little hallway in a large office building in the great city of Washington, D.C., sit five desks in a row: Intern Alley. Laughter is often heard pealing through the narrow corridor and the interns are occasionally reminded to “keep it down, please,” but the modest nook is a pristine example of the amalgamation of work and play.For the past three months I’ve been privileged to claim a spot of my own in Intern Alley, but, alas, it’s time to say goodbye.

My summer at Museum on Main Street gave me the opportunity to witness the inner workings of the Smithsonian and contribute my own research to this celebrated institution. I completed two online exhibits for the Journey Stories website; one exhibit highlights the oral histories of recent immigrants to the United States, and the other chronicles the journeys of orphan train riders. Click here to view my online exhibit. Additionally, I contributed research to a physical exhibit opening in 2011 entitled, “The Way We Worked.” As a self-proclaimed history nerd, I can think of no better way to spend my summer!

One of my favorite moments during my time at SITES was a chance to head to the Office of Exhibits Central and overlook exhibits that were being shipped out. After helping double-check one exhibit, I learned that it was traveling to Minnesota (my home state) and would actually be in my hometown early next year! At the risk of annoying my coworkers, I couldn’t stop gushing about my excitement.

Being an intern at Museum on Main Street has been an incredible experience, and I want to thank everybody I worked with for an amazing summer.It has been a joy to be around such intelligent, warm, witty, and gracious people. As I leave Intern Alley and MoMS to begin my own journey story, I’ll miss you all!

-- Krista Schmidt, SITES, Washington D.C.

A Spoonful of Osceola

    Osceola Missouri has some very interesting tales from its experience with the New Harmonies exhibit, which visited their community from May 9 to June 20, 2009. Osceola’s local exhibit featured regional entertainers of the past and present, in addition to a display of records and musical instruments used by Osceola residents. One of the local exhibit highlights was a performance on an 150 year old grand piano! This piano carries much historical significance for the folks of Osceola – having been passed down through generations of the Lewis clan, this baby grand was shipped across the country via boat and ox wagon, and later survived the 1861 burning of Osceola. In 1984 the piano was restored to playing capacity, and was recently donated to the St. Clair County Historical Society by the Lewis family at the New Harmonies exhibit opening this past May 2009.

Osceola programming included a Native American festival which centered on tribal dance. Over 100 Native Americans participated in this heritage-based musical performance. Of special interest was the beautiful tribal clothing donned by the performers:

Cooperation within the community was a key element to Osceola’s exhibit success.The town of 785 welcomed 1,828 visitors to the New Harmonies exhibit! Partners were wide-ranging, including the city government, chamber of commerce, local garden clubs, quilt guilds, sororities and churches. Joan McPeak, president of St.Clair Historical Society, affirmed the exhibit’s positive impact on the community’s collaborative spirit with her statement; “We so appreciated the opportunity to have the new Harmonies exhibit in our museum. Three other organizations joined forces to sponsor this event…This is one of the first times that I can remember such cooperation between all these entities…It was a great experience!”

Joan shared this colorful anecdote from the exhibit with us:

“The 'spoon' display created more interest than any of the others, I believe. Richard Sunderwirth, local musician and historian, came every time we had a group of school children touring and demonstrated the spoon playing by accompanying a CD of “Under the Double Eagle.” This encouraged the children to experiment with the spoons on the kiosk. There was one little boy who brought his parents back on the Saturday after his whole class had been to the exhibit. He stationed himself at the spoon display and worked on it the whole time (about two hours) that his parents were viewing the rest of the exhibit.He was about 10 or 11 years old and so polite. If someone else came by that section he would step aside until they finished looking and then go right back to working on the spoons. I was really impressed with his interest. He told me that his grandfather had promised to make him a wooden set to play.”

Looks like Osceola had a spoonful of fun with this exhibit!

We truly appreciate the effort put forth by this community. Many thanks to Joan McPeak for this exhibit update.

- Roxanne Berschler, SITES, Washington, D.C.

McComb in Motion

A great deal of groundwork has been laid for the Journey Stories exhibit in McComb, Mississippi, set to open this upcoming fall. The McComb community is gearing up for its visit from the Smithsonian with enthusiasm – community members are rallying to renovate the McComb City Railroad Depot Museum for the occasion! The exhibit’s fast-approaching presence encouraged McComb residents to paint the museum’s exterior with 5 historic colors, clean out the ticket office, store historic artifacts at the climate-controlled Space Place, and install a security system in the room that will display Journey Stories. It’s been 12 years since the museum has seen a “makeover” like this one! Accent South Mississippi lauds the museum’s efforts in their article All Aboard! which announces the exhibition opening: Accent South Article

McComb’s Denman High School is diving into Journey Stories subject matter, aligning their curriculum with the exhibit theme. History classes will focus on creating individual journey stories, while English classes compose journey stories, and Art classes illustrate various journey stories. In the words of Winnie Len Howell, McComb City Railroad Depot Museum Director, “The excitement is growing.”

One very unique aspect of McComb’s involvement with the exhibit is the community’s ability to gather journey stories from displaced Hurricane Katrina victims. Hurricane Katrina forced a journey upon many Americans, and the Journey Stories exhibit provides an excellent backdrop for the discussion of this modern migration. McComb’s Myra Ricouard is heading the Museum’s search for Katrina victims with stories to tell, stating “That’s what [the exhibit is] all about — journey stories. Where people ended up. Katrina put people here and people stayed; that’s a journey story.”

