From the Editor

This issue of the newsletter covers updates for the 2013 annual meeting, information on Victor Lowell Thomas Museum's CWAM Grant Project, and a museum spotlight of the Fort Morgan Museum in Fort Morgan, CO.  I hope to you at the annual meeting.   

rasmussenkl@gmail.com

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."       - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The theme of the 2013 CWAM Annual Meeting is Museum Count. "Counting" can mean a variety of things, from counting artifacts, visitors or web hits. It can also mean looking into the ways in which you count or matter to your community, the visitors you serve and to your profession. How many times (there's that counting again) have you asked yourself how effective you are as a museum professional? How well does your museum process school tours from beginning to end? Does your community know what your museum does or that it's a cultural resource for its residents? Before we gather together to learn, share and reflect, start thinking about the impact you, your museum and the collections you hold have on the four levels outlined below. Think of the questions and statements in this piece as conversation or story starters.

Self -Looking 'in the mirror' can be quite scary. Do you give yourself honest feedback about your effectiveness or impact to the museum and the community your museum serves? Do seek out and then truly listen to and process feedback from others?

Organization - How does your organization evaluate its processes, staff/volunteer management and culture? Is it a formal process? Do you use an open, conversational approach? Do you do anything at all or do you feel you are too busy for this process?

Visitors - How do you 'count' according to your visitors? Front end surveys, teacher evaluation forms and other data, both quantitative and qualitative in nature, are extremely important to demonstrate value and mission relevance

Community - What is your museum's role in the community? Do you serve a specific population some, all or none of the time? Do you reach out to other museums with a collaborative spirit? Do you solicit feedback from funders, community groups or government at all levels? Do you engage with CWAM, MPMA and/or AAM to solicit feedback or hear about other evaluation processes in the field?

I invite you to join the conversation during our time together. The annual meeting team has designed several interactive and engaging ways to help you discover how you 'count', the many ways in which you can 'count' and through all this counting, the impact museums play in the community.

It's hard to believe but that Annual Meeting is less than a month away - have you registered? We are excited to announce that based on registration numbers so far, this Annual Meeting will be one of the highest attended meetings in CWAM's history! If you haven't already registered, remember that the regular registration rate ends on March 31.   

You can register online at http://ezregister.com/events/6157/. You can also print out a registration form at  http://www.cwam-us.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-CWAM-AnnualMeeting-RegularRegistration.pdf. You can also view the preliminary program at http://www.cwam-us.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/CWAM-2013-PreliminaryProgram-Rev.pdf.

Rooms at the conference hotel are going fast as well.

Hotel Information:

The Golden Hotel will serve as the main conference hotel.
Room rates are $109 for a single / $119 for double occupancy, plus applicable taxes.

The Golden Hotel
800 11th Street - Golden, CO 80401
800.233.7214 - 303.279.0100
www.thegoldenhotel.com 

The cut-off date for these great rates is April 10th, so make sure and reserve your room today! Please call the hotel to make your reservations. You'll need to mention "CWAM" in order to receive the special rates.

Additional accommodations are available at:

Table Mountain Inn

1310 Washington Avenue - Golden, CO 80401

800.762.9898 - 303.277.9898

www.tablemountaininn.com 

CWAM Welcomes John Falk and Ford Bell!

From our everyday work of counting objects, records, personnel, and visitors to our larger role within our communities, the cultural landscape, and the non-profit world - Museums Count. In honor of this year's theme, we are we are excited to welcome to the Annual Meeting two internationally recognized and respected museum thinkers: Dr. John Falk and Dr. Ford Bell.

Dr. John Falk's research priorities include the study of learning in free-choice learning settings, the long-term impact of free-choice educational institutions on individuals and communities, and investigating new business models for museums and other cultural institutions. In addition to presenting the keynote, Dr. Falk will also be conducting a workshop during the conference.

