Museum Archivist
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Newsletter of the Museum Archives Section Museum Archivist Winter 2012 Volume 22, Issue 1 From the Chair Welcome to the 2012 winter issue of development of a museum archive. We the Museum Archives section also brainstormed ideas for 2012 newsletter! session proposals. Complete meeting minutes are available online here: I’d also like to extend a special http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/ welcome to the new members of the museum/minutes.htm MAS Steering Committee: Chair-Elect: Katy Rawdon (Barnes The MAS Working Group also held a Foundation) meeting in Chicago. The Working Web Liaison: Erin Murphy (Harvard Group plans to develop a system for University) those working in museum archives to easily share resources across Over 78 members attended the MAS institutions. The final project will be annual business meeting at the SAA available for all section members and conference in Chicago. The meeting serve as a platform for participation, featured nine Pecha-Kucha collaboration, and learning. Please visit Leanda Gahegan, Museum Archives Section presentations ranging in topics from the Working Group meeting minutes Chair. recently processed collections to the online for more information about the (Continued on page 2) Integrating an Archives Project into the Day-to-Day: Encouraging Openness and Collaboration with Museum Record Creators By Stephanie Kays To provide some context, the MIA is an NHPRC Project Archivist, Minneapolis Institute of Arts. encyclopedic art museum. Its permanent collection includes about (This article is an adaptation of a paper collaboration with the head librarian, eighty thousand objects spanning five delivered at the Society of American archives interns and volunteers, and thousand years of human creativity. The Archivists Annual Meeting in August, administrative staff to (1) conduct a Archives is under the Curatorial 2011.) Museum-wide records survey, (2) Division and a part of the Art Research promote an understanding of the and Reference Library department, In 2009, the Minneapolis Institute of records management and archives goals physically located in the Michael Graves Arts (MIA) received a grant from the amongst staff members, (3) develop wing of the MIA. The archives National Historical Publications and records disposition schedules for all encompass both institutional records Records Commission (NHPRC) to aid Museum departments, (4) arrange and and special collections. The in the development of a sustainable describe institutional records and institutional records of the MIA and the records management program and special collections, and (5) create Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, the archives. With their support, the policies and procedures for both the MIA’s governing body from 1883-1988, Museum was able to hire a Project records management program and document the creation of the Twin Archivist, myself, to work in archives. (Continued on page 3) Page 2 From the Chair (Continued from page 1) the Museum Archives listserv or contributing to the newsletter. The In closing, I’d like to offer a special project and opportunities for newsletter has two exciting new thank you to our outgoing co-chairs involvement. Thanks to Megan features: the Internship Profile and the Susie Anderson and Francine Snyder for Senseney, MAS Secretary for producing Postscript section where you are their dedication and innovative ideas the meeting minutes. welcome to submit news about during their tenure. yourself. Thanks to Adrianna Del Collo I look forward to seeing many of you at for creating these features and editing Best, our next business meeting in San Diego. the newsletter. The newsletter is an Leanda Gahegan, MAS Chair In the interim, please continue to excellent resource for the diverse MAS participate in the section by posting to community. Call for Museum Archives Section Working Group Participation: Regional Liaisons Regional Liaisons will work directly with the Content Coordinator to gather content from their regional area for the online platform. Liaisons will be responsible for contacting institutions and individuals in their area, soliciting content from pre-defined subject guidelines, and transferring content to the Content Coordinator. More than one person can be assigned to a region. If interested, contact Francine Snyder at [email protected]. A thanks to all of you that have already volunteered. Expect to hear from the working group soon! Museum Archives Section Leaders Leanda Gahegan, Chair Adrianna Del Collo, Newsletter Editor Megan Finn Senseney, Secretary [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Katy Rawdon, Chair-Elect Erin Murphy, Web Liaison Deborra Richarson, Council Liaison [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Museum Archivist is issued two times each year by the Museum Archives Section of the Society of American Archivists. Articles, news and comments from the archives community are welcome. Submission deadlines for the Winter and Summer issues are the second Fridays in December and June or as announced on the listserv. All submissions can be sent to the editor, Adrianna Del Collo, at: [email protected]. Page 3 Kays (Continued from page 1) records--records individuals had been a centralized archives was the way accustomed to maintaining on their forward and to create a new culture for Cities’ art and museum culture during own. To negotiate deeply established it in the Museum. While faced with the turn of the last century and extend institutional traditions, which all these challenges, it was clear that they to present day research and business museums possess, it was helpful to provided exciting opportunities for records. Some of the highlights of the acknowledge that the Museum has collaboration and discussion between Special Collections include the papers never had a centralized archives before, the archives and MIA record creators. of Anson B. Cutts, Jr., who bequeathed nor an enduring archivist role. Records the Purcell-Cutts House to the MIA in from the past had been stored in For the records survey, we relied 1985; the records of Vermillion Editions basements and closets around the heavily on individual and group Limited, a printmaking studio based in building and in some cases rendered interviews. However, with over thirty Minneapolis from 1977-1992; and the inaccessible. As a result, departments departments to survey and between papers of Karen Daniels Petersen, learned to store important records, one and seven people to speak with per which include the department, it was author’s research unlikely that any one and manuscripts for method would be Plains Indian Art from suitable for everyone. Fort Marion, and Remaining flexible with other published and the survey procedures unpublished works. enabled us to gather as The MIA’s NHPRC much information as grant project, which possible about the spans three years, records and endeavors to departmental functions preserve the while accommodating historical collections busy schedules, variable within our care, and abilities and knowledge to facilitate the best of records, and possible access to communication staff members and preferences. We then researchers. worked with Museum administrative staff to From the beginning, identify an archives we knew that liaison for each collaboration with Exterior view of MIA building, 2008, Minneapolis Institute of Arts. department. This person staff members was would be our initial the only way the records management both active and inactive, in their offices contact, the person we would and archives programs would succeed or departmental storage spaces. It was communicate with to set up meetings, as a whole. Museum staff was also common for curatorial to ask questions, and likely the person supportive of the project objectives and departments to maintain the bulk of to facilitate the records transfer and understood the importance of their their records, respond to public help with compliance for their participation, however, gaining insight inquiries, and facilitate access at times department once those policies were in into departmental and individual record by allowing researchers to view records place. keeping habits and job functions can be in their offices or study rooms. Again, a delicate business. A big part of just like many other museums, some Two instructional documents were building relationships and maintaining departments had taken on certain created for all-staff distribution. The collaborative partners is cultivating archival tasks. Additionally, four first outlined a basic records trust, and I will soon provide a few curatorial departments had collected management program and its examples of how we tried to do that by papers from people or institutions components. It included a diagram remaining as transparent as possible outside of the Museum that were in articulating the life cycle of an MIA with the information we gathered and some way related to the permanent record and a sample disposition with the processes for both creating collection or the Museum's history and schedule to help survey participants disposition schedules and processing relationships. With the promise to visualize the final outcome. The second archives. preserve and make those records handout included specific survey publicly accessible, we felt that those procedures; how participants should A few initial concerns were brought to special collections should be housed in prepare for the survey, and a brief our