Street of Shops buttons are DONE!

This morning we finished putting on the labels for the new buttons in the Street of Shops!  So this project is officially COMPLETE!

Thank you to everyone who came in and recorded scripts for us!  You will hear the following voices in the Street:

Cabin - Bill Gouge
Print Shop - Gary Brown
Hotel - Shannon English Hexamer
Saloon - Bob Belden
Blacksmith - Ron Ponder
Dannemiller - Don Steele
Fire Station - Chip Conde
Toy Shop - Kim Kenney
Law Office - Bill Schauer
Gas Station - Brad Black
Dentist - Steve Secrest
Doctor - Chris Kenney
Gibbs - Don Deitemyer
Jewelry Shop - Lillian Steele
Pharmacy - Steve Fettman
Schoolhouse - Marilyn Thomas Jones

Next time you're in, please take a moment to listen to some of the new scripts.  And let us know what you think!

Teaching museum studies

As some of you may already know, I am an adjunct professor at the University of Mount Union, where I teach a course about Museum Studies.

I've been doing this museum gig for awhile now, and I'm not the idealistic student I once was!  It's always refreshing to get back to the basics of my profession and have meaningful conversations about how and why museums do things.

What is historical memory?  Who makes the decisions about what will be included and what will be left out?  Why?  What makes a good exhibit?  What about a bad one?  How should you hold an artifact?  What do you do if there is a flood at your museum? How do museums actively engage the community?  What more could we do?  What works?  What doesn't work?  Why?

These are just a few of the topics I plan to cover this semester.  I really love teaching and am looking forward to the conversations we're going to have this fall!  It makes me fall in love with what I do all over again.

Looking for some skirt hangers

We recently received a large donation of absolutely LOVELY vintage clothing! 

As we work on processing this donation, we have discovered a need for many skirt hangers -- the kind that "clip" the skirt into place.

Although some clips are rather strong and grip the skirts tightly, we can put batting covered with unbleached muslin between the waistband and the hanger to protect the skirt.

If you have any skirt hangers you aren't using, please consider donating them!  You can call me at 330-455-7043, leave a message right on this post, or simply drop them off at the Admissions Window.

Thank you!!

Taste of Our Town Fundraiser

Postcard invitations for Taste of Our Town - A Progressive Dinner Through the Street of Shops are going out this week!  The event is Thursday September 20 at 6:00 PM.  Tickets are $45 per person.

Enjoy veggies and dip at the Doctor’s Office, hot wings at the Fire Station, Kennedy’s sliders at the Train Station, a Dessert Bar in the Cabin featuring hot homemade donuts over the open fire, and LOTS MORE!!

This event is our Fall Fundraiser.  There will be cartoonists, musicians, and even a magician!  The Keller Gallery exhibition Campaigns & Cartoons closes just a few days later.

We hope you'll join us!  Call 330-455-7043 to make your reservation.

Ida dress blog post

Betsy Butler was here this week to look at our collection of Ida McKinley dresses for an article that will appear next year in PieceWork magazine.

She wrote a fantastic blog post about her visit, complete with detailed photographs of some of the dresses.  Click here to take a look at it!

Also, if you would like regular updates about the restoration project, like our page on Facebook.  I've been posting Ida-related tidbits there, as well as information about each dress in our collection and photos of Ida. 

Stock-Music.com credits for Street of Shops

 As part of the "free non-commercial use" agreement with Stock-Music.com, we are required to give them credit for the music we downloaded for the Street of Shops audio tour button project.  The music under each track is PERFECT!!

Here are the clips we used:

Pioneer Cabin

Free Background Music titled "Cluck Old Hen" provided by Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com

Print Shop

Free Background Music titled "Shadow Dancer" provided by Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com

Hotel, Pharmacy, Dentist and Lawyer's Office

Free Background Music titled "Long Ride Home" provided by Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com

Saloon

Free Background Music titled "Old Western" provided by Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com

Blacksmith and Dannemiller Store

Free Background Music titled "Mournful Banjo" provided by Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com

Gas Station

Free Background Music titled "Lazy Gumbo" provided by Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com

Schoolhouse 

Free Background Music titled "Just Us" provided by Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com

Demolition in Discover World

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos of the demolition of Space Station Earth!  We're all very excited about its replacement - Fascination Station!  Some of the old hands-on exhibits are going to be included in the new design, which features all kinds of great science interactives!

Ida McKinley dress project continues...

Even though I haven't said much about it recently, the Ida McKinley Dress Restoration Project continues!

A few weeks ago we received treatment proposals from Chandra Obie, our textile conservator.  I was pleasantly surprised with the estimates!  They were at or below my expectations, which is fantastic!!

Our tentative plan is to complete some of the simpler -- and less expensive -- treatments so we will be able to display one or two of the dresses right away in the McKinley Gallery.  We hope to use those dresses to encourage donations so we can complete some of the more complicated conservation work.

Today Betsy Butler, a freelance writer who is working on a story for Piecework magazine, is coming to look a the Ida McKinley dress collection.  Her story will appear next year.

We are currently exploring grant opportunities to fund the project.  If you have any suggestions, please contact me!  This is an important project to the museum, and we're really looking forward to the day when we can share these gorgeous gowns with the public.

If you haven't "liked" our page for the project on Facebook, please check it out.  I have been posting updates about the project, including photos of the dresses we're working to restore.

Space Station Earth

Space Station Earth is now closed.  Steve and his crew are busy dismantling the old exhibits in that area to make room for something new!

Lynette, our science director, is working with Split Rock Studios (who designed The Stark County Story exhibit in the history galleries) to create a new, fun, and exciting hands-on space called Fascination Station!  Highlights include:

• A Digital Green Screen Weather Center!

An improved space for visitors to broadcast weather reports

• Cybermatrix Tic Tac Toe!

Try your skills against a robot

• A new Eco-Living exhibit!

Learn more about how we can all do our part to improve the environment

• A Solar Race Car from Stark State!  

Solar Race Car from Stark State

There's lots more in the works for this exciting new space in Discover World!  Please pardon our dust as we move forward!

In other news....

Freddie installing the new buttons in the Print Shop

While I've been busy with Movie Camp, Steve, Freddie and Gary have been hard at work installing the new buttons in the Street of Shops!


We recorded the last two scripts this week for the Blacksmith and Gibbs Manufacturing.  Since we've been swamped with Movie Camp, we haven't finished the editing process for them yet.  That will be completed next week.

Right now, the buttons aren't labeled.  I will be ordering small metal signs next week so people will know what they will hear about when they push each button.

We think they are so much more interesting than the buttons that used to be up there!  Hopefully more people will take the time to listen to the entire script, since most are only 30-45 seconds long.

Movie Camp - Day 5

And.........IT'S A WRAP!

We actually finished filming for Movie Camp with 4 minutes to spare on the last day!  In the past, we've stayed over an hour or more to finish up.

We still have some scenes to film without the kids.  We'll do that in the next month or so.  There were 390 scenes filmed.  It might be one of our longest movies ever!

Stay tuned for more information about the WORLD PREMIERE this fall at Great Escapes Theater in Massillon!

Movie Camp - Day 4

Today we got to film with Frankenstein! (Played by Bob Herro) You'll see him in the first video clip below doing a "popcorn" exercise with the kids before we started filming this morning. The kids were extra good today! We got a LOT done. Tomorrow is the big finish for filming. (At least with the kids! There are always scenes to do later, that don't have the kids in them that we don't always film during the camp itself)