Hoosier Heritage Alliance Assessment of Indiana Collections: We Want You!
Help us reach our goal of 300 responses by mailing in your survey by Feb. 28, 2009. 

The Hoosier Heritage Alliance Survey of Indiana’s collections' needs and management was mailed on Sept. 1 to collecting organizations statewide.

Your organization’s responses to the survey will help the Hoosier Heritage Alliance partners will make a set of recommendations specific to Indiana’s needs and develop a plan of action. 

You can download a new copy of the survey at http://www.indianahistory.org/lhs/Surveyfinal.pdf or contact Toni Lynn Giffin, collections survey assistant, at tgiffin@indianahistory.org or (317) 695-4884 to receive a copy by mail. For more information, visit http://www.indianahistory.org/lhs/hha.html.

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Indiana State Historic Records Advisory Board Regional Conferences
The Indiana State Historic Records Advisory Board is pleased to announce five regional conferences in 2009 for archives professionals, educators and volunteers.

The Indiana SHRAB hopes to use these conferences as a starting point to form relationships and networks across the state of people who are committed to preserving Indiana’s documentary heritage. At each conference, the SHRAB hopes to start a conversation about some pressing issues involving the archival community, including the use of electronic records and digital repositories, finding grants and fundraising for new or continuing projects, and creating plans for the preservation or salvage of documents and materials, should a disaster occur.

The dates and locations of the conferences are as follows:

• Tuesday, Feb. 24, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  Knox County Public Library Fortnightly Club, Vincennes
  
  
• Thursday, Feb. 26, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  Madison-Jefferson Public Library Auditorium, Madison
  
  
• Tuesday, March 3, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  Allen County Public Library, Meeting Room C, Fort Wayne
  
  
• Friday, March 6, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  Indiana State Library, Conference Room 425, Indianapolis
  
  
• Tuesday, March 10, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  Indiana University Northwest Conference Center, Gary

This conference can be used for LEU credits. There is no registration fee, and lunch will be provided. If interested in attending, please fill out and return a registration form by Feb. 12.

The registration form is available at http://www.in.gov/icpr/2352.htm.

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Please confim event specifics with sponsoring organization, especially if traveling any distance.

The Lincoln Highway Across Indiana Lecture at the History Center in Fort Wayne
This lecture by Jan Shupert-Arick is part of the 2009 George R. Mather Sunday Lecture Series and will be held on Sunday, March 1, at 2 p.m. at the History Center located at 302 E. Berry St. in Fort Wayne.

In 1912, Carl Fisher, of Indianapolis Motor Speedway fame, gathered automotive leaders at the Athenaeum (The Rathskeller) in Indianapolis to garner their support for the nation's first coast-to-coast auto highway. That road would become America's Main Street–or the Lincoln Highway–and served as the nation's first memorial to Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln Highway ran from New York to San Francisco and through Allen County and downtown Fort Wayne.

Jan Shupert-Arick is the Director of Regional Services at Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne and a graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington. She is a past director of the Lincoln Highway Association. She served as project director for a major temporary exhibit, Coast to Coast on the Lincoln Highway at The Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne.

The lecture is free to the public.

For more information, call (260) 426-2882 or visit http://www.fwhistorycenter.com/.

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NEH Preservation Assistance Grants
Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions help small and mid-sized institutions such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, town and county records offices and colleges improve their ability to preserve and care for their humanities collections.

Awards of up to $6000 support preservation related collection assessments, consultations, workshops and training, and institutional and collaborative disaster and emergency planning. Grants cover consultant fees, workshop registration fees, related travel and per diem expenses, and the costs of purchasing and shipping preservation supplies and equipment.

All applications to the NEH must be submitted through http://www.grants.gov/. See the application guidelines for details.

The 2009 guidelines for Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions are available at http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/pag.html. You will also find sample project descriptions, sample narratives and a list of frequently asked questions.

The deadline for applications is May 14, 2009.

