Below, Please find information on submitting an SMA proposal for the Small Museum Association Conference this February!
Submissions are due July 1!
Follow these links for more information:
www.smallmuseum.org: for information regarding the Small Museum Association and the Conference
In our second post in the series “Curating the Curator: Perspectives from MSMC Committee” I introduce Dr. Barnet “Barney” Pavao-Zuckerman.
Photo by Jannelle Weakly
Dr. Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland and is the Interim Director for the MSMC Certificate while Dr. Freidenberg is on sabbatical. She received her PhD from the University of Georgia in 2001, completing her dissertation research in the Georgia Museum of Natural History. Prior to arriving at UMD, she was Associate Curator of Zooarchaeology at the Arizona State Museum for over a decade, as well as Associate Professor and Associate Director of the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. She is an archaeologist and currently conducting research on the colonial-period experiences of Native Americans in southeastern and southwestern North America.
Having worked extensively in museums with an archaeology background, I asked her: What was your first experience working in a museum, and what was the most important thing you learned? She responded with several stories that wove together why scholarship is important to her work and the challenges and lessons she learned throughout her career.
these “stories” are the result of years of research
I have spent my entire career in museums—in fact, with my move to the University of Maryland last fall, this is the first time in 20 years that I have not worked primarily in a museum setting. My first museum work experience was in the early 1990s, while I was in high school and college. My summer job was as a tour guide at Mount Lebanon Shaker Village, which is in my home town of New Lebanon, NY. I have wonderful memories of my summers at Mount Lebanon—it is a truly remarkable place. Spend an hour wandering through the Village and you understand immediately why the Shakers chose Mount Lebanon as the place to build their most important community. I was an inexperienced teenager, and our small historical site museum operated on a shoe-string budget, but I learned that as long as I could tell a good story, I could send visitors away happy they had come, and with greater knowledge and appreciation for the place and the people who lived there. I quickly learned that these “stories” are the result of years of research by scholars, both within and outside of museums. I read as much as I could about the Shakers, and apprenticed myself to several of the more experienced tour guides, particularly one who was known for his engaging, and sometimes “salty” (and very un-Shaker), tours.
“you know, sometimes we just burned them down when the rats got too much”.
My graduate research, on the study of animal bones from archaeological sites (zooarchaeology), was carried out in the Georgia Museum of Natural History (GMNH), on the campus of the University of Georgia. I went from a mostly open-air historical site museum to a natural history museum, complete with snakes coiled in jars of alcohol. I learned a great deal during my six years at the GMNH. In a natural history museum, museum scholars from diverse disciplines work side-by-side, and my interactions with curators in the natural sciences had a huge impact on my career, including in promoting the role that zooarchaeological knowledge can play in modern wildlife conservation problems. It was also at the GMNH that I first interacted with a living descendent of an archaeological study community. This experience was just the first of many that serve as a constant reminder to consider and question the impact of archaeological research on descendent communities. As I showed our museum visitor the animal bone remains from his ancestral Muscogee-Creek village, I explained to him we had identified a lot of burned rodent bones inside the village’s homes. I told him I had read that in the 18th century, Creek houses were often burned during funeral rituals for heads of household. He looked at me, smiled, and said “you know, sometimes we just burned them down when the rats got too much”. I also learned that sometimes archaeologists privilege the stories they want to tell over the ones that actually make the most sense!
How to make a bunch of dead animals compete with gorgeous ceramics, baskets, and tapestries?
