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Missouri Humanities Council e-News | October 2009 | View Online | ||||||||||
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In this issue:
Transformations – Our Annual Conference for Museums and LibrariesI'm excited to be a part of our next statewide conference for small museums and libraries. It’s called "Transformations" because we know from experience that attending it will help an organization improve itself, not just in baby steps, but in far-reaching steps. I asked one attendee at last fall's conference to write about what difference it made to her museum. Here's a link to a fascinating story of many accomplishments at The Griot, a small museum of Black history and culture in St. Louis. The conference is just one week away, next Friday and Saturday. Registration info is on our web site, and so are details about the program. If you attend, you'll have opportunities to hear about disaster preparedness from a national expert, about creating durable relationships with American Indians, about creating programs that will make you important to schools, about creating high interest with very little money, and a lot more. The cost of registration includes two catered lunches. It’s a small price to pay for inspiration that will fuel creativity for years to come. Demographic TransformationsI've noticed a trend in requests for our museum and library programs and services. Nonprofits are in a period of leadership transition. The transition seems to have begun about ten years ago, when the first wave of Baby Boomers entered their mid-fifties. The youngest Boomers aren't at that point yet, so I imagine the era of Boomer influence will last at least another decade. As one of the older Boomers, I've reflected on the change in my own nonprofit involvement and charitable giving and have written about challenges and opportunities for museums and libraries in my blog of September 29. Stories: The Currency of Human ContactMy colleague, Julie Douglas, has found a quotation that I think I will use for the rest of my career as a teacher. It's by Robert McKee: "Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact." That aspect of "story" is why our web site uses that word so much. We're not actually pushing professional storytellers out the door! We're pointing to one of the unique and amazing features of the human experience. Julie's column this month shows how to turn the hum-drum of daily routine into a feast of language and brain development for any small one in your life. Read on… ReadMOre Celebrates the Mark Twain CentennialToday our partners on the ReadMOre steering committee are announcing program plans for the 2010 Mark Twain Centennial. ReadMOre will feature four colorful short stories spanning the career of Missouri's famed American author and humorist. The following selected Twain stories may be found in one of several published short story anthologies, including but not limited to the Dover Thrift edition entitled Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories, the Bantam Classics edition titled The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain edited by Charles Neider, and The Signet Classic Book of Mark Twain’s Short Stories edited by Justin Kaplan.
ReadMOre engages libraries, schools, avid readers, private book clubs, booksellers and others in focusing their attention on a compelling piece of literature. Interested readers read the selection and have opportunities to attend book discussions and participate in associated programming hosted across the state in libraries and schools, and at book clubs and other organizations in March, April and May. Usually, ReadMOre is able to arrange a speaking tour by the author of the selected book. Since rumors of Twain’s death are no longer "greatly exaggerated," we're proud to sponsor a 12-day tour by the renowned Twain impersonator, George Frein, who will travel to ten selected towns. Applications for Frein's Mark Twain program are available online at http://readmoremissouri.org (select “2010 Preview”). Selected communities may use Frein in character as Mark Twain, as a Twain scholar, or as Mark Twain, the ReadMOre discussion leader. Applications must be submitted by November 2, 2009. The Council also supports ReadMOre and its many partners across the state with publicity, programming ideas, and a website where participants will find a downloadable discussion guide and colorful collateral materials to promote their ReadMOre program. Have questions? Want to receive periodic ReadMOre information? Contact us.
Sara Nielsen, ReadMOre Chair for 2010: St. Charles City/County Library Friends With a MummyLet's face it, opportunities to befriend a real mummy don't come along every day. Now, thanks to Facebook, you, too, can write on a mummy's wall. This opportunity is the stunning brainchild of the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Museum Director, Dane Pollei, posted this invitation in the Museum-L listserve a few days ago: "One of the Mummys at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art is lonely. If you're on Facebook, please consider becoming Tutu's "friend." Search for Tutu Mummy or this link should take you there: Osceola, Missouri Blogs at the SmithsonianOsceola hosted the touring New Harmonies exhibit last May, and now there's a wonderful write-up of their experience on a Smithsonian blog from September 24. http://www.blog.museumonmainstreet.org/ This might not seem like much if you're used to creating your own blogs and web pages, but this story represents the kind of giant steps I referred to at the top of the page when I plugged the Transformations conference coming up next week. Osceola's museum is miles ahead of where it was a year ago. It's wonderful to be a part of so much joy! Shawnee and Delaware Exhibit Opening in Marble Hill[NOTE: The opening of the new exhibit on the Shawnee and Delaware people has been postponed to Spring 2010 because of a need for additional tribal consultation before exhibit panels are finalized and installed.] Read more about the exhibit: http://mohumanities.org/E-News/Sept09/OurJourney.htm The exhibit is a remarkable achievement of friendship and partnership among American Indian communities, a local museum, and a Missouri designer. MHC Executive Director Search Opens October 15The committee charged with finding my successor will post a job description and search announcement on our web site on October 15. I will continue to serve as Executive Director until May 15, on which Saturday I expect to be in “gardening attire” with Kathy Bouman, planting another crop of my hybrid daylily seeds. Thanks to everyone who so kindly sent me a note of thanks for my work here these past 15 years. Whoever succeeds me will inherit a “dream situation.” It has felt like one long programmatic honeymoon. Support the Council
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 Published monthly by the Missouri Humanities Council, a tax-exempt, non-profit organization
affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Federal agency.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
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