Karen Whitecotton Heritage Museum Services, LLC 1412 Northern Hills Road, Norman, OK 73071 405.878.6341 [email protected] Objectives It is my goal to continually further my knowledge and career as a contract registrar, museum professional, and fine art handler, while serving museums and private collections by utilizing my 15 years of hands-on museum and collection expertise. Experience Owner & Museum Consultant Date of Employment: June 2015 – Present Heritage Museum Services, LLC Norman, Oklahoma . Native American owned and operated . Utilize a network of highly skilled conservators, fine art shippers, Customs brokers, foreign agents, exhibit designers, and mount makers in order to ensure a high level of professionalism for every project . Collections Management & Best Practices . Storage Solutions . Museum Forms, Documentation, and Policies . Loans and Insurance . Disaster Preparedness . Fine Art Shipping Logistics (domestic and international) . Exhibit Design, Content Development, and Mount Making . Exhibit Installations and Deinstallations . Site Visits For Venues, Facility Reports, Security Consultation . Work with museums, private collections, and other non-profits Registrar Date of Employment : August 2013 – August 2015 Museum of the Bible Oklahoma City, Oklahoma . Coordinated U.S Customs information for thousands of objects (acquisitions, loans, exhibits) . Coordinated international shipping and hand carry logistics and insurance for thousands of objects totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars (acquisitions, loans, exhibits) . Couriered multimillion dollar artifact shipments domestically and internationally . Coordinated domestic and international loans, with private collectors as well as world renowned institutions such as the National Air and Space Museum, Musei Vaticani, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cambridge University Library, and the Israel Museum . Coordinated insurance renewals and appraisals of collection and for exhibition and loans . TMS database management . Participated in installations, deinstallations, and exhibition coordination around the country and in numerous foreign countries, including Argentina, Cuba, Israel, Italy, and Vatican City Karen Whitecotton Heritage Museum Services, LLC 141 Northern Hills Road, Norman, Oklahoma 73071 405.878.6341 [email protected] . Worked extensively with domestic and foreign Customs brokers and freight forwarders . Coordinated fine art shuttles and packing by fine art handlers . Reviewed Facility Reports for potential venues for loans or exhibits . Identified items within the collection that needed further provenance research . Identified items within the collection that fell under US Fish & Wildlife laws, CITES, or other international laws pertaining to flora and fauna . Oversaw and coordinated with contract conservators, contract vendors, and storage consultations . Created custom brass mounts for artifacts during installations . Coordinated acquisition invoices and made sure appropriate documentation was in place for Fish & Wildlife and US Customs requirements . Created an office filing system for Object files, Acquisition files, Loan files, and Exhibit files . Trained staff on condition reporting and AAM Best Practices . Reworked courier policy . Helped draft Collections Management Policy and Collections Access Policy . Reworked and created forms for condition reporting, incoming/outgoing paperwork, and change of location . Expanded Registration department from one employee to three, to include an Assistant Registrar and Associate Registrar under my supervision. Supervised interns Curator of Collections Date of Employment : December 2010 – August 2013 Oklahoma Museum of History/Oklahoma History Center (Smithsonian Affiliate Museum) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma . Coordinated AAM accreditation . Accessioning and housing various collections . PastPerfect database management . Exhibit planning and installation . Artifact research and hosted external scholars . Began retrofitting art storage . Taught docent training courses . Coordinated loans from private collectors and institutions including the Autry and the National Cowboy & Western History Museum . Packed and couriered artifacts . Curator for Oklahoma @ the Movies exhibit (which won Frontier Country’s Outstanding Temporary Exhibit in 2012): Compiled databases to track artifacts relating to Oklahomans in the movie industry, wrote exhibit labels, dry mounted labels, compiled case lists, created case layouts/drawings, created gallery layouts, created graphics, and graphic panels, created graphic vinyl and installed it, created photo-mosaic from movie screen shots, designed Oklahoma! Set, co-designed and fabricated the Alice in Wonderland interactive area, coordinated with