So, we need to be careful about the stories we tell, but to stay relevant in the 21st century, museums have to tell the important and compelling stories. As I grew into a scholar in my own right, I learned to approach the arcana of my own archaeological research to find the stories that reach broad audiences. From 2002 to 2015, I was a faculty curator at the Arizona State Museum (ASM), on the campus of the University of Arizona (with a joint appointment in the School of Anthropology). Behind-the-scenes tours and public lectures were an important part of my position. Museum tour groups would visit ASM’s world-class southwestern Native pottery collections, its state-of-the-art conservation lab, and the new basketry vault (the second of ASM’s Save America’s Treasures projects), and then walk into the zooarchaeology lab, full of old and broken animal bones. How to make a bunch of dead animals compete with gorgeous ceramics, baskets, and tapestries? The rather un-charismatic nature of old bones meant that I had to engage my audience through story, not stuff. After a couple of tries, I was able to engage our audiences with the story of how tiny fragments of animal bones from Native American sites in Alabama and Arizona tell us something about the origins of trans-oceanic trade and the mercantile economy in North America, as well as the role of Native American labor in the emergence of the global economy. Making these connections from the local to the global is, as I would say in my tours, why I love what I do.
I am also thrilled to be part of an institution with a thriving Museum Certificate program
As many of us know, museums face many challenges in the 21st century. Every museum I have worked in since I was a teenager has faced significant financial stress leading to reorganization, staff cuts, or programmatic shrinkage. Lately, the financial strain has been felt especially at state-funded museums, particularly in states that have chosen to balance budget shortfalls on the backs of educational institutions. While I was a curator at ASM, the 100-year old institution experienced unprecedented and crippling budget cuts. The last two years, in particular, were an extremely challenging time at the Museum, as the institution suffered heart-breaking staff losses due to state budget cuts. I miss the day-to-day life of a museum curator, but I am also thrilled to be part of an institution with a thriving Museum Certificate program in a state that invests in all aspects of higher education. I am realistic in my views on the future of museums and museum scholarship, but am committed to helping the students in our Certificate program gain the skills and knowledge that will allow them to thrive in a 21st century museum world.
~ Barney
For our first post in the series “Curating the Curator: Perspectives from MSMC Committee,” I introduce Mary Alexander.
Mary joined the MSMC committee last year and is currently instructing the Introduction to Museum Scholarship and Material Culture course. She has worked in and for Washington area history museums for the past four decades. She has been a museum educator, assistant director, leader of the Common Agenda for History Museums project for the American Association for State and Local History, and most recently administrator of the Museum Assistance Program of the Maryland Historical Trust.
I asked Mary, “What tools should every museum scholar take time to develop?” and she responded with the following insight:
A scene from “The Real Museum Directors of Kansas”
“The slide projector in the main exhibit hall kept needing adjustment so I had to open the back of the exhibit case and slip in to jimmy with jammed slides, replace bulbs and other mechanical fixes. Because this happened so often I got to eavesdrop on visitors chatting in the gallery. It was amazing what I learned simply by being a hidden observer. All our highfalutin’ ideas about what visitors would notice from our impressive collections and our brilliant explanatory texts went right out the window.”
This scenario from an old friend of mine who ran a small museum in Kansas illustrates an important reality for museum professionals (curators, historians, researchers, registrars, educators)—watch out for the museum “bubble.” Visitors will surprise you with their perspectives, interests and ability to simply overlook what you consider so important. In our Museum Scholarship and Material Culture Introductory class discussions we remind ourselves that we are not “regular” visitors and therefore we must always question our perspectives as potentially biased.
Be aware of your assumptions about visitors. Visit museums and take time to observe what others are doing and saying while they wander the galleries. Note where visitors cluster and seem engaged; why are they stopping there? Is it an object, a label, a bench to sit or an interactive?
Interpretation is complex and difficult to codify, but writing clearly is a central building block for both scholarship and its interpretive expressions. It’s easy to warn against jargon, but more important to focus on clear, concise descriptions that are readily understood. Exhibit design reports will quantify “appropriate” label length, but that’s not the solution, it is clarity. Working with others will improve your communication regardless of its form–labels, artifact layout, design decisions and programming–as it will inevitably challenge your assumptions and help you work towards clarity.
Your important tools are:
~Mary Alexander
TUNE IN FOR A NEW SERIES!
We’re starting a new blog post series called “Curating the Curators: Perspectives from MSMC Committee” in which committee members of the certificate program give his/her view on museum scholarship and material culture (MSMC) topics.
