The Newsletter of the Southeastern Museums Conference INSIDE SEMC winter 2014 | www.semcdirect.net Henry Clay Presentation Quilt, ca. 1850 (detail) from the Kentucky Museum’s exhibition Faces & Places. EXECUTIVE DIRECTor’s NoTEs Susan Perry 4 SAVE THE DATES: OCTOBEr 20–22, 2014 sEMC ANNUAL MEETING IN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE 5 2013 sEMC AWARD WINNERS 6 ART & COMMERCE IN THE HISTORY CITY A review of the 2013 SEMC Annual Meeting 14 EMERGING MUSEUM PROFESSIONALS ATTEND VALUABLE PROGRAMS AT THE SEMC ANNUAL MEETING 18 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS RESPOND TO 2013 ANNUAL MEETING 20 NEW SEMC SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES ANNOUNCED 22 CURATOR’S CORNER Dennis and Diadamia Doram: A View of the American Dream Julie Maio Kemper 23 GET INVOLVED IN SEMC! 32 semc Inside SEMC is published four times a year Robin Seage Person Secretary Alabama North Carolina by the Southeastern Museums Conference. 601.442.2901 | [email protected] Arkansas South Carolina Annual subscription is included in Historic Jefferson College, Washington, MS Florida Tennessee membership dues. Georgia Virginia Patrick Daily Treasurer Kentucky West Virginia Newsletter Editor: Susan Perry, SEMC 828.322.4731 | [email protected] Louisiana U.S. Virgin Islands Design: Nathan W. Moehlmann, Hickory Landmarks Society, Hickory, NC Mississippi Puerto Rico Goosepen Studio & Press George Bassi Past President staff officers 601.649.6374 | [email protected] Executive Director Susan S. Perry Mike Hudson President Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, 502.899.2356 | [email protected] Laurel, MS contact semc Museum of the American Printing SEMC | P.O. Box 550746 House of the Blind, Louisville, KY directors Atlanta, GA 30355-3246 Priscilla Cooper T: 404.814.2048 David Butler Vice President 205.328.9696 | [email protected] F: 404.814.2031 865.524.1260 | [email protected] Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, W: www.SEMCdirect.net Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN Birmingham, AL E: [email protected] – 2 – A SPECIAL THANKS: SEMC Endowment & Membership 33 SEMC WELCOMES NEWLY ELECTED cOUNCIL OFFICER AND DIRECTORS 40 ACQUISITIONS 42 CONGRATULATIONS 43 CONSTRUCTION 48 iNNOVATIONS 51 PEOPLE AND PLACES 54 WHAt’s haPPENING 67 IMPORTANT DATES 69 sEMC NEW JOB FORUM 69 SEMC MEMBERSHIP FORM 70 Julie Harris Jenny Lamb Allison Reid 270.575.9958 616.356.0501 504.658.4159 | [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] New Orleans Museum of Art, River Discovery Center, Paducah, KY Belle Meade Plantation, Nashville, TN New Orleans, LA Brian Hicks Kathryn A. Lang Deitrah Taylor 662.429.8852 | [email protected] 504.589.3882 x114 | [email protected] 478.320.4010 Desoto County Museum, Hernando, MS Jean Lafitte National Historical Park [email protected] and Preserve, New Orleans, LA Perry, GA Kathleen Hutton 336.758.5394 | [email protected] Darcie MacMahon Heather Marie Wells Reynolda House Museum of American Art, 352.273.2053 | [email protected] 479.418.5700 Winston-Salem, NC Florida Museum of Natural History, [email protected] Gainesville, FL Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Mary Lague Bentonville, AR 540.342.5760 James Quint [email protected] 803.252.1170 x36 The deadline for the Spring 2014 Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA [email protected] newsletter is Februrary 24, 2014. To submit Historic Columbia Foundation, information for the newsletter, please Columbia, SC contact the Council Director in your state. – 3 – This fall SEMC Council approved executive a strategic plan. Here’s SEMC’S director’s THREE-YEAR CHARGE: • Grow SEMC Membership and notes serve their diverse needs. • Improve Communication. Susan Perry • Provide new opportunities for Professional Development. ew Year’s Day inspires • Strengthen educational and a moment of reflection networking opportunities at on the past year and Annual Meeting. anticipation of the New • Recruit and engage NYear. 2013 has been an exciting SEMC Leaders. year of cultivating relationships, • Provide Administrative Susan Perry, SEMC Executive Director understanding current needs, and Support. providing relevant resources for • Operate sound and museum professionals. I continue transparent Finances. on a new scholarship opportunity to be impressed by your passionate for historic house museum commitment to SEMC as a member. In the New Year, we will move professionals to participate in forward with our joint vision for SEMC annual conference. SEMC Council, Program SEMC and its relevance to our Committee, Corporate Sponsors museums. Please ask SEMC to SEMC annual conference is an and the Local Arrangements provide a regional workshop for opportunity to convene creative Committee contributed to the your museum community. To thinkers to envision innovative success of SEMC 2013 Annual better serve your needs, SEMC just programs, dynamic exhibitions, Meeting in Savannah, Georgia. If launched an Exhibition Exchange best practices and fundraising you were among the 487 attendees Forum and self-serve Job Listing resources. Plan to attend SEMC at this conference, you experienced on our newly designed website. 