 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LHC Newsletter #103: Winter 2006
Lower Hudson Conference will create and present a professional training program targeted to museum personnel from more than 165 historic house museums and historical societies. $110,111 in federal funding will support highly accessible, close-to-home workshops, lectures and hands-on learning opportunities at a variety of historic sites throughout the Hudson Valley and metropolitan New York. IMLS reports that 52 proposals were received, nation-wide, in 2006 requesting over $10 million from this grant program. Nine projects were selected through a peer review process to receive funding totaling $1,671,157 for projects representing a wide spectrum of activities that will help increase the capacity of museums to create and sustain a nation of learners by improving museum staff knowledge and skills in the range of museum operations. "The 21st Century Museum Professionals program promotes leadership at our nation's museums and ensures excellence in the services that benefit the American people. With today's grants, scores of staff serving hundreds of institutions, from zoos to art museums all across the country, will become expert in emergency planning and conservation, developing standards-based school resources, promoting economic tourism, and collaborating with their communities." - Dr. Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Director, Institute of Museum and Library Services The IMLS 21st Century Museum Professionals program supports a range of activities, including professional training in all areas of museum operations and leadership development. Museum professionals need high levels of knowledge and expertise to allow museums to play their essential role in the education of the American public: preserving our rich heritage and transmitting it from one generation to the next. In partnership with schools, community organizations, and other cultural institutions, the 21st Century Museum Professionals program helps museum professionals update their knowledge and skills. " LHC's project aims to identify, demonstrate and help integrate the diverse aspects of historic house museum work, engaging and training museum personnel from historic house museums and historical societies found in nearly every urban, suburban and rural community of the greater Hudson Valley and metropolitan region, and to evaluate the effectiveness of their stewardship and their public presentation," according to LHC Executive Director Tema Harnik. National and regional studies have demonstrated an urgent need for staff training in conservation and preservation techniques at historic house museums, many of which are staffed solely by volunteers. Both paid and volunteer staff will enhance their knowledge and skills in the management and care of historic house properties and surrounding landscapes, and the preservation and interpretation of furnishings and other objects. The LHC website, www.lowerhudsonconference.org, will be enhanced with new resources for historic house personnel. The behind-the-scenes work of agencies such as Lower Hudson Conference, is significant in strengthening the capacity of heritage sites and history museums to meet the expectations of their diverse public audiences. Lower Hudson Conference staff and board will publicly announce receipt of this prestigious grant award at their annual meeting, "Leading History Museums on the Right Track," to take place Friday, October 6th at the Harness Racing Museum in Goshen, NY. The Practicum Project in detail: The project will outline steps to follow and methods to learn in the professional quest to make historic house museums, their sites, stories and collections valid and valued in 21st century communities. A cadre of museum personnel and professional consultants* will present an annual symposium with case studies highlighting issues of the field; and workshops offering practical demonstration of assessment, planning and handling techniques as each year's program focuses on one of three critical areas of concern: -the context, or public presentation of the house museum -the content, or collections in the historic house environment -the container, or the historic building and its surrounding landscape and site 2006-07 Historic House Museums in Context workshops: 1. Furnishing the Historic House Museum with Stories: What's Your Message? 