A Consultant on the Team

Post by: Mary Case, Inventory Consultant

              Organizational Coach, Qm2:  Quality Management to a

              Higher Power

     

Joining the WCMFA Collections Inventory Project, afforded me the privileged opportunity that a skilled outsider always receives when offered a temporary spot on a functioning team.  This team -- Jennifer Chapman Smith, Lauren Ippolito, and Linda Dodson -- and joined later by Kay Palmateer  -- managed to uncover and address with energy and curiosity every challenge of a museum collections inventory. 

First, the collections areas needed to be outfitted for the work.  Out with the old boxes, periodicals, unusable castoffs, and accumulations that occur in shared workspaces over decades. Yes, they did unearth a desiccated snake way back in the corner.  Yikes!

 

Careful with the measurements and allocations of potential spaces for specific work and specific collections to be moved into freshly organized spaces.   More care lavished on cleaning floors, walls, crevices, pipes. Every space, cabinet, and shelf were freshly numbered and labeled. Hygrothermographs ready.

Museum collections have two parts:  the object and the information about it.  So, from the start, the team thought deeply about how to migrate information from an inadequate legacy computer program and how to integrate the standing files.  A skilled volunteer – Judy Wheeler  -- scrubbed the data and we were launched into the world of PastPerfect.

What is the role of a consultant in this sort of exercise?  Listening carefully and asking questions.  Sometimes more than once.  Connecting staff and volunteers with resources.  Present different ways of thinking about things, from the sidelines.  Watching as the work proceeded, in spite of all the normal and unusual distractions of life and the nonprofit workplace. Coaching.

 

When asked what they felt what my role in the inventory process is and how I have assisted in the process, Jennifer and Lauren responded:

Mary Case brings a deep understanding of museum practices and procedures as well as a perceptive insight into people and teams. All of this knowledge combined has made Mary an invaluable resource for the WCMFA’s collection inventory project. As a consultant she brings with her a fresh perspective and new ideas. She is especially good at facilitating discussions and asking the questions that create deeper thinking about the WCMFA’s collection and how we use it to enrich our visitors’ experience.

 

Portrait of Rosina Hager Heister by Joseph Wright

Post by: Jennifer Chapman Smith

              Collections and Exhibitions Manager

The WCMFA is situated in the beautiful City Park in Hagerstown, Maryland. Also in City Park is the Jonathan Hager house, the home of the founder of the town. Jonathan Hager (1714 – 1775), emigrated from Germany in 1736 and inspired by Charles Calvert’s offer of cheap land to those willing to settle the western frontier moved to Western Maryland in 1739. He purchased 200 acres of land, naming it “Hager’s Fancy”, and began constructing the home styled in the German tradition. In 1762 Hager officially founded the town he called Elizabethtown, in honor of his wife. The City Council changed the name to Hagerstown in 1813 because the name had gained popular usage. The name change was officially endorsed by the Maryland State Legislature in 1814. Hager was also instrumental in helping Hagerstown become the county seat of the newly created Washington County, Maryland.

Jonathan Hager House

 

In 1740, Hager married Elizabeth Kershner (d.1765), also a German emigrant, and the couple had two children, Rosina (1752 – 1810) and Jonathan Jr. (b.1755). The WCMFA is fortunate to have the portrait of Rosina Hager in the collection. It was given to the museum by Mr. Lewis E. Wingert, a Hager descendent, in 1991. The portrait is currently on view in a special focus exhibition in honor of Hagerstown’s 250^th Anniversary.

 

Joseph Wright, “Portrait of Rosina Hager Heister,” circa 1790, oil on canvas

 

Prior to being hung in the focus exhibition the portrait was inventoried by the inventory team. Part of the inventory process is performing a condition report on each object. The report provides us with a good understanding of the condition of all objects in our collection. The structural integrity of the painting was checked as well as the integrity of the frame. The report allows us to determine if the object is being stored appropriately and if it is able to be put on view. The inventory team found that the portrait of Rosina Hager has areas of retouched paint from a previous conservation that are lighter than the original paint but the structure of the painting and frame are secure and do not prevent the painting from being safely displayed. With such a significant anniversary for the city the WCMFA felt it important to have the portrait in the exhibition and with the condition report from the inventory complete we felt comfortable including it.

