Museum Contracts and Legal Transactions

Museums are established to tell the life, history, art, culture, stories of people, places, or events. The only way for museums to thrive successfully is to have a great support from donors and the surrounding communities. It is a mission of museums to entertain, educate, and inform their patrons of cultures, individuals, and many stories that have been untold for a long time. It opens up a world for those young and old to understand and appreciate the arts and humanities. There is no other field I could think of that is so rewarding to go to work everyday. The stories and lives displayed in museum exhibits around the world are remarkable, but it is hard to find ones like those in small town museums.

It is crucial part of museums to have donors when they are wanting to give their items to be thorough with museum paperwork. This is a beneficial step to all collections. A museum has a mission for a reason to serve a goal and purpose to its patrons to provide exhibits and activities that fall into a specific time period, region, or category. Many museums including the ones I work with have Collections Committee that evaluate all donations. These committees discuss what has been brought in over the past few months, because usually these committees will meet monthly or bi-monthly. It varies depending the institution and their policies.

No one museum is the same and not all donations are appropriate for every museum. For example, the two museums in the area I work with are the Dobson Museum at Miami, OK and Miners Hall Museum in Franklin, KS. The Dobson Museum was established in 1972 after the passing of Miss Nellie Dobson in 1968. She left funds in her will to construct and maintain the museum. The original Ottawa County Historical Museum was opened in 1963 on the 2nd floor of the Dobson Building/Old McWilliams Opera House in Downtown Miami.  After completion of the museum all collections were moved to the new museum, because many of the volunteers and patrons could not climb the stairs to get to the museum being on the 2nd floor. The mission of the museum to collect, preserve, and exhibit Ottawa County History. The museum only collects items that pertain to Ottawa County History, not other counties, states, or people who never lived in Ottawa County. The collections committee assesses the relevance of the artifacts and makes recommendations, which go before the board for final decisions. Some cases it may not be the only reason an item could not be accepted by a museum.  A museum may not have the funds, space, or time to care for a particular artifact. Many museums are limited with storage and exhibit capacities. The Miners Hall Museum collects, preserves, and exhibits the coal mining history of Cherokee and Crawford Counties in Kansas. Their mission is to preserve a certain type of mining for a certain region. This museum opened in 2012 after being a dream for many which turned into a reality in the Spring of 2012. The museum was host to a Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit in the Summer of 2013. The museum has grown so rapidly, that it is working on a fundraising campaign to construct a new addition on the west side of the existing building, which is the Franklin Community Center.

A great question to ask when being interested in donating to a museum is asking what the mission of the museum is and if they have a collections policy available. Some museums may not have a collections policy. Most collections policy are drafted by paid employees, but however some cases it occurs with volunteer collections committees. A greater understanding to know a scope of collections and the overall mission and vision allow you to find a suitable institution to place artifacts, documents, and images into a preserved collection.

Museum forms often used with processing of collections are: Deed of Gift, Loan Agreements, Background History, Inventory Form, or Condition Reports to name a few of the forms used within museums. A crucial part of operating a museum is to have appropriate paperwork for artifacts and collections within a museum. A Deed of Gift is used as it speaks for its self as a form filled by a donor to deed an artifact or group of artifacts to a museum, repository, or institution. The donor has responsibility when completing paperwork to be thorough by making sure all their contact information is correct and a detailed listing of what is being deeded or loaned, if they are completing a loan agreement. Background History form is used to gain as much information on the artifact, owner, and donor as possible. Did this item come from the donor's great-grandparents, an auction, garage sale, the attic, or did the donor actually build the artifact being contributed to the museum. The museum, repository, or institution is better able to care for and preserve the artifact if they know exactly what it is, where it came from, and any and all stories associated with the artifact. An inventory form or in some cases a catalog record form keeps a listing of where to locate an artifact when inside a museum, whether it be in exhibition or storage. A condition report is used in cases of traveling exhibits or damage to a collection based upon fire, natural disaster, etc. The condition report is filled out to give the status an artifact based on being destroyed or broken within a collection. There are certain cases where museums will loan exhibits to other museums if they are assembling a special exhibit. A condition report is to be completed upon, loading, unloading, exhibiting of the artifact from its home museum and the host museums.

There are rare cases where a museum will loan a collection to another for an extended period of time in most cases it would be between six to nine months. A museum does not exist without donors, but a museum would not be able to function if it did not provide accurate and efficient measures to preserve and collect with proper paperwork for the museum collections.