vendors. Developed and hosted Osher Lifelong Learning Institute from OSU (OLLI) course for the Oklahoma @ the Movies exhibit (2012) . Developed, wrote, organized, and installed the Enriched: Animal Art from the OKC Zoo exhibit, which was a partnership with the Oklahoma City Zoo. 2 Karen Whitecotton Heritage Museum Services, LLC 141 Northern Hills Road, Norman, Oklahoma 73071 405.878.6341 [email protected] . Organized and updated museum’s policies and procedures . Wrote institutional Code of Ethics and helped rewrite the Collections Management Policy . Developed an updated and comprehensive staff resource library . Created exhibit mounts . Supervised interns Executive Director/Tribal Historic Preservation Officer/NAGPRA Officer Date of Employment : July 2009 - October 2010 Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center Shawnee, Oklahoma . Managed a staff of 17, which included museum, library, archives, Tribal Heritage Project, Veterans’ Wall of Honor, Long Room event center, and gift shop . Oversaw production of Tribal Heritage Project (oral history project) DVD production and interviews . NAGPRA and THPO paperwork and surveying tribal trust and allotment properties . Managed and maintained budget and day to day operations . Grant writing . Gallery design . Gift shop purchasing . Oversaw all aspects of collections care, including PastPerfect database management . Updated social media, newsletters, etc. Traveled to Regional throughout the country . Coordinated with the Oklahoma Historical Society to serve as a repository for a hundred years of Pottawatomie County court house records Assistant Registrar Date of Employment : January 2006 – July 2009 National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Oklahoma City, Oklahoma . Processed all incoming and outgoing loans . In charge of collections care for the museum’s permanent collection . Processed all new acquisitions . Inventoried 1/5 of collection annually . Access and Filemaker database management . Unpacked, packed, and coordinated shipping for thousands of pieces of art each year for exhibits, loans, and sales shows (including Prix de West, Small Works Great Wonders, and the Traditional Cowboy Artists of America (TCAA), Oklahoma Youth Expo show, and the Craft in America exhibition) . IMP duties and managed CO2 chamber . Participated in AAM reaccreditation . Regular use of power and hand tools . Installed and deinstalled galleries . Couriered artwork domestically and internationally 3 Karen Whitecotton Heritage Museum Services, LLC 141 Northern Hills Road, Norman, Oklahoma 73071 405.878.6341 [email protected] . Created storage mounts and exhibit mounts . Developed training manuals for volunteers and interns . Quadrupled volunteer base in collections . Supervised seasonal employees in collections . Supervised interns Temporary Curatorial Assistant Date of Employment : September 2005 – October 2005 National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Oklahoma City, Oklahoma . Unpacked, packed, and assisted with shipping for almost a thousand of pieces of art for two sales shows- Prix de West and the Traditional Cowboy Artists of America (TCAA) . Regular use of power and hand tools . Deinstalled gallery Preservation Coordinator Date of Employment : June 2004 – June 2005 Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Tribal Heritage Department Shawnee, Oklahoma . Registration and curatorial duties for entire Tribal Heritage Department collection (both digital and 3D based collections) . Created initial paperwork for tribal artifacts and loaned artifacts . Created new labels for all artifacts on display . IMP duties . PastPerfect database management . Created physical browse books for the public . Scanned photos and documents during tribal gatherings . Created take home preservation handouts for tribal members . Supplied tribal members archival materials for their photographs and documents . Developed and taught workshops to tribal members on preserving personal collections . Processed all NAGPRA and THPO paperwork . Managed tribal Veterans’ Database project and coordinated Veterans’’ Day picnic . Supervision of assistant . Created office filing system for object paperwork . Created standard museum forms such as accession, condition, change of location, etc. Inventoried tribal collections . Developed drafts of museum policies such as a Collections Management Policy and a Packing, Transportation, and Rehousing policy . Managed Potawatomi Leadership Program 4 Karen Whitecotton Heritage Museum Services, LLC 141 Northern Hills Road, Norman, Oklahoma 73071 405.878.6341 [email protected] Temporary Curatorial Assistant Date of Employment : September 2002 – December 2002 Oklahoma Museum of History Oklahoma City, Oklahoma . Worked in Registration department with accessioning