Class of 2002 Master's Project Abstracts
Laura Benites
Tracking Museum Collections with Bar Codes The field of collections management has grown increasingly complex as collections grow and ethical and legal demands around tracking collections continue to raise the bar on registrars' and collections managers' accountability to keep accurate records. Customizing technology for collection practices, such as a collection database, augments collection records and provides a remedy to accessing, updating, and organizing records for the museum's collection. Bar code technology has the potential to simplify the workload of registrars and collection managers by replacing handwritten lists manually entered into databases with the ease of scanning bar code labels and uploading the information from a scanner that automatically updates object locations. In this master's project, I researched the small amount of published information available to the collections management field and interviewed collections staff with experience in tracking museum collections with bar codes. Based on the information I created Scan It! Barcoding Museum Collections Information, a CD-ROM, which includes an introduction to bar codes, professional resources and questions to consider when researching bar code technology. Scan It! assembles key information making it more accessible with the goal of stimulating interest for further research in the field. Elizabeth Coman
Fostering Adult Literacy in Art Museums One third of the English-speaking adult population in the United States operates at level-one literacy'that equals a second grade reading capacity. This master's project addresses the critical problem of low adult literacy against the backdrop of current trends in the museum field towards interdisciplinary education and museum-library collaboration. It encourages art museums, as rich visual resources, to actively serve adult learners enrolled in library literacy programs. As part of this master's project I conducted a case study with adult learners at Project Read at the San Francisco Public Library in collaboration with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which explored how adult learners with literacy difficulties viewed art museums and working with art as a potential learning device. I focused on art education methodology, including object-based learning, discipline-based art education and visual thinking strategies to allow these adult learners to practice visual communication skills that facilitate language development and critical thinking through the practice of identifying, observing, describing, questioning, and classifying works of art. By joining my findings from this case study with current teaching practices in both art museum and adult literacy fields, I found that open communication between both communities could foster innovative ideas for enhancement of reading literacy in the future. Jennifer Daly
Teens Engaging History and Community through Media Production in Museums This master's project explores the benefits and challenges of using electronic media production (audio, video and web sites) to engage teens in community history research in urban communities in the U.S., to help teens develop concrete technology and research skills and to provide an opportunity for teens to connect more deeply with their local communities on a personal level. Research methods included a literature review, survey of history museum educators in urban U.S. communities and case studies of three programs'two at the Chicago Historical Society and one at the Oakland Museum of California. The project describes how media production with teens in history museums intersects recent trends in the fields of museum education, youth work (or 'youth development'), history learning and media literacy. Current trends in history museum programming for teens in urban communities are also discussed, especially in terms of media production. Survey and case study findings form the basis for recommendations on improving history museum programs for urban teens and on implementing effective media production programs in history museums. Nina Kollmar Fairles
Native American Traditional Care Practices and the Changing Collections Management Profession In seeking to support Native American cultures and communities, collections management professionals have cultivated a wealth of ideas, responses and plans on how to facilitate Native American traditional care within museum collection spaces. Traditional care is broadly defined as non-Western practices of conserving, storing and caring for objects and often reflect the sacred or spiritual significance of an object. My master's project explores the diversity of methods collections management professionals use when facilitating some of the more challenging Native American traditional care requests (such as smudging, feeding and gender restrictions) and assesses how the integration of these practices is changing the collections management profession. My conclusions, based on literature and professional conference reviews, policy analysis as well as interviews with Native American and non-Native American collections professionals working in U.S anthropology and natural history museums, indicate changes within the larger collections management profession. In particular, collections management professionals are increasingly consulting Native American communities, modifying traditional care methods, adopting written procedures and policies, and are also planning for the future. By presenting my research at the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums in October 2002, my project seeks to assist collections management professionals in integrating Native American traditional care practices within museum collections spaces in meaningful ways. Joan Flores