We’re excited to feature our committee members’ voices on MSMC issues and read their stories not just as curators but as educators, researchers, and scholars of diverse subjects. Take a seek peek of what’s to come: Committee Bios.
{Stay tuned for posts from our committee by subscribing to receive posts as they’re published each week (or so). Submit your email on the right side of this page, or “follow” us if you use wordpress.}
WHAT ABOUT THE COMMITTEE?
Beyond keeping the certificate program funded and functional, the Committee are integral to advising students on their practicum projects. Each student works closely with a committee member on the development and execution of their practicum proposals and final products. Committee members provide feedback to students on their proposals and are invaluable resources for navigating scholarship issues and local museum networks.
This series is geared toward emerging professionals and students who will work with the committee in various capacities. However, their thoughts and experiences are careful reflections we hope will reach colleagues in and beyond our network to continue conversations about how we use scholarship in our work everyday.
Join us in the coming weeks as we get to know the MSMC committee members!
Symposium on Museum Scholarship and Material Culture of Prince George’s County: Starting the Conversation
Dr. Judith Freidenberg gives opening remarks at the Symposium
This past Tuesday, Dec. 8th, the MSMC Certificate held a symposium to discuss ways in which the University of Maryland and museum and cultural organizations in Prince George’s County can better collaborate. It was well attended with over 35 participants representing over 20 museums and cultural organizations in the county.
The following notes provide a summary of topics discussed and key points made by speakers and attendees, followed by a reflection of the event by one of the Certificate students.
Dr. Judith Freidenberg, Director of the Museum Scholarship and Material Culture Graduate Certificate program at the University of Maryland opened the evening with remarks about the purpose of the symposium. She highlighted the importance of creating stronger links between the University and the cultural and museum organizations in the county, especially for the Museum Certificate students who are preparing to enter the field as new professionals. Dr. Freidenberg also explained that this will be a conversation about “how to best work collectively to address common issues and problems.”
Four speakers addressed symposium participants beginning with Dean Gregory Ball of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland. Dean Ball spoke of his support of this event, having grown up in Prince George’s County and fondly remembering museum experiences.
Dean Ball said,“universities and museums are significant cultural institutions which can change the conversation” and incorporate new methods into museums and academia.
Susan Pearl, Historian with the Prince George’s County Historical Society gave a brief history of the county, drawing on the rich cultural outlets since its founding. Cities like Upper Marlboro, Bladensburg, Piscataway, and College Park have had a long history of theater, art, musical performance, and exhibits which continue to thrive today.
The rich history and culture in the County that Mrs. Pearl described was echoed by John Peter Thompson, Chair of the Prince George’s County Historic Preservation Commission. He spoke about the county’s over 500 historic sites which provide opportunities to explore many aspects of the county’s cultures and history. He spoke highly of the resources at the Prince George’s Historical Society library open to anyone and located in the Greenbelt Library building with special collections pertaining to the county and beyond.
Aaron Marcavitch, Director of Maryland Milestones, described the importance of “Heritage areas” as cultural landscapes created to preserve the meaning of these spaces without owning or restricting the land. He engaged participants to consider the benefits of making tourism work for the small and sometimes remote museums and organizations in the county.
Think about local museums and organizations as an alternative form of recreation to mainstream tourist locations in Washington, DC., he exhorted.
The speakers set the tone for the conversations that happened around each table of symposium participants. Issues discussed included:
Once groups shared their conversations about common issues, Dr. Freidenberg asked
“What are your organizations are good at? How can we use these successes to help each other?”
Some responses included:
Then the discussion led to ideas about improving communication and resource access between the University of Maryland, College Park and the County museums and organizations. Comments included:
Reflection from a Student
Sarah Janesko
Masters of Applied Anthropology Student
Museum Scholarship and Material Culture Certificate student
Class of 2016
This event was successful in bringing people together in a single room to talk about relevant issues. It was successful because everyone who attended cares about their organization and community. It was successful because participants were not afraid to talk about what is lacking in their organizations, and about what goes right.