Katrina survivors will be honored at the exhibit’s opening reception on October 25, and the journey stories that are collected will be incorporated into McComb’s local exhibit. Ms. Ricouard, a displaced Katrina victim herself, is still searching for individuals with relocation stories to step forth and share the account of their journeys as a way to highlight the region’s recent local history. Please contact her at: 601-276-2107. An article from the Enterprise Journal provides additional details on the project: Enterprise Journal Article

Many thanks go out to all of the folks in McComb that have devoted their time and energy to prepare for the exhibit’s arrival. Special thanks go out to Kevin wells, owner of Space Place, and Danny Simmons, owner of Simmons Security. We would like to personally thank Winnie Len for this update, in addition to David Morgan of the Mississippi Humanities Council and Matt Williamson of the Enterprise Journal.

GO McCOMB!!

-- Roxanne Berschler, SITES, Washington D.C.

FENCES on FLICKR

Take a look at Wood County Historical Society’s technological approach to exhibit involvement! This Ohio community is adding a digital media aspect to their forthcoming Between Fences exhibit by creating the digital photography gallery, “FENCES ON FLICKR.” Read their exciting announcement below:

"The Wood County Historical Society is proud to present the Smithsonian traveling exhibit BETWEEN FENCES at the Wood County Historical Center & Museum April 9 - May 7, 2010.From September 1, 2009 - April 1, 2010, the general public is welcome to submit digital photographs of local fences for public display on the Museum's "FENCES ON FLICKR" public website at http://www.flickr.com/photos/infirmary. 

Although submitted images will be available for public viewing during that time, the gallery will be highlighted April - May, 2010 with marketing, web attention, and possibly a "showing" alongside the physical exhibit." 

  

Photo submission instructions from Wood County Historical Society are as follows:

E-mail submissions to: museum@woodcountyhistory.org.

• In the Subject line, write: FENCES on FLICKR.

• In the body of the e-mail, include the following information: Identify location of fence (address, street, city, park, etc.) Identify name of photographer, as you would like to be publicly recognized. Provide phone # and/or email (will not be made public). Give your photograph a title or some identifier (i.e. "Brandeberry Wall at the Wood County Historical Center" or "Wooden fence on West Evers, Bowling Green). Include up to 50-word narrative of your interpretation of the photograph and how it represents fences in our community.

• All approved submissions will be uploaded to the Wood County Historical Museum's "FENCES ON FLICKR" public website at http://www.flickr.com/photos/infirmary. Information including the photographer, location, and narrative will also be included. Any photographer may ask to remain anonymous. County Historical Center & Museum will review all submissions for appropriate content and retains the right to dismiss any entry that is offensive or does not meet the requirements.

Many thanks go out to Kelli Kling, Marketing, PR, and Special Events Director of Wood County Historical Center and Museum for this update.

MoMS encourages individuals from the Wood County community to submit photos to "FENCES on FLICKR!"

-- Roxanne Berschler, SITES, Washington DC

Between Fences Opens in Minnesota

I'm a bit behind the times with this blog entry, but last week, we had a wonderful installation workshop and training program for Between Fences in Hanley Falls, Minnesota at Minnesota's Machinery Museum. Each of the hosts for the Minnesota tour of the exhibition gathered for two days of exhibition building and discussion. David Grabitske from the Minnesota Historical Society provided docent training for the participants. Genevieve Simermeyer from the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian also joined the group to talk about how to create educational programs for visitors from a variety of cultural backgrounds. And, the Minnesota Humanities Center debuted its companion video for the statewide tour of Between Fences. The beautiful video features Native American perspectives on fences and land use and ownership. Each host site in Minnesota will feature the video along with the exhibition. Check it out.

The museum is housed in the former Hanley Falls High School and the exhibition is on the basketball court in the old gymnasium/auditorium. It's a fun space with a great mural of local farming scenes. Be sure to catch Between Fences in Minnesota. Here's a short video from the workshop and the ribbon cutting.

Special thanks go to Tom Fitzpatrick and the Minnesota Humanities Center for their sponsorship of the tour and amazing coordination of programs and efforts. And, I would like to personally thank David Grabitske (a great friend to me and Museum on Main Street) for showing me around Minnesota as we drove to Hanley Falls. It's always a pleasure.

After the workshop, David and I traveled back to the Twin Cities, where we joined the Minnesota Association of Museums at the Hennepin History Museum for its "Uber Sampler" -- monthly meetings where museum staff gather to talk about various aspects of the field. We had a fun evening chatting and talking about some of the interesting exhibitions and programs past Museum on Main Street hosts have created and about my interests in social media and museums. Hopefully, we'll get a couple of new Twitter and Facebook users from the participants! Thanks to Jada Hansen from the Hennepin Museum for a great visit.

-- Robbie Davis, MoMS/SITES, Washington, DC

Life's a Beach...

Beach, North Dakota impresses tourists!

We MoMSers know that our exhibits grab the attention of locals, compelling them to reflect upon their regional customs, beliefs and history. How pleased we were to learn that international tourists in Beach, North Dakota were equally impressed with the Golden Valley Museum’s Journey Stories exhibit. Kimberly Nunberg explains:

"Last week Friday, a journalist and photographer from Germany by the name, Gerald Freyer was passing through North Dakota and stopped at the Museum along with his parents. They were thrilled and quite impressed with Journey Stories. We are so fortunate to be one of the communities to display this interesting and informative exhibit!”

Many thanks to Kimberly for this anecdote!

-- Roxanne Berschler, MoMS/SITES, Washington, DC