Listening to the Collective Voice: Storytelling for Adults in History Museums History museums and historical society museums value the role of docents and living history interpreters who provide adult visitors with a window to the past. However, if interpretation does not include a variety of perspectives, the connections museum visitors make to the past can be limited. Professional storytellers can draw out the collective voice'the stories of lesser known individuals and underrepresented groups'bringing history to life from multiple vantage points and creating a unique interpretive experience for adults. A survey of thirty-three California history museums and historical society museums revealed that few of these museums are utilizing storytelling programs as history interpretation; none have hosted storytelling programs specifically for adults. This project focuses on how professional storytellers are bringing the collective voice to listeners, and how these programs can benefit adult visitors to history museums. This project introduces the museum field to the storytelling profession and to storytellers who create history stories based on personal accounts and academic scholarship. Adults have enjoyed history-based storytelling programs in venues outside of museums. Library and college storytelling programs for adults serve to illustrate how history-based storytelling can be applied to the museum setting. As an interpretive tool, storytelling can challenge the minds and touch the hearts of listeners while provoking audiences to think in new ways about history. A history- based storytelling program for adults has the potential to bring a diversity of voices to the museum experience and embrace controversial issues in our society. For these reasons, storytelling programs for adults deserve wider implementation by history museums and historical society museums. Monica de la Garza
Storing New Mexican Santos in Museums Santos figures or images of saints have been important figures in the history, art, and culture of Hispanics since the Middle Ages. With their inception into American culture through the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish during the sixteenth century and into what is present day New Mexico during the late seventeenth century, they have become popular images of veneration and objects acquired by museums. Santos serve as inspiration to contemporary American artists and provide models of early Spanish Colonial designs and techniques. Presently literature does not exist which provides guidelines for storing these religious images in museum collections, as a result these objects are at risk to various levels of structural deterioration and pest infestation. Santos, as studied in this paper, are comprised of bultos (polychrome sculpture), retablos (panel paintings), and ex-votos (tin art). These religious images used in both the early American Catholic Church, private chapel, and home altar serve as a reminder to the heritage of the United States' early Hispanic past. The storage conditions of santos are examined through surveys of forty United States museums, and through site visits to museums in both the Bay Area and New Mexico. Materials used to store, care, and preserve these sacred images are assessed through site visits and interviews with museum collections managers and registrars. Recommendations for the care and preservation of santos in museums are made. Katherine Hales
Developing Audio Description Tours for Blind and Visually Impaired Audiences in American Art Museums In recent years, many art museums have made stronger efforts to attract new audiences to their exhibits and programs, adapting their programs to accommodate these visitors with information in multiple languages and formats. One group targeted by museums, in part because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, are people who are blind and visually impaired. Because most do not read Braille, people in this diverse community often prefer to receive information aurally through audio tours which can be specially designed for visitors without sight. Known as 'audio description' because of their recorded, greatly detailed format, these tours provide many options in both content and technology that can effectively interpret art for this audience when designed properly. To date, only two American art museums have incorporated audio description tours into their programs: the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In this master's project, these programs are analyzed to determine optimal ways to create audio description tours for art museums, from advisory groups to script writing. Audio description guidelines from leading experts and evaluation results are examined along with specific description techniques. A handbook offers guidance and valuable information for museum professionals who seek to implement audio description tours into their programs. Alexis Harper
Effects of the Air Abrasive Tool on Vertebrate Fossils (This project was a collaborative effort between Alexis Harper and museum scientists James D. Gardner and Jim McCabe of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada.) Despite widespread use of the air abrasive tool in fossil preparation, the potential for damaging specimens during the preparation process has not previously been investigated. The air abrasive tool uses compressed air and ground minerals, which forces this mixture through a thin flexible hose that is capped by a nozzle. In my master's project I examined whether air abrasion damaged fossil bone under normal working conditions and evaluated how some of the key factors of the air abrasion technique might contribute to specimen damage. The major observations of the project demonstrated that even skilled preparators can unknowingly damage specimens with the air abrasive tool, and that the severity of damage caused to fossil specimens can be decreased by 1) choosing the appropriate abrasive grit for each specimen, 2) increasing the working distance between the nozzle and the specimen, 3) decreasing the angle of approach, 4) decreasing the air pressure used, as well as 5) recognizing that the stability of each specimen is directly related to the amount of damage that the air abrasive tool can cause. My master's project showed that while the air abrasive tool is useful for preparing fossil specimens, great care must be taken when using this approach. Carin Jacobs