If you are interested in donating or have any questions about the Dobson Museum in Miami, OK or Miners Hall Museum in Franklin, KS, please contact me I would be glad to visit with you about these fine museum establishments in the Four States. Please visit their websites and keep updated on events by liking them on Facebook to follow the latest news.

Dobson Museum
110 A SW
Miami, OK 74354
(918)-542-5388
ochs@dobsonmuseum.com
www.dobsonmuseum.com
Hours: Wednesday-Friday-Sunday - 1-4 pm

Miners Hall Museum
701 S Broadway
Franklin, KS 66735
(620)-347-4220
minershallmuseum@gmail.com
www.minershallmuseum.com
Hours: Monday-Saturday - 10am-4pm
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Any questions about museums or anything about my blog feel free to contact me at jordan_boyd@live.com.

Special Exhibits

Special Exhibits are another way museums can connect to their patrons. One example is recently a collection was put up at the Miners Hall Museum at Franklin, Kansas by a local JFK collector. Mr. Louis Nicoletti had been a collector of JFK memorabilia for many decades and was very excited to have his collection on display at Franklin right down the road from where he grew up in Arma, Kansas. Special Exhibits do not have to meet the mission always for a museum. The reason being they are usually loaned to a museum on a temporary basis. The Miners Hall Museum is a museum which works to preserve the rich mining history of Southeast Kansas. Mr. Nicoletti's family was involved in mining and he had a some items to donate to the mining section of the museum. It was a wonderful collection for the museum to display with the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy approaching on November 22, 2013. Mr. Louis Nicoletti was tragically taken from us on Tuesday, November 19, 2013 as the result of a traffic accident, but his legend will live on in Southeast Kansas. We are so very fortunate to have known Louie while he was here. Anyone wishing to see the collection of President John F. Kennedy will still be able to view it through the end of the year.   

 Items of Louis Nicoletti's on display at Miners Hall Museum. 

A hat on display at Miners Hall Museum. It belonged to Louie's Father-in-law, Ted Skahan, who meet Kennedy at the Joplin Airport and handed him this hat in 1962. 

 Area residents have also contributed other items on display at the museum for the week of JFK celebration in late November to compliment Mr. Nicoletti's collection. 

I know all of the board members and staff at the Miners Hall Museum are very blessed to have known Mr. Louis Nicoletti. He was truly an asset to our museum and leaves behind numerous family members and friends who loved him dearly. All thoughts and prayers go out to the Nicoletti family. 

This blog post is in Memory of Louis Nicoletti (1923-2013). 

Applying Skills in Museum Exhibits

Have you ever thought about what goes into an exhibit in a museum? The skills needed working in museums varies between the exhibits you implement in your museum. Your resources play a big factor as well just as any other project. Some people have a fairly large budget while others operate strictly off of donations to their museum projects. You need to evaluate the time, manpower, and artifacts available to your group to assemble the exhibit. Some groups are blessed to have individuals or their families who have the knowledge and ability to assist with a project, they are currently working on for their exhibit. It is truly beneficial to the overall exhibit to have a resource like a first hand account person to assist with research, collecting, and organization of the overall product. In same cases there may be no one left who has affiliation, knowledge, or resources left of a particular business, organization, or family. Exhibits can be made up of numerous pieces of a community, county, or company depending on the mission of the museum. There are many steps that go in to an exhibit including the research, organization, design, collecting of artifacts and reproductions, assembling/constructing, and promoting the exhibit. It is always good to have a strong committee developed who will bring numerous ideas to the table about working on the exhibit.

Many museums rely on a strong network of volunteers to keep the doors open and to also to maintain the exhibits within their museums. It is always very beneficial to have as much insight on a project as you can from a variety of sources. I have a few pictures to share this week below of ideas of different artifacts that where collected to assemble an exhibit at the Dobson Museum in Miami, Oklahoma this past summer, when the Route 66 International Festival was held in Joplin, Missouri. The Ottawa County Historical Society displayed a Route 66 Exhibit entitled "The Mother Road of Ottawa County". An exhibit does not always have to be represented with original artifacts to be effective for the audience. Many of the photographs within this exhibit were scanned from the original negatives from the Orrick Sparlin Collection that is housed within the museum, but also many souvenirs or memorabilia was also collected to display. The Orrick Sparlin Collection is such a valuable collection and a true asset to the museum and Ottawa County. Mr. Sparlin photographed Ottawa County life from the late 1930s to the mid 1960s. Many of these negatives have not been scanned until the past couple of years. It is a project I took on as an intern for the Dobson Museum and still work on today. It will be a long process, because there are thousands of negatives yet to be scanned from this collection. Many projects assist with eachother, because of their common goals and interests. For example, the Route 66 Exhibit worked really well with the Orrick Sparlin Collection, because we were able to locate pictures from every town within the county along the route by utilizing this collection in our research and production of the exhibit.