2. Furnishing Plans & Presentations: Putting the Message into Effect 2007-08 Evaluating and Handling Historic House Contents: The Collections workshops: 1. Objects of Domesticity: Handling, Storing and Exhibiting Domestic Textile Collections 2. Understanding Domestic Technology: How the 18th & 19th century House "works;" Controlling Light & Shade in the Historic Building Environment. 2008-09 Evaluating & Stewarding the Historic House Envelope, Landscape & Site workshops: 1. Site Matters: The Historic Building Envelope 2. Site Matters: The Historic Property: Sidewalk, Landscape, Trails & Gardens *The three-year grant from IMLS will support presentations and workshops led by the following distinguished project faculty (alphabetically): Katherine Barker (Conservator/ Field Services Director, The Textile Conservation Workshop); Frank Futral (Curator of Decorative Arts, NPS, Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site); Jacquetta Haley (Principal, Haley Research & Consulting); Kristin Herron (Director, Museum Program, New York State Council on the Arts); Paul Himmelstein (Conservator, Appelbaum & Himmelstein Conservators); Sandra Huber (Curator, Historic House Trust of New York City): Kathleen Eagen Johnson (Curator, Historic Hudson Valley); Anne Jordan (Chief of Museum Services, NPS, Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site); Elizabeth T. Martin (Landscape Designer, Stephen Tilly Architect); Debra Mecky (Executive Director, The Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich); Patsy Orlofsky (Director, The Textile Conservation Workshop); Mimi Sherman (Independent Collections Management Consultant and Lecturer); Stephen Tilly (Architect, Principal, Stephen Tilly Architect); Lorraine Weiss, (Technical and Grant Program Manager, Preservation League of New York State); and Stefan Yarabek (Landscape Architect, Hudson & Pacific Designs). The Project's evaluation component will be developed by consultant Leni Preston (Preston & Associates) in concert with project director Tema Harnik. A program announcement and registration brochure will be available at the end of the fall. For information about this federally funded project, or other Lower Hudson Conference programs and services, please contact LHC at 914-592-6726, e-mail lowerhudson@msn.com, or click here for more information.
CALENDAR OF CONFERENCES, GRANT DEADLINES, WORKSHOPS, OPPORTUNITIES
Lower Hudson Classified: Winter 2006-07 Communications Specialist (part-time), Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz, NY (Ulster Co.) Curator
, Orangetown Historical Museum & Archives, Orangeburg, NY
(Rockland County) or e-mail: julietrumpler@hotmail.com Curator of Collections, Historical Society of Rockland County, New City, NY (Rockland Co.). Executive Director, (part-time) Connecticut League of History Organizations
(CLHO). Qualifications: strong leadership & public speaking skills; experience in non-profit administration, strategic thinking, financial management, grant writing. Bachelor's Degree in an appropriate field or commensurate experience is required; Master's Degree and experience in a history organization preferred. Compensation: $1,600- $2,000 per month, depending on experience. Flexible schedule to work at the CLHO Hamden, CT office, at home office, and in the field. Regional travel is required and rimbursablwww.clho.org for additional information and application form, or call 203-624-9186. Part-Time Program Coordinator, Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn, NY (Kings County) Lauren@weeksvillesociety.org; fax: 718-756-5277. No telephone calls, please. www.weeksvilesociety.org. Archive Internship, 10 wks, June-Aug 2007. National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown. National Baseball Hall of Fame offers grad students enrolled in an Archival, Library &Information Science, American History, Public History or American Studies Program, to apply for a 10-wk paid summer internship in the manuscript archive. The archive houses manuscripts, architectural drawings and an extensive ephemera collection. Interns may gain experience in arrangement & description, basic preservation, cataloguing, accession procedures, records and database management. Interns may assist with a survey to identify and make available the manuscript holdings at a basic level. Students may be asked to assist with archival reference requests. For a full description and to apply online, visit the Hall of Fame's website: baseballhalloffame.org. You may also submit a cover letter and resume to Melissa Marietta, National Baseball Hall of Fame, 25 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326. The deadline is January 31, 2007.