Art Museums and College Learning across the Disciplines This project explored the potential of public art museums in the San Francisco Bay Area to act as more effective teaching resources for university faculty teaching undergraduate students in the liberal arts. Despite the direct relevance that art museum objects have to courses across the liberal arts college curriculum, educational outreach is heavily weighted in favor of K-12 students. The Bay Area was selected for its copious examples of both public art museums and teaching-oriented universities. Curriculum is central to this study as curriculum bridges museums and universities'both institutions of higher learning'and connects them through common educational missions. This project focuses specifically on how to integrate objects into a text-based curriculum, combining both formal and informal learning strategies. It culminates in a workshop'Using Art Museums to Support Interdisciplinary Curriculum in Undergraduate Learning'which offers a forum for communication between college faculty and museum educators, fostering creative group work in curriculum design strategies for object-based learning. Therese M. James
Abstract for Online Auction Purchasing for History Museum Collections Online auctions are relatively new resources for collecting objects, and museums are increasingly taking advantage of them to build their permanent collections. Despite concerns over inaccurate descriptions and conditions or counterfeit objects, museum professionals are using online auctions because they provide easy access to hard-to-find objects from practically anywhere in the world. Although there is obvious interest in and use of online auctions by museums, relatively little has been written about this topic. This master's project provides timely information by informing museum professionals about the issues surrounding U.S. history museums' use of online auctions for purchasing objects for their collections. Research for this project consists of a nationwide survey of 187 history museums, historical societies and sites, a literature review, a review of online auction websites, and interviews of ten museum professionals who have used online auctions to purchase objects for their permanent collections. An examination of the pitfalls and benefits of online auction use by museum professionals and successful strategies for using online auctions to purchase objects are discussed as well. The website developed for this project, www.auctionmuse.com, provides museum professionals with further resources to use when evaluating the decision to purchase objects through online auctions. Ann Kappes
Expanding the Boundaries of Ethnographic Art Displays within Encyclopedic Art Museums Ethnographic objects have been collected and displayed by art museums in the United States for over seventy-five years. However, the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas shown in encyclopedic art museums have typically been confined within white walls or neutral-colored spaces, with only a singular aesthetic set of lenses to view them through. Despite this supposedly elevated treatment, they continue to be seen as 'primitive.' A few visionary artists, curators, and educators have recently displayed and interpreted non-Western art in exciting and thoughtful ways to better serve an increasingly diverse public. The purpose of this master's project was to find means to further expand those innovative efforts specifically within encyclopedic art museums whose collections contain art from around the globe. To accomplish this I researched how and why ethnographic objects were acquired by art museums in the United States, including how these artworks are typically displayed. Five institutional analyses and a literature search were conducted to discover how the interpretive practices being used to display non-Western art can be applied to the growing number of new and expanded ethnographic art galleries. The product in which this project culminated is a multimedia kiosk model that provides multiple interpretations for ethnographic art installed in encyclopedic art museums. Cheryl Kessler
Serving and Learning: Museums as Sites for Community College-based Service-Learning Projects Museums and community colleges are educational institutions devoted to providing experiential learning opportunities that inform and involve citizens in civic affairs. Volunteer work is the most common type of adult programming in museums. Community colleges offer students academic credit for performing volunteer work through a variety of programs, including service-learning. A basic tenet of service-learning holds that through active community service, students will develop a lifelong interest in community affairs, a commitment to civic responsibility, and a greater sense of belonging in their neighborhood. The purpose of this project was to discover if museums are used as sites for community college service-learning projects, to learn about the projects performed at these museums, and to understand how service-learning might benefit museums. My study is a general survey of practice meant to create a greater awareness and understanding in museums of service-learning and community colleges. Armed with a clear understanding of service-learning, museums can benefit beyond the service performed by community college service-learners and step-up institutional commitments from an informal sharing of resources to more formally defined relationships based on shared vision and community relevance. Rebecca King
Covering Your Bases: Care for Quilts in Traveling Exhibitions A quilt exhibition gives the American public a chance to view and appreciate quilts as part of American culture and heritage, as craft and art. Quilts that travel in exhibitions allow more generations to view these examples of textiles as an art form. Yet, as quilts are being traveled in exhibitions, they are in danger of being damaged if not cared for properly. My master' project investigated museum collections standards for quilts, especially those in traveling quilt exhibitions. To do this I looked into collections management and traveling exhibition practices in various museums in the Western Untied States that had textile collections, or had hosted a traveling quilt exhibition in the past five years. I assessed display methods, unpacking and mounting of a traveling quilt exhibition, and museum practices for textiles in traveling exhibitions. Furthermore, I focused on storage conditions of quilts in-house (as this directly affects a quilt's ability to travel), and how those methods differ when a quilt is traveling. My research findings also include the results of interviews with museum professionals regarding museum collections management of quilts. With this information, I have determined what special care quilts require when traveling and make recommendations for planning and hosting a traveling quilt exhibition. Trish Kirchhoff