There is a lot to be said for the presence of University faculty, a dean, students and local museum and material cultural professionals starting a conversation together in one room. However, big issues were discussed that can’t be easily solved in 2 or 3 hours. Getting to “success” in the long-term will involve action by all parties to continue the conversation.
It felt similar to our seminars as part of the Certificate program. Students discuss scholarship issues around the classroom table and then visit museums and talk to the directors and curators about how they handle community partnership, collections management, accessibility, diversity and many other issues. Understanding how different museums implement the scholarship in their daily work and programs is critical to reproducing those successes elsewhere.
Hopefully, this is what the Symposium has started with the museums in Prince George’s County – thinking about 1) what programs, initiatives and goals were successful, and 2) the ways to receive help from and 3) give help to other museums and organizations working toward similar goals.
Has your school, organization, museum, historical society had luck with partnerships like this? What made them successful in the long-run?
Join a conversation about working collectively to address common issues faced by historical, cultural, and museum organizations in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Be part of the effort of Museum Scholarship and Material Culture Certificate program to connect the University of Maryland with surrounding cultural and historical institutions in Prince George’s County.
Tuesday, December 8th from 5:00-8:00 pm
Benjamin Banneker Room 2212-B
The Stamp Student Union
University of Maryland, College Park
This symposium is geared toward new and seasoned professionals invested in museum issues: students, community members, and professionals of historical, cultural, and museum organizations in Prince George’s County.
Please RSVP by November 10th to sjanesko@umd.edu with the number of people in your group who will attend and a key issue you’d like to discuss at the symposium.
The Symposium will feature opening remarks by key speakers followed by group discussions on issues over food and drinks. It will close with attendees reflecting on ways to address issues collectively inside and outside of the University.
Free Parking is available in Lots Z and 1b just west of the The Stamp Student Union.
Join the conversation over food and drinks on December 8th!
Attention all graduate students interested in the Museum Scholarship and Material Culture Certificate!
The first course in the Certificate program – “Introduction to Museum Scholarship and Material Culture” – is opening for registration next week. The class is capped at 15 students in order to accommodate for exclusive trips to large museums in the Washington, D.C. area and a personal learning experience. 
The course is open to all graduate students in any department which allows for interdisciplinary perspectives on museums and the stories they display.
This is a unique opportunity to network with area curators and enhance your career prospective with museum scholarship. This course will be taught by Mary Alexander, a professional with over 40 years of experience working in and with museums.
If you missed the information session back in September, take a look at our previous posts highlighting Alumni experiences and Introduction to Museum Scholarship field trips to Smithsonian museums.
And, if you still have questions, feel free to contact Dr. Judith Freidenberg at jfreiden@umd.edu.
Two Museum Curator Opportunities in American Latino History
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Division of Culture and the Arts and Division of Political History.
Positions involve: Research, Exhibitions, Collections, and Public Programs. These positions are a wonderful opportunity for scholars interested in Latino scholarship, museums, and public history.
Open through Friday, May 8, 2015, on www.usajobs.gov<http://www.usajobs.gov>.
Please see Museum Curator (Latino History and Culture) announcement # 15A-MR-300384-DEU-NMAH and Museum Curator (Political History Latino) announcement # 15A-MR-300327-DEU-NMAH
Contact Erika Mack-Dillaber with questions:macke@si.edu<mailto:macke@si.edu>; (202) 633-3555
The Smithsonian is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women, minorities, people with disabilities, and candidates of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
(On left) Cynthia Chavez Lamar, Assistant Director for Collections, National Museum of the American Indian.
This week, in the Introduction to Museum Scholarship class, Dr. Cynthia Chavez Lamar, Assistant Director for Collections at the NMAI in Washington, DC discussed her role in co-curating the Our Lives exhibit that premiered in 2004. She spoke about the challenges and benefits of collaborating with American Indian communities while co-curating this exhibit. It focuses on layers of identity and belonging within indigenous communities and will be up until July 2015.