OK, to start out, this past week was the Mountain Plains Museum Association's Yearly Conference; filled with events, tours of area museums and lectures. The big boss at my association is kind of a big deal at this event, because it was held in Rapid City, about 45 minutes away from Deadwood. Since I have the best bosses ever, I was actually able to attend a day of the conference on a scholarship. More on that later. I went on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, though, there was a series of tours to area museums. One tour came to Deadwood and went through the Adams House. I just want to say that it is nerve-wracking to know that you are giving a tour to 10-20 museum professionals (courage, courage for our friends). And that there are three tours of the same size in the House. In the days before, I read all the resources I had at my disposal during my downtime at work to prep for the questions I was afraid of. I need not have worried though, because not only was my group wonderful, but a lot of them (and the big boss, who told us how we were doing for time), complemented my tour! So that was great. There was an air of relief after that tour was done, everyone was nervous. But I had a great group and their insight was very helpful.
Well, after this, I was ready to go to the Conference. Hayley and I carpooled in the interest of saving gas and parking space, so she picked me up at 7am. After a name tag fiasco, I headed to my first event,CSI Museum. Sadly, there was no coffee, but it was still fascinating. It focused on how to tell fakes and forgeries in artworks, or as the lecturer said, "Arkworks that appear to be something they aren't." He talked about examining artwork with previously known pieces by the artist, to look at it under ultraviolet light (this can reveal things like inconsistencies, tampering with the signature, changes the artist might have made, that kind of thing). My favorite example is the painting where the painting is covered with a thick varnish, and the signature is on top of that. Forgery anyone? He also said that the quality and date of the painting were inconsistent. Also discussed where the development of paints and hiring restorers for artwork. The lecturer was funny, and just what an 8:30am lecture should be.
Then, we moved to the Opening Event. There were several keynote speakers, all prominent museum guys, (one of them had the Top 10 Things You Should Know About SD)and then George McGovern spoke. This was quite cool, to put it mildly. Some folks around me speculated on how different the country would be if he had won and not Nixon. I don't know enough about McGovern and all I remember about Nixon is Watergate, so I don't have an opinion. But he was a dynamic speaker who clearly cares about his country, even if I might disagree with some points. He did say that he thinks we have the best government in the world, but that it could be better. Also, he was very decorated in WW2 and went skydiving for his 88th birthday.
After this, I went to the Students and Emerging Professionals Luncheon. I met some very nice people, but being moderately shy it was a little difficult. Then some "submerging professionals," as they called themselves, talked about grad schools (Then this guy wanted to talk about interns and his museum. I was kind of annoyed, because the professors stopped talking about their programs). Someone asked me where I was looking at going, and I had to say I didn't know. The three "old-timers" were fun to listen to, but the two grad school students and interns (Alanna and Sam) next to me had more things to say, not just about other professionals. This lunch was interesting, also, because we got a list of resources about jobs and ect and I met someone who was born in Bonners Ferry. This was odd, rarely does this happen. My first clue was when he called the University of Washington UW. Here, that is the University of Wyoming. So we started talking the PNW and I mentioned I was from North Idaho, and it went from there.
Next, I went to If Quilts Could Talk. In this lecture, the speaker picked up the quilt and could identify the year it was made, because of the colors of the fabrics and the style of blocks used. I was amazed. I knew that quilts could tell a story, but to think of all the ways we could learn about the past was just amazing. Things like the colors, the block pattern, the wear and tear, the binding, all are clues. Wow! Such a nerd... Little story: there was one quilt that had squares with stitching in a variety of skill level. My first thought was, first quilt (I thought of mine, and it has a very similar sequence). The lady, though, said it was clearly made by three people with varied levels of skill. OK. I learned a lot there also.
Then I went to Hollowing Out the US: The Disappearing Rural Community. I was a little disappointed, because while it started talking about the problems faced by rural communities and the fate of their museums if the town disappears, after a time it became an older person rant about how this is the fault of today's youth and young people, since none of them care about history. The intern at the museum and I were both there, both of us are under 23, and there were several folks under 26 in the room. After we left, the two of us had our own rant about the stubbornness of small town USA and the fear of change, also we blamed the US's history curriculum for the lack of interest in history. Then we felt better.
Then Hayley and I went to another gathering of Emerging Professionals. We were divided up into little groups. I was asked about the House so I gave the abridged shpeel on that (also given to a nice lady I met on the bus on the way to the evening event). Giving this spheel also helped me relax in the company of strangers, and a "familiar" face; at my table was Sam from lunch. It was nice to re-meet someone, since meeting so many people gets overwhelming. This event was fun, followed by the evening event.
This was called "Flight, Fossils and Fine Art." We had appetizers at the SD Air and Space Museum (I need to go back, I was talking to a lady and didn't see the whole place. But she was very nice), then we moved to the Journey Museum for dinner (also need to go back, there is so much to see here! I also got to spend some time with the director of our museum; she and Hayley and I had good conversations), then we headed to the Dahl Art Center for dessert (I didn't have as much fun here, because I was thinking about history, but the art was lovely).
In other news, I talked to a professor from Texas Tech about their program in Museum Studies. And on the way back to the hotel I was sitting next to a thesis adviser for Harvard's Museum Studies Extension Program. He gave the names of several programs, so now I have John Hopkins (I know, surprising right?), JFK, University of Colorado: Boulder, University of Washington, Texas Tech (they had a herd from there, and a professor named Henry Crawford (think Mansfield Park))and Harvard. So we shall see what happens.
Funnily enough, yesterday I was getting ready to give my last tour and was met by Alanna and Sam (who I met at MPMA) and two of their friends/co-workers. I was a little nervous, giving a tour to 4 people my age who were going into the same field I am. But, other than giving me a hard time by asking odd questions about random artifacts and pieces of wood, they were a fun group and the couple that was also on the tour were fun as well.
And that, in a nutshell, was my experience at the MPMA Conference.
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