You've Got Mail! Using Personal Correspondence in Literary Museums for Education "What an extension of self is this pen. Once it is in my hand like a wand, I stop being the confused, turgid, ugly and gross person," wrote the author John Steinbeck. " I am no longer the me I know." Steinbeck understood the power of the written word, not only in his published novels, but also in his personal correspondence'that is letters sent through the postal system. Personal correspondence in literary museums, historic houses or museums dedicated to authors, is an important primary artifact for learning about an author and his or her era and influences. The focus of my research was to discover if and how educators in literary museums use personal correspondence in programming and exhibition. I collected data by examining the National Steinbeck Center, a literary museum dedicated to Steinbeck in Salinas, California, as a case study, surveying literary museums and interviewing staff at two other literary museums. As a result, my product was the creation of an exhibit and programming at the National Steinbeck Center that featured Steinbeck's correspondence. Elijah Mermin
Putting It On: Negotiating Decisions in the Development of Three Evolution Exhibitions at Natural History Museums This master's project reviews and analyses the development of three natural history museum exhibitions about the history and evolution of life on Earth: Prehistoric Journey at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Life Over Time at the Field Museum of Natural History, and Life Through Time at the California Academy of Sciences. This study focuses on team processes of the three exhibit teams that developed these exhibitions. It concentrates particularly on the major decisions made by each exhibit team's leaders so as to show how the appearance of an exhibition depends, in part, upon the type of team leadership that is assembled to develop it. Based on my findings from three museum site visits and interviews with the staff who developed these exhibitions, this master's project illustrates how different institutional motivations for developing these exhibitions and the different types of exhibit team leadership that resulted from these institutional priorities led to unique types of exhibitions. The study also documents the ways that unforeseen events and the personal agendas of each team's leaders affected the results of the team processes. The recommendations of this study are addressed to exhibit planners developing large-scale exhibitions, particularly at natural history museums. Salwa Mikdadi Nashashibi
Visitor-written Labels in U.S Art Museums Traditionally, art museums in the United States have relied on curators to provide the institutional 'voice' for interpreting and labeling of the artwork on display. Such labels written by experts tend to be addressed to other experts, they do not communicate in a language the general public can understand. In recent years, however, the monolithic nature of this curatorial voice has been challenged as museums seek to make their collections more accessible to the novice visitor and more attractive to their communities. One way they have done so is to invite visitors to write and post their own labels. This paper examines the contribution of the visitor-written label to the museum experience in the light of current museum learning theories and practice. Looking at six art museums' experiences with exhibitions featuring labels written by visitors, it presents results from questionnaires and interviews with professionals at these museums, strategies for organizing exhibitions that ensure visitors' participation in interpretation and evaluation of the practice. A tracking study at San Jose Museum of Art analyzed the interaction of the visitor-participants with the visitor-written label exhibition. Compared with two curator-written label exhibitions, shows with visitor-written labels improved visitor interaction with art, increase in time spent with art, label reading, and group discussion. Recommendations include integrating visitors' voices in other museum programs, strategies for implementation, use of guiding questions and cues, and utilizing of visitors' comments both as an evaluation tool and for planning future exhibitions. Dana Neitzel
Interpretive Strategies to Enhance the Visitor Experience of Visible Storage Since the publication of Excellence and Equity in 1992, there has been a strong emphasis in the museum field on interpretation and meaning-making, or the ability for visitors to construct their own meanings for displayed objects. Concurrent with this emphasis, visible storage has spread throughout the United States. Visible storage may be defined as a type of long-term museum display storage where general audiences are given visual access to a large grouping of related objects or specimens from the permanent collection. A significant goal of this master's project was to determine if the trend toward meaning-making has had an effect on visible storage facilities in U.S. museums. It does this by identifying interpretive strategies found in visible storage that provide general audiences the means to make connections with, or meaning of, individual objects on display. Through five case studies of U.S. museums with visible storage, interpretive strategies currently in use are identified'such as labels that provide context, or adjacent programming that lends further insight into displayed objects. This study looks at how these interpretive strategies are used in the case study institutions, and makes recommendations for further study and evaluation of these and other interpretive strategies that can be used to enhance the visitor experience of visible storage.