 

The portrait was painted around 1790 by Joseph Wright (American, 1756-1793) when Rosina Hager was living in the Philadelphia area with her husband Daniel Heister (1741-1804). It is believed that a portrait of Daniel Heister was completed at this time as a companion to Rosina’s portrait but the location of this painting is not known.

 

The artist, Joseph Wright, was the son of wax artist, Patience Lovell Wright, and probably received his first training from her. Wright moved with his mother to London and Paris, where he studied art. He met Benjamin Franklin in Paris and completed several portraits of the prominent American. After returning to America in 1783, Wright became a well known portrait artist in Philadelphia and completed his most prominent work, the portraits of George and Martha Washington.       

 

The special Hagerstown 250^th Focus Exhibition is on view in the WCMFA’s lobby now through October 28, 2012. Other objects on view are Jonathan Hager’s waistcoat, the Hager Family Bible and Sermon Book, and Jonathan Hager’s pocket watch and shoe buckles.

 

WCMFA Painting on View at Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

In late 2010, the museum was contacted by the Philadelphia Museum of Art requesting the loan of the museum’s Thomas Birch (American, 1779 – 1851) oil painting The Shipwreck, 1837, for the exhibition Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and “The Life Line”. The exhibition focuses on Philadelphia’s magnificent Winslow Homer painting, The Life Line, to explore the making and meaning of images of rescue. The Washington County Museum of Fine Art’s shipwreck painting was a perfect fit, since Birch’s work would have been known to Homer and the painting so effectively communicates the power and terror of the sea. The loan request was approved and the painting is currently on view in the exhibition at the in the Philadelphia Museum of Art; which is on view September 22, 2012 through December 16, 2012.

 

Thomas Birch's "The Shipwreck" on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

Before the painting was packed for transport to Philadelphia the objects team inventoried the painting and created condition reports that traveled with the painting. Doing condition reports, including detailed photographs, prior to the painting being transported is important in ensuring that any changes that may occur during transport or while the work is on exhibition are noticed quickly. Inventorying the work prior to its departure and making sure the Past Perfect database is updated with its location as “On Loan” is important to maintain intellectual control of the painting even when it is away from the museum.



 

 

Back of Thomas Birch's "The Shipwreck" prior to being packed.

 

The WCMFA is excited when we receive loan requests for works of art from the collection, especially for such significant exhibitions as this. It allows more people to see works of art from our collection and introduces people to the WCMFA that may not know about us. The inventory assists with loan requests, in providing us with great images and updated information to share with other museums and institutions that are interested in borrowing works of art from the collection.     

 

*For more information on the exhibition Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and “The Life Line” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art visit http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/749.html



 

Art Handling

Post by: Lauren Ippolito

               Assistant Collections and Exhibitions Manager

Art handling is an integral part of the collections inventory project. Every object in the museum’s permanent collection must be temporarily removed from storage or display to be inspected, measured, and photographed. In order to care for and protect the museum’s permanent collection, the inventory team must use proper art handling techniques and appropriate supplies and equipment.

When an object is moved, the risk of damage to that object increases, which is why we handle objects only when necessary. As part of proper art handling technique, we must examine the object to determine if there are areas that may be unstable, know the destination for the object, and make necessary preparations for its arrival before any movement begins. There must be a clear path for moving the object, and the object must be moved slowly and carefully with enough people to safely handle the object. The equipment and supplies used to move and handle objects varies according to the type of object. However, there is one supply that we use for handling every object- nitrile gloves. As the photo below shows, we keep plenty of clean gloves in stock.