In addition to what is sure to be a great keynote, Dr. Ford Bell, President and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums, will help us continue our exploration of how Museums Count. During his remarks, Dr. Bell will elaborate on AAM's mission of nurturing excellence in museums through advocacy and service.

Don't miss out on this great opportunity to hear from both of these recognized and respected members and advocates of the museum field.

Vendors Marketplace

Special thanks to the vendors who have made plans to join us in Golden:

Certified Business Services, Inc.

Collections Research for Museums

Farhorizon Exhibits

Field Art Services

Filter Press Books

Hollinger Metal Edge, Inc.

Improve Group

Memories to Digital, LLC

Mountain-Plains Museums Association

National Association for Interpretation

National History Day

Post Modern Company

Ryan Fine Art Service

StoryTeller™ by AccuWeater

Terry Dowd, Inc.

The History Press

Western Center for the Conservation of Fine Arts

Wickman Historical Consultants

Museums Count? So do Auctions!

As you pack for the annual meeting, don't forget to bring an item for the CWAM auction! All proceeds support CWAM scholarships. Suggested items include homemade crafts or artwork, tickets to your museum, souvenirs from your museum and/or community (i.e. books, posters, mugs, etc.), sport/event tickets, or wine/food baskets. Items of greater value will be used in the live auction. Donated items can be brought to the conference registration desk or mailed* in advance to:

Stephanie Skiles Gilmore

c/o Nathan Richie

Golden History Center

923 10th Street

Golden, CO 80401

*Please fill out a donation form and submit it with your items. The form is available at http://www.cwam-us.org/annual-meeting/2013-golden/2013-silent-auction/.

A note to our passionate Pinky fans: Rather than submit Pinky's paraphernalia to the CWAM auction, why not sport your Fancy Flamingo Flairduring the banquet, as the best Pinky-dressed person will win a prize!

Calling All Auctioneers:

Are you excited about CWAM... and are you a bit of a ham? Then YOU could be the live auctioneer during our banquet on Friday night. If you are interested in being the live auctioneer, or if you have any questions regarding the auction, please contact Stephanie Skiles Gilmore at (303) 492-8881 or Stephanie.Skiles@colorado.edu.

Post Conference Tour: From Buffalo Bill to Buffalo Springfield - The Lariat Loop Driving Tour

Make plans to grab your family and join your friends on a scenic adventure along the Lariat Loop National Scenic Byway. Our semi-self-guided tour will start in the Cretaceous Era at Dinosaur Ridge with a shuttle ride to see several dinosaur track sites, and will continue at the beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater's Visitor Center where you can experience the history of Rock and Roll through video and interpretive exhibits. Spend lunchtime visiting the Historic Districts of Morrison and Evergreen (we will provide a list of tasty spots to eat) or taking a hike on one of the beautiful trails at Red Rocks. Regroup after lunch at the Hiwan Homestead Museum for a look into a magnificent and rustic 1890s mountain home and its unique collection of Navajo, Pueblo, Apache, Zuni and Hopi art. Finish your day with a bang at the Buffalo Bill Memorial Museum and Grave high above downtown Golden. From here, you can head home via I-70 or return to Golden down the hairpin turns of Lookout Mountain Road.

Each site will feature a guided tour and time to visit the gift shop before continuing on to the next. Tour participants will carpool using their own transportation, and meet up at each site at the time of its scheduled tour. We will provide detailed driving directions and maps to each site. This flexible tour allows you to join late, leave early, bring family along for the ride or visit additional attractions along the way - create your own Lariat Loop experience!

Fee: $10 (Fee includes museum admissions, tour fees, and a 64-page Lariat Loop guidebook.)

Already completed your registration? Don't worry. You can still purchase your tickets for The Lariat Loop Driving Tour online at http://ezregister.com/events/6157/ or at the registration table during the Annual Meeting.