Tracking Museum Collections with Bar Codes The field of collections management has grown increasingly complex as collections grow and ethical and legal demands around tracking collections continue to raise the bar on registrars' and collections managers' accountability to keep accurate records. Customizing technology for collection practices, such as a collection database, augments collection records and provides a remedy to accessing, updating, and organizing records for the museum's collection. Bar code technology has the potential to simplify the workload of registrars and collection managers by replacing handwritten lists manually entered into databases with the ease of scanning bar code labels and uploading the information from a scanner that automatically updates object locations. In this master's project, I researched the small amount of published information available to the collections management field and interviewed collections staff with experience in tracking museum collections with bar codes. Based on the information I created Scan It! Barcoding Museum Collections Information, a CD-ROM, which includes an introduction to bar codes, professional resources and questions to consider when researching bar code technology. Scan It! assembles key information making it more accessible with the goal of stimulating interest for further research in the field. Elizabeth Coman
Fostering Adult Literacy in Art Museums One third of the English-speaking adult population in the United States operates at level-one literacy'that equals a second grade reading capacity. This master's project addresses the critical problem of low adult literacy against the backdrop of current trends in the museum field towards interdisciplinary education and museum-library collaboration. It encourages art museums, as rich visual resources, to actively serve adult learners enrolled in library literacy programs. As part of this master's project I conducted a case study with adult learners at Project Read at the San Francisco Public Library in collaboration with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which explored how adult learners with literacy difficulties viewed art museums and working with art as a potential learning device. I focused on art education methodology, including object-based learning, discipline-based art education and visual thinking strategies to allow these adult learners to practice visual communication skills that facilitate language development and critical thinking through the practice of identifying, observing, describing, questioning, and classifying works of art. By joining my findings from this case study with current teaching practices in both art museum and adult literacy fields, I found that open communication between both communities could foster innovative ideas for enhancement of reading literacy in the future. Jennifer Daly
Teens Engaging History and Community through Media Production in Museums This master's project explores the benefits and challenges of using electronic media production (audio, video and web sites) to engage teens in community history research in urban communities in the U.S., to help teens develop concrete technology and research skills and to provide an opportunity for teens to connect more deeply with their local communities on a personal level. Research methods included a literature review, survey of history museum educators in urban U.S. communities and case studies of three programs'two at the Chicago Historical Society and one at the Oakland Museum of California. The project describes how media production with teens in history museums intersects recent trends in the fields of museum education, youth work (or 'youth development'), history learning and media literacy. Current trends in history museum programming for teens in urban communities are also discussed, especially in terms of media production. Survey and case study findings form the basis for recommendations on improving history museum programs for urban teens and on implementing effective media production programs in history museums. Nina Kollmar Fairles
Native American Traditional Care Practices and the Changing Collections Management Profession In seeking to support Native American cultures and communities, collections management professionals have cultivated a wealth of ideas, responses and plans on how to facilitate Native American traditional care within museum collection spaces. Traditional care is broadly defined as non-Western practices of conserving, storing and caring for objects and often reflect the sacred or spiritual significance of an object. My master's project explores the diversity of methods collections management professionals use when facilitating some of the more challenging Native American traditional care requests (such as smudging, feeding and gender restrictions) and assesses how the integration of these practices is changing the collections management profession. My conclusions, based on literature and professional conference reviews, policy analysis as well as interviews with Native American and non-Native American collections professionals working in U.S anthropology and natural history museums, indicate changes within the larger collections management profession. In particular, collections management professionals are increasingly consulting Native American communities, modifying traditional care methods, adopting written procedures and policies, and are also planning for the future. By presenting my research at the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums in October 2002, my project seeks to assist collections management professionals in integrating Native American traditional care practices within museum collections spaces in meaningful ways. Joan Flores