 

 

As we conduct the collections inventory project, we must transition our work space so that we can inventory objects as close to their storage location as possible in order to minimize the movement of the museum’s permanent collection. The first work space that we created was close to a storage area of smaller objects including ceramics, silver, art glass, paperweights, and wood carvings. To inventory these objects, we moved them using a utility cart padded with polyethylene foam. We moved small batches of the objects on the cart with padding as a buffer in between objects. One person pushed the cart while the other person kept objects stabilized during the move.

 

 

The second work space allowed the inventory team to have closer access to the painting storage racks. We relocated objects from a portion of a painting storage rack to create a space to hang each framed object to be inventoried and photographed. Due to the close proximity to the storage location and the limited space of the storage area, we carried each framed object to the work space. While most framed objects required two people to carry, there are many small framed works that are manageable for one person to carry one object at a time. The photo below illustrates the proper way to lift and carry a framed object- always with both hands, one on the side and one on the bottom.  

 



 

When a painting is moved a further distance, we utilize the A-frame cart (see photo below).

 

As the collections inventory project progresses, we will create new work spaces and utilize other art handling techniques for sculpture, textiles, and furniture. 



 



"New England Afternoon"

In 1931, Mr. and Mrs. William and Anna Singer, Jr. gave a gift to the city of Hagerstown by providing the funds to build the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts and donating works of art from their own private collection to begin the museum’s permanent collection. This gift of several hundred works of art began the museum’s collection that has grown to over 7,000 works of art, which are now being documented through the collections inventory project.

 

One of the first gifts from the Singers was the oil painting New England Afternoon, circa 1909, by Willard Metcalf (American, 1858 – 1925). William Singer was not only an art collector, he was also an artist who worked in the American Impressionist style. Singer knew Metcalf and occasionally visited him in Old Lyme, Connecticut, where the two artists painted together. When the Singers moved to Norway, Metcalf and his wife visited them and gave them several paintings, including this beautiful scene of New England.

 

Dr. Elizabeth Johns, professor emerita, University of Pennsylvania, wrote of the painting in the publication 100 Stories: Highlights from the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts:

“New England Afternoon radiates the bright yellows and greens of summer. A dark, sinuous creek leads the viewer’s eye into the landscape through a foreground dotted with livestock. Blue-tinged mountains in the far distance, a church steeple in the background, and a sky filled with scudding clouds – typical characteristics of New England – give the scene its sweeping scale. Metcalf’s high point of view and the nearly square canvas (popular at the time) creates a deep space, which the delicate, short brushstrokes fill with a pleasant softness.”

*Copies of 100 Stories: Highlights from the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts may be purchased from the museum’s shop or online at http://www.wcmfa.org/100stories.htm.

 

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett Visits the Museum

On August 16, 2012 Roscoe Bartlett, the US Representative for Maryland’s 6^th District, visited the museum during the American Alliance of Museum’s (AAM) “Invite Congress to Visit Your Museum Week” (August 11 – August 18, 2012). Museum Director, Rebecca Massie Lane, extended the invitation to Rep. Bartlett and was excited to have him accept.

Rebecca Massie Lane and Rep. Roscoe Bartlett view the "Still Life: The Painted Image" Exhibition

 

 

Rep. Bartlett toured the museum’s galleries with museum staff and members of the Board of Trustees, Al Martin and John Schnebly. He was especially taken with the museum’s major exhibition in commemoration of the 150^th Anniversary of the American Civil War, Valley of the Shadow, on view through July 28, 2013 and the variety of artistic experiences offered by the museum.

John Schnebley, Rebecca Massie Lane, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, and Al Martin

 

"Our people seem to feel as if they can somehow reconnect with the past. There's solidity there. There's something that they can reconnect with the past, the future will somehow be better." – Rep. Roscoe Bartlett

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett touring the "Valley of the Shadow" exhibition



Rep. Roscoe Bartlett with the museum's John Gutzon Borglum, "Bust of Lincoln"

Part of Rep. Bartlett’s visit was a tour of the collections storage areas and an overview of the important work being done in the collections inventory project. Lauren Ippolito, Jennifer Chapman Smith, and Kay Palmateer explained to Rep. Bartlett the process of inventorying each object and how it has, and will continue to, impact the accessibility of collection’s objects to the public and further grow the museum’s reputation not only in Maryland and the 6^th district but throughout the country.

