Jill Frechie produced this 2:00 video explaining Art Splash, a summer program for families at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Emily Schreiner, associate curator of education, explains some of the 300 programs offered during the ten week period, which features a different object each week. Three hundred programs in ten weeks? I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
Category Archives: Museum
Video: Bens, the Legendary Deli
Cedric Conti produced this 2:00 video about “Bens, the Legendary Deli,” an exhibit currently on view at the McCord Museum in Montreal, Canada. Includes French subtitles! Bens Delicatessen, founded in 1908 by Benjamin Kravitz (1883-1956), closed in 2006 after nearly a century in business. The exhibition brings together some 100 objects, including posters, architectural plans, photos, counter stools, dishes, utensils, menus, recipes and testimonials that recount the history of this landmark, the very first of Montreal’s famous smoked meat restaurants.
Video: Museum of Water at Somerset House
This is a 2:38 amateur video documenting the “Museum of Water,” an unusual “live artwork” by Amy Sharrocks at the historic Somerset House, a new arts and culture center in London.
A melted snowman. Droplets from a baby’s bath. Sacred draughts from an Indian river. Just some of the items donated to London’s newest museum. In the atmospheric underground spaces of Somerset House, Amy Sharrocks invites you to consider our relationship with the most precious liquid the world has to offer.
IMLS’ Count of Museums in the US May Be Exaggerated
L
ooking for museums in your county or state? Want to know how you compare to other museums across the nation? You’ll find them in the Museum Universe Data File recently produced by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). It’s a free database of museums in the US that includes names, addresses, contact information, total revenue and expenses, and GIS data.
IMLS held a webinar today to explain the datafile and answer questions. They constructed the list from several sources, including the Internal Revenue Service and Foundation Center, which were then reconciled to remove duplicates. Data will be updated every six months based on continuing research and community feedback. IMLS will be using the datafile to conduct sampling surveys for future research projects, such as collections care, to inform their programs and share results with the field and Congress, however, you are encouraged to use it as well.
The big news is that of the 35,144 total museums in the US, most are related to Continue reading
Video: The Leopold Museum
A hip video by Philipp Kaindl promoting the Leopold Museum in Vienna, which houses the world’s largest collection of paintings by Egon Schiele. The video is not just about the collections but also the activities and people in and around the museum and told without any words. Can any of these ideas be applied to historic sites or history museums?
Exploring History and Historic Sites in Monterey in March 2014
Historic downtown Monterey with the Cooper-Molera Adobe in the background.
The National Council on Public History will hold its annual conference in Monterey, California from March 19-22, 2014. It will be the first time I’ve attended a NCPH conference and I’m thrilled–the schedule is packed with a variety of sessions that will appeal to those who are working on the cutting edge of historic sites and house museums, including:
- Educational sessions on co-created exhibits, tribal partnerships, preserving LGBT sites, interpreting slavery, the history of museums, stewardship of archaeological sites, cultural landscapes, and the sustainability of museums.
- “THATCamp NCPH” is an afternoon learning laboratory on digital projects that Continue reading
Historic House Museum Sustainability at MAAM
It’s unclear if most historic house museums will be able to move beyond traditional approaches based upon the discussion at yesterday’s, “There is Power In a Union: Collaboration and Sustainability in Historic House Museums.” At the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums annual meeting, Frank Vagnone of the New York Historic House Trust moderated the session with a panel of five representatives of the National Trust’s Historic Artists’ Home and Studios program and about 35 people in attendance. Although Vagnone encouraged the group to focus on collaborations that earned significant income to sustain the museum, examples from the audience kept falling short. Anything that provided some revenue (such as school groups or small grants) or increased attendance (even if it was shortlived or unrelated) were held up as acceptable partnerships. The audience discussed the value of serving school groups, the need to use social media, the declining relevance of museums, and the challenge of obtaining grants from local banks, but no one was Continue reading
Responses to Government Shutdown Vary at Historic Sites and Museums
Washington, DC is one of the nation’s museum meccas with nearly 19 million annual visitors so with the partial shutdown of the federal government, tourists are frustrated and confused. Closed are the most popular destinations such as the Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, Lincoln Memorial, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, National Archives, and Capitol Visitor Center (tours of the White House ended in March 2013 due to sequestration). Although it is a federal city, many of its museums and historic sites are privately operated so places such as the Phillips Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, President Lincoln’s Cottage, Tudor Place, Woodrow Wilson House, and International Spy Museum, are open as usual. “National” may be in its name, it doesn’t mean it’s affected by the shutdown, so the National Building Museum, National Geographic Museum, National Museum of Women in the Arts, National Museum of Health and Medicine, and National Museum of American Jewish Military History are open (as is the National Aquarium in Baltimore). Adding to the confusion are parts of the federal government that remain open (hence its more precise definition as a “partial shutdown”), so historic sites such as the US Supreme Court and Arlington National Cemetery (but not Arlington House), continue to be open to tourists.
Washington DC is definitely a confusing places for tourists at the moment, but it’s also confusing at the Continue reading
History Organizations Gathering Awards
The American Alliance of Museums announced the winners of its 2013 Museum Publications Design Competition, which identifies the best in graphic design in fifteen different categories. This is a juried competition and we send our congratulations to all, but especially to (given the bias of this blog):
- Drake Well Museum for their journal, Oilfield
- Kentucky Historical Society for educational resources.
- US Holocaust Memorial Museum for their 2011-12 annual report
- Museum of Flight (Seattle) for their 2011 annual report
- Museum of the City of New York for the journal, City Courant
- National Archives for their Girl Scout Welcome Activity Badge Cards
- Peabody Essex Museum for their members magazine, Connections
- Peabody Essex Museum for invitations to the Cultural Conversation and Ansel Adams events
- Peabody Essex Museum for educational resources
- Shaker Museum (Mount Lebanon) for the 2012/13 annual journal
I love good design and I applaud all the winners. One thing about design contests, however, is that they’re only about design Continue reading
Video: Russian Museum of Architecture promo
And now for something completely different, a one-minute video promoting the Museum of Architecture in Russia. Created by Saatchi Russia, it’s a humorous spin on the “little old ladies” that guard museums and historic sites. If you understand Russian, could you tell us what’s going on?
Engaging Places 