Listening to the Collective Voice: Storytelling for Adults in History Museums History museums and historical society museums value the role of docents and living history interpreters who provide adult visitors with a window to the past. However, if interpretation does not include a variety of perspectives, the connections museum visitors make to the past can be limited. Professional storytellers can draw out the collective voice'the stories of lesser known individuals and underrepresented groups'bringing history to life from multiple vantage points and creating a unique interpretive experience for adults. A survey of thirty-three California history museums and historical society museums revealed that few of these museums are utilizing storytelling programs as history interpretation; none have hosted storytelling programs specifically for adults. This project focuses on how professional storytellers are bringing the collective voice to listeners, and how these programs can benefit adult visitors to history museums. This project introduces the museum field to the storytelling profession and to storytellers who create history stories based on personal accounts and academic scholarship. Adults have enjoyed history-based storytelling programs in venues outside of museums. Library and college storytelling programs for adults serve to illustrate how history-based storytelling can be applied to the museum setting. As an interpretive tool, storytelling can challenge the minds and touch the hearts of listeners while provoking audiences to think in new ways about history. A history- based storytelling program for adults has the potential to bring a diversity of voices to the museum experience and embrace controversial issues in our society. For these reasons, storytelling programs for adults deserve wider implementation by history museums and historical society museums. Monica de la Garza
Storing New Mexican Santos in Museums Santos figures or images of saints have been important figures in the history, art, and culture of Hispanics since the Middle Ages. With their inception into American culture through the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish during the sixteenth century and into what is present day New Mexico during the late seventeenth century, they have become popular images of veneration and objects acquired by museums. Santos serve as inspiration to contemporary American artists and provide models of early Spanish Colonial designs and techniques. Presently literature does not exist which provides guidelines for storing these religious images in museum collections, as a result these objects are at risk to various levels of structural deterioration and pest infestation. Santos, as studied in this paper, are comprised of bultos (polychrome sculpture), retablos (panel paintings), and ex-votos (tin art). These religious images used in both the early American Catholic Church, private chapel, and home altar serve as a reminder to the heritage of the United States' early Hispanic past. The storage conditions of santos are examined through surveys of forty United States museums, and through site visits to museums in both the Bay Area and New Mexico. Materials used to store, care, and preserve these sacred images are assessed through site visits and interviews with museum collections managers and registrars. Recommendations for the care and preservation of santos in museums are made. Katherine Hales
Developing Audio Description Tours for Blind and Visually Impaired Audiences in American Art Museums In recent years, many art museums have made stronger efforts to attract new audiences to their exhibits and programs, adapting their programs to accommodate these visitors with information in multiple languages and formats. One group targeted by museums, in part because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, are people who are blind and visually impaired. Because most do not read Braille, people in this diverse community often prefer to receive information aurally through audio tours which can be specially designed for visitors without sight. Known as 'audio description' because of their recorded, greatly detailed format, these tours provide many options in both content and technology that can effectively interpret art for this audience when designed properly. To date, only two American art museums have incorporated audio description tours into their programs: the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In this master's project, these programs are analyzed to determine optimal ways to create audio description tours for art museums, from advisory groups to script writing. Audio description guidelines from leading experts and evaluation results are examined along with specific description techniques. A handbook offers guidance and valuable information for museum professionals who seek to implement audio description tours into their programs. Alexis Harper
Effects of the Air Abrasive Tool on Vertebrate Fossils (This project was a collaborative effort between Alexis Harper and museum scientists James D. Gardner and Jim McCabe of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada.) Despite widespread use of the air abrasive tool in fossil preparation, the potential for damaging specimens during the preparation process has not previously been investigated. The air abrasive tool uses compressed air and ground minerals, which forces this mixture through a thin flexible hose that is capped by a nozzle. In my master's project I examined whether air abrasion damaged fossil bone under normal working conditions and evaluated how some of the key factors of the air abrasion technique might contribute to specimen damage. The major observations of the project demonstrated that even skilled preparators can unknowingly damage specimens with the air abrasive tool, and that the severity of damage caused to fossil specimens can be decreased by 1) choosing the appropriate abrasive grit for each specimen, 2) increasing the working distance between the nozzle and the specimen, 3) decreasing the angle of approach, 4) decreasing the air pressure used, as well as 5) recognizing that the stability of each specimen is directly related to the amount of damage that the air abrasive tool can cause. My master's project showed that while the air abrasive tool is useful for preparing fossil specimens, great care must be taken when using this approach. Carin Jacobs