 

Rep. Rosecoe Bartlett tours the museum's collections storage

 

 

For news video of Rep. Bartlett’s visit go to:

http://your4state.com/fulltext?nxd_id=268082

 

More photos from Rep. Bartlett’s visit available at:

http://bartlett.house.gov/photos/#id=307604&num=2

 

For more information on the AAM’s “Invite Congress to Visit Your Museum Week” go to:

 

http://www.speakupformuseums.org/invitecongresstovisitaugust.htm

 

 

 



Past Perfect Conversion

Post by:   Judith Wheeler

                 Collections Inventory Volunteer / Database Specialist

This year, the WCMFA is going operational with PastPerfect museum software.  After years of using a small, site-specific application developed in MS Access, later updated to an Access front-end and SQL backend, the museum had become limited in its ability to collect different types of information and to exploit that information effectively.  The museum faced the decision of whether to embark on a substantial development effort to expand the existing application with respect to data architecture and business rules or convert to a commercial museum application (i.e. PastPerfect) that would incorporate standard museum nomenclature, workflow and business practices.   A solid business case was made for change and funds for the software, documentation and technical support were acquired.

The idea of converting from one system that limiting as it had become, was a known quantity, vice converting data critical to the museum’s daily operations was daunting.  After spending some time familiarizing ourselves with the new environment utilizing PastPerfect’s downloadable evaluation software, we were ready to proceed with laying out a step-by-step approach for our conversion process.   Because WCMFA had received IMLS grant funding for inventorying our collection, we focused on the collections-oriented data first with the contacts/development data to follow.

From the outset, the project was set as a museum priority for staff.  Our team would consist of museum staff who are part of the collections management process and a volunteer board member with a background in IT and specifically database development and conversion.  Because of the “in-house” expertise, we were able to minimize consulting or outsourced hours.  Not only was this a financial factor, but additionally, it provided a means for staff to increase their depth of understanding regarding their data and technical environment and be more empowered in the future.

Our work at hand was broken down into manageable pieces, taking a step-by-step approach that would allow us to validate the data as we went along, see demonstrable progress, minimize museum staff time (since everyone still had all their museum responsibilities), and build confidence in the process and eventual outcome.  In a nutshell, here’s what we did:

1) Developed a data mapping from the “source” environment to the “target” environment.  This validated that everything in our “source” dataset would have a home in the “target”.  This also identifed “type mismatches” that would require some technical conversion work to be done.

2) Took a “cut” of the data for analysis.  In this step we exported data from the SQL backend and imported it into a separate Access database for manipulation to identify issues with the data itself that might require research or cleanup to make eventual conversion easier.  This step required the most involvement from the collections management staff since it is in this step that a technical “eye” saw patterns or anomalies that required collections staff analysis and resolution.

3) Resolved conversion data issues.  This was fundamentally a technical task that, for the most part, involved a) fixing date fields so they would be in the required format and b) concatenating text fields where the “target” used one field and our “source” had multiple fields.

4) Tested data import into PastPerfect.  Because we had been able to resolve the data issues in-house, we took another cut of the data (day-to-day work had been proceeding), reconciled that data and decided to see what “our data” looked like in PastPerfect.  What happiness when the right number of records were imported!  Even greater happiness when everything looked correct! 

5) Shipped our data off to PastPerfect for a few final touches.  Their technical staff performed a few steps on data import not available to us through the application and shipped our complete, validated dataset back to us.

So here we are in the Fall of 2012 with our collections management staff for several months now using PastPerfect for their inventory task and we’re moving on to our Contacts/Development module. We’ve already imported a cut of our Contacts into PastPerfect and are identifying the anomalies in the data.  (It’s amazing how many different kinds of things people can put in a title field!).  We can’t wait for the increased capabilities PastPerfect will give us in managing our contacts, donations, listings and mailings.   Stay tuned!