Developing a Museum Exhibit

Many long hours go into developing a museum exhibit. A museum exhibit can be thought of just like any research paper or project. You have to complete a lot of background research depending on how familiar you are with your topic or theme of your exhibit. There will be numerous steps needed to make it to your finished product, which is your opening day of the exhibit. The first job would be to create a small group or committee to work on the museum exhibit and deciding upon what you are doing for an exhibit. There are endless possibilities of what can be done for a museum exhibit. Once, you have your idea of what your exhibit will be the exhibit chair needs to assign the duties of how the committee will work together to create the finished project. Many decisions have to be made within the initials meetings of setting up the committee. A deadline needs to be decided on when the exhibit will open and how long that will take to prepare. Many exhibits take close to eight months to a year to get everything organized and ready to start putting together. It honestly depends on the size of the exhibit as well. Some exhibits could be endless of the amount of information and artifacts to provide the audience, while some exhibits may have less material to present based on your overall focus. An outline and work schedule needs to be constructed to see how the members will contribute and when sections need to be completed to move forward to the next phase of the project.

Another reason why it may take a long time to put an exhibit together is artifacts or information needs to be sent or loaned to the museum from other institutions or private lenders on a temporary contract for the length of the exhibit. The committee also needs to maintain a focus of how they will tell the story and who the main audience will be for the exhibit.  Many exhibits can be displayed for wide audiences, but do many people know of the story you are telling with your display. Sometimes you may have to provide more background to let the audience have a greater appreciation and understanding to what is the significance and message of the exhibit. The next phase of the exhibit is to conduct the research of what information is known and possibly ask some questions that need to be answered for the committee to have a better understanding themselves of why the exhibit is important and to clarify how the story is being told to the audience. Once all research has been collected it is time to start building blueprints or sketched drawings of what the exhibit might look in the space provided to house the exhibit based on what artifacts the museum may already own or have been loaned for the exhibit. Many exhibits have items which fit in glass cases or to be hung up on walls. There may be some items which are much larger and need to assess the area to make sure all artifacts may be accommodated to truly make the story come to life for the audience. The next phase to move into is the writing, editing, and revisions phase. Many of the artifacts may be unrecognizable to patrons, so it is always good to have excellent signage in and around display cases or artifacts in the gallery. You will also need an introduction panel to introduce the title and story for the audience. It also great to include a timeline or exhibit map to layout the flow of the exhibit. There may be tour pamphlets or other signage to be written and produced for the exhibit. All of this information needs to be written up and sent off to printers well in advance to provide plenty of time for the overall construction of the exhibit.

The committee will begin to construct the exhibit if panels need to be built or cases moved into the gallery. It is always a good idea to continue to consult the outline and work schedule for the exhibit to make a simplified checklist just to create some organization to what has been done and what needs to be done to make this exhibit a success. The final step is making sure everything is has been put into place and ready to present to the audience. I suggest finishing an exhibit at least two weeks before an exhibit is set to open to make any necessary changes or adjustments to allow time to correct or reprint materials. It also good to have a final meeting, which is an overall evaluation of the work the group has put into the exhibit. You want to make sure your group feels the story is being told they way they originally felt and to make sure their are no errors in the flow or signage within the exhibit. It never hurts to double or triple check signage, because it is so easy to make the simplest mistakes in a large project.

This is the tire brought in by an Ottawa County Historical Society member who loaned the tire to display a sign for the B.F. Goodrich display, which opened in February 2012. 

A final thought about developing an exhibit, which may need to be covered sooner rather than later is how will you publicize the exhibit and will you have an open house and invite certain guests to a reception in honor of the exhibit. It may be appropriate to invitations to printed a list collected of potential guests. The Dobson Museum had an open house reception for all the B.F. Goodrich employees and their families, when the opened the exhibit back in 2012. It was an opportunity for some of the employees to catch up and revisit old friends. Many of the employees had not seen each other since the plant had shut down over 25 years ago. The tire plant was in operation in Miami, OK from 1945-1986. 

 Ottawa County Historical Society Board and Volunteers on opening day of B.F. Goodrich Exhibit at Dobson Museum on February 26, 2012.  

 B.F. Goodrich guests viewing the display in the main gallery. 

 More guests enjoying visiting while at the B.F. Goodrich Open House. 

 This picture shows the west side of the gallery where scrapbooks were placed on tables for guests to view. There was old newsletters, pictures, etc. throughout the books. 

Another view from the west side of the gallery showing the crowd enjoying the exhibit with the B.F. Goodrich Miami Plant sign in the background. 

*All pictures displayed in this blog were taken by OCHS Board Member and photographer Gary Crow. 

Training in Museums: How do Museums work?

The ability to work in a museum is just like any other field or profession. It varies on the museum you work with to see what areas you need to focus on and what background you have going into the position. I just attended the Oklahoma Museum Association (OMA) Conference last week. They had a great turnout and excellent presenters for the sessions, workshops, and programs for the three day conference. Berkeley Young was the guest speaker and he definitely informed and entertained the conference delegates about how to focus and connect with museum visitors throughout the year.

