Natural History Specimens as Social Media Celebrities

I stumbled upon this interesting interview that I thought to share. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Natural History Specimens as Social Media Celebrities

Afterward, become friends with The Petroleum Museum's resident iguana, Liz Frizzle on Facebook!

Learn from Mistakes or Words of Caution

Eek! It's been almost a month since I last posted! My apologies in my failure to be a good blogger. I will try to be better from now on ...

Last week was a very hectic one. Between prepping and installing the new exhibit, The Movement Westward and getting ready for the Museum's Birthday Bash celebrating 35 years (not to mention the West Texas Cruisers Car Show that Saturday and some personal projects I needed to get done), life at the Museum was on full-steam.

AND then I made a HUGE mistake.

On Wednesday, the day before the party itself, the day I worked all-day on proofing, printing and laminating the exhibit labels, I goofed big. While trying to do too many things at once on my computer, namely back-up the files on the Musem's server onto my external hard drive, I accidently deleted several folders on the server. (The folders were highlighted when I tried to delete another folder also highlighted.) They were gone.

Luckily, I save those files on a monthly basis. I had those folders from the last back-up, a month prior. In the end, I only lost about about a month's worth of work, from correspondence to the cataloguing project. I'm not too worried about the correspondence because I save hard copies in object files. I'm more worried about the cataloguing work which was saved as an Excel spreadsheet. Because of the stress of the week, I couldn't let myself worry too much about it!

So now I have to take information from the database and the object files, and recreate the spreadsheets. At least I only am missing three years (1980 - 1982)! It could be worse, a lot worse; I could be missing two decades worth of work. In the words of Monty Python, "Look on the bright side of life!"

Puzzle Pieces

Several months ago, Fifi, the Museum's Gift Shop Manager, brought two prints down to my office. She said, "These were given to the Museum when Kathy and Cheryl [former Education Director] attended a conference in 2005."


Print #1: Derricks, After the Rain


Print #2: Evening Brea Canyon

"Gee, thanks. That helps a lot," I thought sarcastically. I set them aside to deal with later.

Fast forward several months and I reach a stopping point in my cataloguing project last week. So I turn my focus on the above-mentioned prints. Taking a close look at the prints, I realize they are signed by the artist JoAnn Cowans.

So I google her ... Sure enough, she has a website. And after a few clicks, I find the two prints on there. "Okay," I think. "This is the right artist." Then I click on her email address and write the following missive:

My name is Leslie Meyer and I am currently the Director of Archives & Collections at The Petroleum Museum. We have come across two prints of your paintings in our collections and have no idea who gave them to us. One is “Derricks, After the Rain” and the other is “Evening Brea Canyon”; both numbered #21 out of 400. They both have Certificates of Authenticity attached as well. I’ve attached photographs of each.

I am hoping you can help me. Do you keep records as to which numbers go to whom? If so, do you know who originally obtained these prints? I’m trying to track down who gave these lovely prints to the Museum.

The next day, JoAnn Cowan herself calls me to discuss this message. During our conversation, she indicates that I should contact Bruce Wells, Executive Director of the American Oil & Gas History Society. You see, JoAnn donated several prints to him to hand out as gifts. Ms. Cowan assures me that she would reach out to him about this.

After I didn't hear anything further, I decide to reach out to Bruce Wells myself. I find his email address online and write the following yesterday:

I am hoping you can help me with a puzzle.

I got your name from Jo Ann Cowans regarding two prints of her artwork that the Museum currently has in its possession. From what I understand, the two prints, “Derricks, After the Rain” and “Evening Brea Canyon”, were given to Kathy Shannon, Executive Director, and a fellow colleague while attending a conference in 2005 or so. Both are numbered #21 out of 400 and signed by the artist; and they both have Certificates of Authenticity attached. (Images of both are attached to this email.)

I contacted Ms. Cowans asking if she maintained records on who received which numbers of the limited prints. When she called me, she mentioned that you had obtained several prints of her artwork to hand out as gifts. Would you happen to be the donor of these two prints to The Petroleum Museum? If so, I would need you to complete a Deed of Gift and other necessary paperwork to finalize the transaction. If not, would you happen to know who might be?

And, sure enough, he calls me today. Mr. Wells confirms that he did indeed give those two prints to Kathy and Cheryl while they were attending an oil education conference in Wichita, Kansas, in 2005. What luck!

I absolutely LOVE these kinds of puzzles ... from a seemingly dead-end, I follow the trail to the end! From two prints given 5 years ago, I now have a donor. The Deed of Gift is already in the mail!

Survey

I know it's been a while since I've last posted anything ...

For one, it's been pretty quiet here at The Petroleum Museum. For the last couple of weeks, I've been pounding away at the cataloguing project of the archives and library acquisitions. Mixed in with that, I've been balancing other regular duties and responsibilities as well as helping elsewhere.

And when I think about this blog, I wonder what to write about in light of what I've been working on ... So I want to ask you (my fair and few readers), what would you like to hear more about?

Here are some ideas:

* Museum Processes
* Photographs
* Identify this Object
* Current Topics in Museum World

Please leave a comment with a suggestion!

Turkish Museums (Part I)

I apologize for the month-long hiatus; I recently returned from a 2-week vacation in Turkey . . . I hope you missed me as much as I missed you!




During that time, I saw the historical sites of Istanbul and many museums and archeological sites all over the country. Turkey offers a plethora of Greek and Roman city sites (more than Italy, according to the tour guide!) including well-known Ephesus and Troy as well as hidden gems Hierapolis and Aphrodiasis.

With such a wealth of history and a treasure trove of collections, I was confused by the museological choices those museums and sites made.