"We share much in common: an appreciation of the local; the nurturing of the past; the critical role of memory in our cultural life, and the need to educate various publics about what is around- to help them see with new eyes." – Dr. Roger Panetta. Remarks on receiving the Lower Hudson Conference Cultural Heritage Award, at the LHC Annual Meeting, October 6, 2006. Citing National Century Marks of 2006; While we have been widely celebrating the Year of the Museum through the American Association of Museums' 100th anniversary, winter 2006-07 also marks the 100th anniversary of the Antiquities Act, which authorized the U.S. President to protect "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures and other objects of historic or scientific interest" on federally owned land, designating them national monuments. The greater Hudson Valley now embarks on plans for a major historical bicentennial in 2007: the 200th anniversary of the 1807 maiden voyage of Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston's North River steamboat (The Clermont), and the Quadricentennial (1609-2009) Hudson-Fulton-Champlain commemoration, "Explore NY 400," which will culminate in spectacular activities along the river in fall, 2009. We can all participate through documentation, landmarking and creative, collaborative programming that links remarkable regional history to the citizens and sites of the 21st century. Regional planning committees are convening for the quadricentennial; contact Quadricentennial Commission Executive Director Barbara C. Fratiani, Empire State Plaza, Agency Building 1, Albany, NY 12238, to make sure your community and your county are represented. In Columbia County, Friends of Clermont (Germantown) take the lead, co-sponsoring with Bard College and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYSOPRHP) for a Livingston-Fulton Steamboat Bicentennial Symposium planned for Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, Dutchess County), June 1-2, 2007. The conference will address the development of steam navigation and its impact on American life. Contact Bruce Naramore or Travis Bowman at Clermont, State Historic Site: 518-537-4240; bruce.naramore@oprhp.state.ny.us for conference information. COMMUNICATIONS In a comprehensive survey last spring, LHC constituents confirmed that you want to continue to receive news of the field in multiple formats. LHC's members and professional audiences have had electronic access to our quarterly newsletter on www.lowerhudsonconference.org since 2001. Our print newsletter is has been mailed quarterly to hundreds of members and constituents since 1980, usually in an 8-12 page format, at considerable cost for printing and postage. This issue is Number 103. Beginning in 2007, Lower Hudson Conference will reduce our print newsletter to special mailings in September and March, expand our website news, and e-mail the quarterly electronic newsletter directly to individuals and organizations who have confirmed their e-mail contact addresses with us. Please be sure you have updated your e-contact information by e-mailing lowerhudson@msn.com. Thank you. Our plans will keep you in the museum and history network, and keep you connected -- in print and online! FOLKS IN THE FIELD: Have you taken a new position or has your organization hired new personnel? Please be sure to let us know and we will post your news to the greater Hudson Valley & metro region, in print and on-line. Erica Blumenfeld, Regional Archivist for the Hudson Valley Documentary Heritage Program at LHC, and formerly Director of Museum Services for the Dutchess County Historical Society, has accepted the position of Registrar at the Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, beginning 2007. Lana Chassman is now Manager of Education and Volunteers at Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Greene County. Clarissa Cylich is Director of Bartow Pell Mansion Museum, The Bronx (Bronx County). Erin Czernecki has accepted the position of Asst. Registrar at Olana State Historic Site, Columbia County. Historic Huguenot Street (formerly the Huguenot Historical Society), New Paltz, announced appointments of Anne Matusiewicz as Historic Interpreter; Laura Hutle to Library Specialist; Susan Stessin-Cohen to Archives Specialist; Ashley Hurlbert to Curatorial Assistant, and Bonnie Mansfield to Business Manager. Anne Marie Schoonhoven has been appointed to the position of Development Officer. (Ulster County) Charles T. Lyle, past LHC Board President, has accepted the position of Executive Director, Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, Wethersfield, Connecticut. David Mandel has become Education Director at the Historic House Trust of New York City. Kathleen Roe now holds the position of Director of Operations for the NYS Archives, Albany. Virginia Schumacher has been appointed Director of Education and Public Programs at Morris-Jumel Mansion Museum, New York City. Virginia was formerly Manager of Visitor Services at the History Center of Tomkins County in Ithaca. LHC Salutes New Urban, Suburban and Rural Members Who Joined Lower Hudson Conference during FY 2006: Year of the Museum
|
Thanks to a three-year project grant from the 21st Century Museum Professionals Grant Program of the federal
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Lower Hudson Conference (LHC) will serve the region's museum & history community through a comprehensive Practicum for Museum Professionals in 21st Century
Historic House Museums.
