From Ann Rowson Love, Director, Museum Studies Museum studies graduate students have been busy during the summer session. In July the MST 599 Special Topics Course: Research and Evaluation in Visitor Studies attended the national Visitor Studies Association conference in St. Louis. Students had the opportunity to attend research sessions conducted by some of the most prominent evaluators in the museum field. Ann Rowson Love, director of museum studies, also led a session at the conference. The Visitor Studies class also took a field trip to the Campbell Center, which specializes in museum workshops pertaining to collections, preservation, and other hands-on experiences. WIU created a scholarship program to help support student participation in Campbell Center programs. A number of students participated in practicum experiences this summer. Below are a few stories from the field:
Sean Whitten (Fort Wayne, IN) worked on a collections inventory, condition reporting and entering objects into the museum database using collections management software, Past Perfect, at the Jewish Museum of Maryland in Baltimore. You can read more about his practicum on the museum’s blog on the museum's blog
One of the practicum projects Anya Bishop (Ceresko, IA) created this summer included activity stations called "exhibit explainers" at the Family Museum in Bettendorf, IA.
Josh Terronez (Rock Island, IL) conducted a storage survey and prepared a proposal for the natural history collection. One of the practicum projects Anya Bishop (Ceresko, IA) created this summer included activity stations called "exhibit explainers" at the Family Museum in Bettendorf, IA.