I definitely learned a lot from attending the conference and this was my first conference to attend with OMA. I have been to some district meetings prior to this conference. The sessions covered a wide variety of materials and tasks throughout working in museums. One of the sessions I enjoyed the most was a peer to peer breakout session for emerging professionals in the museum field. The speakers shared experiences from working in museums and interviews they have completed to get to where they are now working in the Oklahoma History Center. I was also able to visit with some of them afterwards to get more information about one of the museums I work in and how better to handle preserving research materials for the future. It is always a crucial part of any field to continue to learn and grow in being offered training opportunities like these to network with individuals who have been in the field for many years and those who are emerging into the field with less than 3-5 years experience. I always think you gain a better understanding when you step back and look at both sides of the situation at how someone with thirty plus years says about a situation and someone with less than five years.

The methods are always constantly changing and new techniques and technologies are being presented all the time for more efficient ways to perform tasks. I also had the opportunity to listen to some graduate students from the University of Central Oklahoma Museum Studies Program present about their research and what internships, they had participated in this past summer. The theme for this year's conference was "Connecting to Museums". I have a few pictures below taken from this summer when we hosted the traveling exhibit "The Way We Worked" at the Miners Hall Museum at Franklin, Kansas. There are many ways to connect your museums and reach out to you communities by hosting different events and reaching multiple groups at the same time. It was a worth while conference and I am looking forward to next year's conference in Idabel, Oklahoma.

 Antonio and Holly Martinez at unveiling of artwork at Smithsonian Preview Evening on May 10, 2013. 

 Crowd beginning to gather for Smithsonian Exhibit Grand Opening at Miners Hall Museum on May 11, 2013. 

Visitors inside the museum during the opening day of "The Way We Worked" at Miners Hall Museum.

Dobson Museum at Miami, Oklahoma

The Dobson Family came from Kentucky to Ottawa County, Oklahoma in the 1890s. The Dobson family had a couple of mines in the Picher area. They also ran the Ice Company in Miami back in the early years. The Dobson Family had three children who never married Wayman, Solomon, and Nellie. They all lived together in the Dobson Home on A Street SW in Miami until their deaths. Wayman passed away in 1945, Solomon in 1960, and Nellie in 1968.

Dobson Home in Background with Dobson Memorial Center Sign

Dobson Home at 106 A SW, Miami, Oklahoma 

Memorial to Ms. Nellie Dobson at Entrance 

Main Gallery looking West. 

East Side of Lower Level Gallery

 West Side of Lower Level Gallery with Mining Pictures on Wall. 

Boy Scout Jamboree Tepee on display at Dobson Museum. 

Museum Entrance with B.F. Goodrich Tire Sign

Gardens in Dobson Courtyard 

Gardens on Northside of Dobson Property 

It was stated in Ms. Nellie Dobson's Will, that her home and property to be left as a home for the collections of the Ottawa County Historical Society. In 2011, the Dobson home was placed on the State and National Register of Historic Places. The museum has vast collections,which observe the rich history of Ottawa County, Oklahoma. The collection includes exhibits in but not limited to: Mickey Mantle, Charles Banks Wilson, Native American Tribes of Ottawa County, Mining, B.F. Goodrich, British Flyers, Orrick Sparlin Photographs and Negatives, County Pioneers, Route 66, Sunbeam Farms, etc. The gardens which look amazing all year round are kept up by a strong group of volunteers, that dedicate time to keep the Dobson Memorial Center looking great. You will see throughout different times of the year people taking Graduation, Engagement, Wedding,and  Family pictures at the Dobson Museum and Home.

The museum has two levels of galleries for patrons to enjoy with temporary exhibits every year. In 2012, "B.F. Goodrich Full-Circle in Miami" was opened and an exhibit area of the museum is still dedicated to the B.F. Goodrich Tire Company. In 2013, "Sunbeam Farms: A Black Angus Dynasty" and "Route 66: The Mother Road of Ottawa County" opened are both currently on view for patrons to enjoy along with the numerous permanent collections housed within the museum. The Orrick Sparlin Collection has thousands of pictures and over 43,000 negatives housed at the Dobson Museum. The main task I work on is scanning the negatives and preparing them to be used in exhibits and to file them for future research and use. It has been a 2 1/2 year project already and only about 5% of the collection is actually scanned as of today.

The museum is open Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday Afternoons from 1:00-4:00 p.m. and closed on holidays. You can also check out more by visiting their website at www.dobsonmuseum.com or checking them out on Facebook. Every Sunday the Ottawa County Historical Society has a unidentified picture in the Miami News-Record from the collection along with the thousands of other unidentified pictures. Submissions of names on the "Can You Identify History?" pictures can be submitted via website, email, or calling 918-542-5388. There is a Calendar of Events on our website so you can always stay up to date on what is happening at the Dobson Museum.