Art Museums and College Learning across the Disciplines This project explored the potential of public art museums in the San Francisco Bay Area to act as more effective teaching resources for university faculty teaching undergraduate students in the liberal arts. Despite the direct relevance that art museum objects have to courses across the liberal arts college curriculum, educational outreach is heavily weighted in favor of K-12 students. The Bay Area was selected for its copious examples of both public art museums and teaching-oriented universities. Curriculum is central to this study as curriculum bridges museums and universities'both institutions of higher learning'and connects them through common educational missions. This project focuses specifically on how to integrate objects into a text-based curriculum, combining both formal and informal learning strategies. It culminates in a workshop'Using Art Museums to Support Interdisciplinary Curriculum in Undergraduate Learning'which offers a forum for communication between college faculty and museum educators, fostering creative group work in curriculum design strategies for object-based learning. Therese M. James
Abstract for Online Auction Purchasing for History Museum Collections Online auctions are relatively new resources for collecting objects, and museums are increasingly taking advantage of them to build their permanent collections. Despite concerns over inaccurate descriptions and conditions or counterfeit objects, museum professionals are using online auctions because they provide easy access to hard-to-find objects from practically anywhere in the world. Although there is obvious interest in and use of online auctions by museums, relatively little has been written about this topic. This master's project provides timely information by informing museum professionals about the issues surrounding U.S. history museums' use of online auctions for purchasing objects for their collections. Research for this project consists of a nationwide survey of 187 history museums, historical societies and sites, a literature review, a review of online auction websites, and interviews of ten museum professionals who have used online auctions to purchase objects for their permanent collections. An examination of the pitfalls and benefits of online auction use by museum professionals and successful strategies for using online auctions to purchase objects are discussed as well. The website developed for this project, www.auctionmuse.com, provides museum professionals with further resources to use when evaluating the decision to purchase objects through online auctions. Ann Kappes
Expanding the Boundaries of Ethnographic Art Displays within Encyclopedic Art Museums Ethnographic objects have been collected and displayed by art museums in the United States for over seventy-five years. However, the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas shown in encyclopedic art museums have typically been confined within white walls or neutral-colored spaces, with only a singular aesthetic set of lenses to view them through. Despite this supposedly elevated treatment, they continue to be seen as 'primitive.' A few visionary artists, curators, and educators have recently displayed and interpreted non-Western art in exciting and thoughtful ways to better serve an increasingly diverse public. The purpose of this master's project was to find means to further expand those innovative efforts specifically within encyclopedic art museums whose collections contain art from around the globe. To accomplish this I researched how and why ethnographic objects were acquired by art museums in the United States, including how these artworks are typically displayed. Five institutional analyses and a literature search were conducted to discover how the interpretive practices being used to display non-Western art can be applied to the growing number of new and expanded ethnographic art galleries. The product in which this project culminated is a multimedia kiosk model that provides multiple interpretations for ethnographic art installed in encyclopedic art museums. Cheryl Kessler
Serving and Learning: Museums as Sites for Community College-based Service-Learning Projects Museums and community colleges are educational institutions devoted to providing experiential learning opportunities that inform and involve citizens in civic affairs. Volunteer work is the most common type of adult programming in museums. Community colleges offer students academic credit for performing volunteer work through a variety of programs, including service-learning. A basic tenet of service-learning holds that through active community service, students will develop a lifelong interest in community affairs, a commitment to civic responsibility, and a greater sense of belonging in their neighborhood. The purpose of this project was to discover if museums are used as sites for community college service-learning projects, to learn about the projects performed at these museums, and to understand how service-learning might benefit museums. My study is a general survey of practice meant to create a greater awareness and understanding in museums of service-learning and community colleges. Armed with a clear understanding of service-learning, museums can benefit beyond the service performed by community college service-learners and step-up institutional commitments from an informal sharing of resources to more formally defined relationships based on shared vision and community relevance. Rebecca King
Covering Your Bases: Care for Quilts in Traveling Exhibitions A quilt exhibition gives the American public a chance to view and appreciate quilts as part of American culture and heritage, as craft and art. Quilts that travel in exhibitions allow more generations to view these examples of textiles as an art form. Yet, as quilts are being traveled in exhibitions, they are in danger of being damaged if not cared for properly. My master' project investigated museum collections standards for quilts, especially those in traveling quilt exhibitions. To do this I looked into collections management and traveling exhibition practices in various museums in the Western Untied States that had textile collections, or had hosted a traveling quilt exhibition in the past five years. I assessed display methods, unpacking and mounting of a traveling quilt exhibition, and museum practices for textiles in traveling exhibitions. Furthermore, I focused on storage conditions of quilts in-house (as this directly affects a quilt's ability to travel), and how those methods differ when a quilt is traveling. My research findings also include the results of interviews with museum professionals regarding museum collections management of quilts. With this information, I have determined what special care quilts require when traveling and make recommendations for planning and hosting a traveling quilt exhibition. Trish Kirchhoff