2014 Annual Meeting October art and history on off-site tours and 20–22 in Knoxville, Tennessee. evening events at the Savannah Thanks to the generosity of the Submit a program proposal museums. Fifty-six program Smithsonian’s National Museum for the conference by January 31 sessions and sixty Resource Expo of African American History and deadline. exhibitors provided new ideas, Culture (NMAAHC), SEMC is professional expertise and best pleased to offer theJohn Kinard In the New Year, let’s move forward practices. In the keynote address, Scholarship Fund for two staff with providing more opportunities Dr. Stan Deaton encouraged us to members of AAAM institutional for Southeast museum profes- consider the role of history in our museums or individual AAAM sionals. Happy New Year! present. I enjoyed listening to our members to attend SEMC’s Jekyll members and discussing our joint Island Management Institute — Susan Perry, vision for SEMC. (JIMI). In 2014, SEMC will provide SEMC Executive Director – 4 – EXPERIENCE AN INTOXICATING MIX of authentic Off-site tours will include the vast collections of the Appalachian culture, a wealth of historic properties, rich University of Tennessee’s McClung Museum of Natural 2013 semc Civil War heritage, and edgy new art in a bustling urban History and Culture, historic house museums dating to as setting with easy access to the great outdoors — all at the early as the late eighteenth century, and institutions and sites SEMC 2014 Annual Meeting in Knoxville! dedicated to African-American heritage. We hope to provide award winners Nestled in the foothills of the Smokies, Knoxville’s lively opportunities to experience the natural delights of the rugged and historic downtown is dense with great restaurants, urban wilderness within walking distance of downtown, and shopping, and entertainment. SEMC evening events will the cutting edge technology of nearby Oak Ridge. center around Gay Street, one of America’s great main streets We promise you’ll be energized, enlightened, and and the home of the East Tennessee History Center and the entertained. There might even be a drop of moonshine if historic Tennessee Theatre, and World’s Fair Park (where you’re lucky. You’ll never want to leave! the conference hotel is located), site of the 1982 exposition Join us in Knoxville for the SEMC 2014 Annual and its iconic Sunsphere and the Knoxville Museum of Art. Meeting October 20–22! KNOXVILLE– 5 – Winner of an Emerging Museum Professional Award, Josh White, with, l-r, Rhonda Tyson, Martha Battle Jackson, Julie Harris, and Pam Meister. 2013 semc award winners EMC Awards are given in recognition of innovation, service and leadership in museum professionals. The SEMC Awards Committee, chaired by Patrick Daily, honors outstanding colleagues who have helped shape the world of museums. The awards were presented on Wednesday, October 9, Sas part of the Annual Awards Luncheon. – 6 – Winner of the James R. Short Award, in recognition of her long and accomplished service to the museum community, Allyn Lord kept attendee’s enthralled with her acceptance speech – not least for its humility, but certainly because she delivered it in verse! photo courtesy of © john slemp with the bright ring foundation and aerographs aviation photography. James R. Short Outstanding Service Engagement Project, Reynolda Award Recipient to the Museum House Museum of Art, Allyn Lord, Director, Shiloh Profession Award Winston-Salem, NC Museum of Ozark History, Recipient Joshua E. White, Executive Springdale, AR Chris Goodlett, Curator of Director, Yeiser Art Center, Collections, Kentucky Derby Paducah, KY Museum Leadership Museum, Louisville, KY Award Recipients SEMC 2013 Jamie Credle, Director, Davenport Emerging Museum Publication Design House Museum, Savannah, GA Professional Award Competition Kristen Miller Zohn, Curator of Recipients The SEMC Publication Design Collections and Exhibitions, The Emily Wilder Santillo, Assistant Competition was begun in 1988 to Columbus Museum, Columbus, Director for Creative Services, recognize and reward excellence in GA Project Manager for Digital the graphic design of Southeastern – 7 – museums’ publications. The Library of Congress for The Civil Silver Award Winners competition encourages War in America in the category Gregg Museum of Art & Design communication, effective design, of Gallery Guides for Farfetched: Mad Science, creativity, pride of