One museum, the Archeological Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, had been named the European Museum of the Year in 1997. After seeing that announcement, I was excited to enter the museum building, interested to learn from such a recognized institution. However, upon entering, I was shocked by the display of objects. Cases held numerous objects without any labels or context. Where was the story? How did the objects, the sections, the civilizations relate to each other? I often was unsure what I was looking at!






Above: Views of the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations.

Unfortunately, most of the museums we visited during our tour held similar exhibits. The numerous objects got in the way of learning about the relevant topic. The lack of labels (in English or even Turkish) was very disappointing and often raised the question "What is that?"

Only one exhibit really stood out as "modern" -- the Sacred Objects at Topkapi Palace. Installed in 2007, the exhibit holds the most sacred relics and gifts to the Ottoman Sultans, including Moses' staff and David's sword. I noticed climate controlled cases and fiber optic lighting.


Above: View of the Sacred Objects rooms. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures inside!

So now I'm curious to learn more about museums in Turkey. How is that a country with such a wealth of culture and history sadly lags behind in museum methods?

I put out a call to the email listserv Registrar's Committee of the American Association of Museums (RC-AAM). One person responded stating that they would be returning to the States after August 13th and would be willing to discuss Turkish museums with me. I'll keep you posted as to what I find out!

Do you know ...

about these photos? Leave a comment if you have anything to add!


Chuck wagon of the Renderbrook Spade Ranch about 1900. Photo from Betty Orbeck Collection.

W. L. Ellwood, owner of the ranch, is shown sitting just to the left of the chuck wagon. Others in the picture are, from left to right: E. "Ching" Enyart, Sid Rowe, unidentified man, U. D. Wulfjen, John Lane (nearest camera), W. L. Ellwood, Perry Bracy (cook, standing at chuck box), Sig Lane and D. N. Arnett, manager of the ranch from 1891 to 1912.

It is interesting to note that Ellwood, the ranch owner, and J. F. Glidden, both of De Kalb, Illinois, were the inventors of barbed wire and manufactured the wire. Ellwood realized the possibilities of the cattle industry in Texas because of the great quantities of wire being shipped to Texas. So it was that he came to look the situation over for himself and bought the Renderbrook Spade Ranch in 1889.


"Come and Get It" -- Chuck time for an unidentified West Texas outfit, no date. Photo from Betty Orbeck Collection.


Spring branding at the Renderbrook Spade Ranch in Mitchell County, Texas about 1900. Photo from Betty Orbeck Collection.

At this time, Colonel Isaac Ellwood of Illinois owned the ranch, which took its name from Renderbrook Springs. Operations had begun on the ranch about 1878 when J. Taylor Barr built a two-room house of chittim poles, with a thatched roof of tules overhead and no floor. Barr sold out to the Snyder brothers in 1882 and in 1889 the ranch was bought by Colonel Ellwood who held part interest in the first patent to manufacture barbed wire in the United States.

Identified in the branding scene are Sam Moreland, Sid Rowe, U. D. Wulfjen, E. "Ching" Enyart (holding the calf's head), Sig Lane (holding the calf's feet), John W. Cathey, George Latty and an unidentified man.

Donor Generosity

Lately, it seems people are coming out of the woodwork to offer items to the Museum. In the past week, I've gotten calls, emails and in-person visits from people all over the country offering objects ranging from scrapbooks to posters to drilling rigs.

Museums, like The Petroleum Museum, strive on the generosity and thoughtfulness of people like that. While cataloguing the permanent and archival collections, I've quickly realized that The Petroleum Museum would not be the kind of institution it is without the generosity of donors from all over the country. These donors were often repeat-offenders, offering items of all types frequently over several years.

However, not everything can, or even should, be accepted into a museum's collection. If it did, then the collection would be quite large and undefined. A museum is defined by its relationship with its collections, starting with the accumulation and acquisition of things. However, acquisition of objects for the collections should be done carefully and thoughtfully. According to Marie C. Malaro, in her book A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections:

Without clear direction, poor decisions are bound to be made, and for a museum, many such "mistakes" have no easy solutions. The best approach is prevention, and today an almost essential preventive measure is the adoption and implementation of a collection management policy.

A Collection Management Policy offers guidelines regarding various aspects from acquisition and accession to security and storage to deaccession. (I've posted about security and deaccesion already.)

Here at The Petroleum Museum, our Collection Management Policy outlines the criteria on which we can accept (or conversely deny) a donation. Any object considered for acquisition will only be accepted if it meets the following criteria:.

* The object must be relevant to the Museum’s mission, purpose and collection scope.
* The object has historical or scientific merit and/or has historical or cultural significance.
* No object shall be acquired for the collections if the Museum cannot give it proper storage, protection and preservation.
* The Museum will not knowingly accept any object acquired by either illegal or unethical means.
* Unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise, the Museum will only accept unrestricted gifts for acquisition wherein free and clear title shall be obtained without restriction as to use or future disposition.
* The Museum should seek to secure copyright license on all acquisitions.
* The Museum will not acquire redundant copies or duplicate objects or collections unless it is deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees.

We at The Petroleum Museum try to be careful and thoughtful in what we do accept into the Museum's collections. The main questions we ask ourselves are: (1) Does this support our mission to share the petroleum and energy story of the Permian Basin? Is the object relevant to the Permian Basin? (2) Does this duplicate other objects in our collection? (3) Does the object have historical, technical and/or cultural significance? Does the object support a story we have to tell through our exhibits?

We truly do appreciate all the offered donations. However, several factors, including those listed above, play into our decision-making process.

If you would like to learn more, feel free to leave a comment. Or check out the above books. Marie Malaro's A Legal Primer is a must have for any museum or museum professional. She touches on every legal aspect related to a museum's collection. John E. Simmons' Things Great and Small is a textbook on Collection Management Policies and a must-have for anyone who needs to draft one. Click on the image to go to Amazon listing of each book.