You've Got Mail! Using Personal Correspondence in Literary Museums for Education "What an extension of self is this pen. Once it is in my hand like a wand, I stop being the confused, turgid, ugly and gross person," wrote the author John Steinbeck. " I am no longer the me I know." Steinbeck understood the power of the written word, not only in his published novels, but also in his personal correspondence'that is letters sent through the postal system. Personal correspondence in literary museums, historic houses or museums dedicated to authors, is an important primary artifact for learning about an author and his or her era and influences. The focus of my research was to discover if and how educators in literary museums use personal correspondence in programming and exhibition. I collected data by examining the National Steinbeck Center, a literary museum dedicated to Steinbeck in Salinas, California, as a case study, surveying literary museums and interviewing staff at two other literary museums. As a result, my product was the creation of an exhibit and programming at the National Steinbeck Center that featured Steinbeck's correspondence. Elijah Mermin
Putting It On: Negotiating Decisions in the Development of Three Evolution Exhibitions at Natural History Museums This master's project reviews and analyses the development of three natural history museum exhibitions about the history and evolution of life on Earth: Prehistoric Journey at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Life Over Time at the Field Museum of Natural History, and Life Through Time at the California Academy of Sciences. This study focuses on team processes of the three exhibit teams that developed these exhibitions. It concentrates particularly on the major decisions made by each exhibit team's leaders so as to show how the appearance of an exhibition depends, in part, upon the type of team leadership that is assembled to develop it. Based on my findings from three museum site visits and interviews with the staff who developed these exhibitions, this master's project illustrates how different institutional motivations for developing these exhibitions and the different types of exhibit team leadership that resulted from these institutional priorities led to unique types of exhibitions. The study also documents the ways that unforeseen events and the personal agendas of each team's leaders affected the results of the team processes. The recommendations of this study are addressed to exhibit planners developing large-scale exhibitions, particularly at natural history museums. Salwa Mikdadi Nashashibi
Visitor-written Labels in U.S Art Museums Traditionally, art museums in the United States have relied on curators to provide the institutional 'voice' for interpreting and labeling of the artwork on display. Such labels written by experts tend to be addressed to other experts, they do not communicate in a language the general public can understand. In recent years, however, the monolithic nature of this curatorial voice has been challenged as museums seek to make their collections more accessible to the novice visitor and more attractive to their communities. One way they have done so is to invite visitors to write and post their own labels. This paper examines the contribution of the visitor-written label to the museum experience in the light of current museum learning theories and practice. Looking at six art museums' experiences with exhibitions featuring labels written by visitors, it presents results from questionnaires and interviews with professionals at these museums, strategies for organizing exhibitions that ensure visitors' participation in interpretation and evaluation of the practice. A tracking study at San Jose Museum of Art analyzed the interaction of the visitor-participants with the visitor-written label exhibition. Compared with two curator-written label exhibitions, shows with visitor-written labels improved visitor interaction with art, increase in time spent with art, label reading, and group discussion. Recommendations include integrating visitors' voices in other museum programs, strategies for implementation, use of guiding questions and cues, and utilizing of visitors' comments both as an evaluation tool and for planning future exhibitions. Dana Neitzel
Interpretive Strategies to Enhance the Visitor Experience of Visible Storage Since the publication of Excellence and Equity in 1992, there has been a strong emphasis in the museum field on interpretation and meaning-making, or the ability for visitors to construct their own meanings for displayed objects. Concurrent with this emphasis, visible storage has spread throughout the United States. Visible storage may be defined as a type of long-term museum display storage where general audiences are given visual access to a large grouping of related objects or specimens from the permanent collection. A significant goal of this master's project was to determine if the trend toward meaning-making has had an effect on visible storage facilities in U.S. museums. It does this by identifying interpretive strategies found in visible storage that provide general audiences the means to make connections with, or meaning of, individual objects on display. Through five case studies of U.S. museums with visible storage, interpretive strategies currently in use are identified'such as labels that provide context, or adjacent programming that lends further insight into displayed objects. This study looks at how these interpretive strategies are used in the case study institutions, and makes recommendations for further study and evaluation of these and other interpretive strategies that can be used to enhance the visitor experience of visible storage.