Here is a t-shirt on display at the Route 66 Exhibit at Dobson Museum in Miami, OK.

This case is one section of the Route 66 Exhibit at the Dobson Museum in  Miami, OK.

 



 

Texaco Truck on display in Route 66 Exhibit at Dobson Museum in Miami, OK.

 

Route 66 Flag at Dobson Museum in Miami, OK.

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Miners Hall Museum at Franklin, Kansas

The Miners Hall Museum Foundation was founded in 2011 and the museum held its grand opening on May 1, 2012. The museum has vastly grown since that day with a massive collection and has hosted numerous temporary exhibits in its first couple years of operation at the Franklin Community Center in Franklin, Kansas. The small community of Franklin was struck by an EF4 tornado at 5:13 p.m. on May 4, 2003. Anytime a natural disaster strikes a community it takes awhile to get the community back and operational, but the community Franklin bounced back that a lot of larger cities who have been through natural disaster. Franklin, Kansas is quite a community with strong love and support and show anything is possible if you believe and put your time and effort into the project. In ten years after this natural disaster I don't think the town would ever imagine what happened to them next. In 2011, the Miners Hall Museum Foundation received notification they would be hosting a Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit in 2013. From May 11-June 23, 2013, the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit: The Way We Worked was on site with a companion exhibit from the Big Brutus Museum at West Mineral, Kansas. The museum had over 6,000 visitors in 6 weeks from 38 states and 5 countries!!

"The Way We Worked" Exhibit at Miners Hall Museum 

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Union Hall in Franklin, Kansas sat were the Miners Hall Museum is today. The Union Hall has been gone for many years now. This land has a lot of history to tell as it is not only important to Franklin, but Crawford County, Southeast Kansas, the State of Kansas, and the United States. The location of the Union Hall in Franklin was where the Amazon Army organized in December 1921. This was a group of women who were daughters, mothers, wives, cousins, grandmothers, sweethearts, fiancés, friends... of coal miners who joined in the protests against the unfair labor practices and laws being implemented in the Southeast Kansas coalfields. They made newspapers all across the state and the nation.

Photograph Union Hall at Franklin, Kansas 

North Side of Miners Hall Museum Main Gallery 

West Side of Miners Hall Museum Main Gallery

This museum has quite a story to tell and what a story it is for all patrons to enjoy and many spend hours in our gallery admiring the artwork, artifacts, research library, and stories of the miners and their families who made their lives and homes in Crawford and Cherokee Counties in Southeast Kansas. We have two recently donated coal buckets, which one you see in the picture above. These coal buckets from the SEK Art Fest, which lined downtown Pittsburg and where auctioned over Labor Day Weekend. We are very proud to have these coal buckets to add to our collection. Many talented artists expressed their creativity in the SEK Art Fest. The coal buckets lined the streets of Broadway in Pittsburg, Kansas from June 1-September 1, 2013.

The following artwork was donated on May 10, 2013 to the Miners Hall Museum at the opening of the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit by Antonio and Holly Martinez of Phoenix, Arizona. They own Sinfin Studio in Phoenix and truly captured the lifestyle and story of Southeast Kansas mining. I am also proud to say they are my sister and brother-in-law. Their pieces have made a wonderful addition to the museum.



Antonio Martinez. Working for the Man. Charcoal. 2013

This artwork embraces the entrance of Miners Hall Museum. 

Holly Boyd-Martinez. Outspoken Persistence. Acrylic. 2013



Holly Boyd-Martinez. Outspoken Persistence. Acrylic. 2013

The 6 Panels that make up Outspoken Persistence tell the story of mining in Southeast Kansas and include some key figures in the changes in the Southeast Kansas coalfields. 

Miners Hall Museum is open Monday-Saturday from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Check out our Quarterly Exhibits on display July-September 2013: The American Civil War: A Nation Divided and October-December 2013 Slovenian Heritage. We also have a John F. Kennedy Collection, that will be coming soon to be temporarily on display at the museum.