3rd & Victor Ave., POB 238, Victor, CO 80860 719-689-5509    

Grant Helps Identify Faces from the Past at Victor Lowell Thomas Museum

Article by 

Ruth Zalewski

President, VIA/VLT Museum

Stacks of photos, some faded, some sepia, some cracked from time - children smiling, women posed in tall hats trying to show poise in the stiff, proper posture of the day, men looking debonair or rough and ready to go 1,000 feet down in a mine shaft as their daily toil - photos that could tell a treasure of stories, but bear no names, and thus their stories lost.

The Victor Lowell Thomas Museum has a trove of historic photos; many are of unidentified folks who came here in search of riches in the gold fields. These photos tend to sit in boxes or files and do not get the attention of the well-known and easily documented faces. This does not make them any lease important in our mission to interpret the past or link the past to our future.

Every summer in person, and every off-season by email, we experience the search for lost family. Relatives inquire about grandparents, parents and others who either passed briefly through Victor during the years of the 1890's gold rush or settled here to stake a longer claim in the history of the gold camp. In an effort to connect the living with those of the past, the museum requested a grant from the Colorado Wyoming Association of Museums (CWAM) to help fund a program to identify the lost faces of the gold rush.

With the funding, as well as volunteer time, we were able to begin our project by scanning, printing and posting over 100 photos. The images have been posted on our website pages at VictorColorado.com and have been printed and placed in a binder in the museum. Those seeking lost relatives can email identities from the website or come into the museum and page through the photos to identify faces and share stories.

Our museum is very limited in terms of an archives budget so the $500 grant made it possible for us to afford a photo scanner and now that we have begun the project, we plan to add photos to the unidentified pages each year. We are grateful to CWAM for supporting our project and we hope that the efforts started with this grant will result in many connections between the present and the unidentified past.

Museum Spotlight:

by Carrie Knight, Manager of Art and Heritage, Town of Windsor   

Photo Courtesy of The Fort Morgan Times  

Andrew Dunehoo in front of the Fort Morgan Museum's new exhibit titled "Stewards of Fort Morgan:  Our People, Our Stories," featuring faces from the community's history.   

1.)   I understand your museum recently completed a re-design process. What was your #1 take-away lesson from the project?

The words of a colleague and friend of mine in Oklahoma have resonated through my head through this whole process: "Be clear on what you want."  I had to be clear on the mission of this redesign and what it was I wanted to achieve, while maintaining an open communication which reflected the plans and ideas of my employees.  The designers we've been working with are fantastic at listening to us and working with us, so it wasn't hard to get our mission across, but it was important to keep the focus on what we wanted.

2.)   Are there things you would not repeat in the project?

The authority over this project switched hands to me in the middle of the process, but the previous person in charge was still allowed input as a consultant on the project.  I think if I could avoid this happening again I would.  Not that I don't value their input and expertise, but I feel it can blur the lines as to whom our designers listen to and take direction from.  So apart from learning to be clear on what you want, I learned it's important to be clear on 'who has the final say.'

3.)   What outcomes do you want from implementation of the re-design?

Our ultimate goal is a more complete telling of 'our story,' and a more inclusive and consistent historiography.  We also hope to reach a wider audience in our educational components, and to better serve the ever changing curriculum needs of our school visitors.  Lastly, we want visitors to find themselves in our exhibits: their voice; their stories; their identity; their history; and their heritage.

4.)   What skills do you think this project has given you or strengthened within you professionally and/or personally as a museum educator?

This project has helped me to hone my skills as a manager and a leader, and to define what kind of leader I want to be.  The experience alone has been very rewarding, and it continues to allow me to flex my creative muscles by creating a lasting gift for our community.  When we've seen this project through to completion, I will have something very satisfying on my resume to say that I was the leader for.  It will be a great professional and personal victory for me.  If nothing else, it's helped my writing skills to be more succinct and not too wordy, especially when it comes to label writing.

Thank you, Andrew!

Photo of the Fort Morgan Museum and Library