Any U.S. nonprofit organization is eligible, as are state and local governmental agencies and tribal governments. Small and mid-sized institutions that have never received an NEH grant are especially encouraged to apply.

For more information, contact the staff of NEH's Division of Preservation and Access at (202) 606-8570 or preservation@neh.gov.

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How to Get Published Workshop
This workshop will be held on Saturday, March 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center in Indianapolis.

March is Small Press Month, and you are invited to learn more about publishing opportunities in Indiana by participating in this informative program. Ray Boomhower and Teresa Baer from the Indiana Historical Society Press along with Nancy Baxter, Hawthorne Publishing, and Janet Rabinowitch, Indiana University Press, will give their insights on small press trends. You will learn what these three distinct presses focus on and what they and other small presses have to offer writers.

Participants will also explore how the publishing process works and what they need to consider when approaching a press with a book idea or manuscript. Participants will receive complimentary magazine and book copies and will be entered to win additional prizes!

The cost is $15 per person or $12 for IHS members.

For more information or to register, call (317) 232-1882 or e-mail welcome@indianahistory.org.

Planning for Beginners Workshop
This workshop with Stacy Klingler, IHS, will be held on March 9 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Marion Public Library in Marion.

Have you been caught off guard when a funder asked for your organizational or strategic plan? Has your staff or board resisted going through a planning process?

You don’t need to be big or have paid staff to create a plan that works for you. In fact, planning is even more important for all-volunteer organizations where comings and goings are common.

We will de-mystify the mystique around creating strategic and organizational plans and share non-threatening ways for you to introduce planning (and budgeting) to your group.|

The cost is $10 per person or $8 for IHS members (lunch on your own). Register by March 2.

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Survey from the Center for History and New Media
The Center for History and New Media is conducting this quick survey to find out how museums are offering visitors content for mobile or handheld delivery. We know that podcasting has become popular and wonder if museums are working on other mobile projects.

To participate, please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=KrJUX778buWWN90N6V4Bsg_3d_3d

The Center for History and New Media plans to publish their results as part of a larger white paper on museums and the mobile Web later this year.

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Tell Me A Story at the Ricks Center for the Arts in Greenfield
This exhibit, first showcased at the Indiana Historical Society's grand-opening celebration, is comprised of images from the society's 1999 annual photography contest.

Framed photographs combine with descriptive text by the photographers to portray Hoosier life and history in Tell Me A Story. Stories of the Feast of the Hunters' Moon, the Old Sycamore and the Tornado of '98 are just a few of the many you will find in this traveling exhibition. The contest included entries from all parts of the state and involved photographers of all ages.

This traveling exhibit is on loan from the Indiana Historical Society. For more information about the IHS traveling exhibit program, go to www.indianahistory.org/LHS and click on "Traveling Exhibit."

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New Steamboat Bicentennial Committee to Celebrate the Amazing Voyage of the New Orleans
In 1811, Nicholas Roosevelt, an inventor and acquaintance of steamboat designer Robert Fulton, did what many thought impossible: he successfully guided a steamboat down the Ohio River, a major feat for the time. With his pregnant wife, Lydia Latrobe Roosevelt, a faithful Newfoundland named Tiger and an experienced crew of flatboatmen, Roosevelt’s voyage on the New Orleans opened America to increased commerce, transportation and westward expansion. Occurring during the same year as the New Madrid earthquake and the Great Comet of 1811, this voyage shaped America in ways few people recognize today.

A newly formed Steamboat Bicentennial Committee, of which the Indiana Historical Society and The Rivers Institute at Hanover College are members, hopes to celebrate the significance of this voyage during its bicentennial year in 2011. A group of steamboat and river experts from across the Midwest have gathered with the goal to engage, excite and educate the public about the history of steamboats and their dramatic impact on the economic, social, cultural and environmental development of the United States.

In the coming months the Committee hopes to launch a Web site that will feature a calendar of events, repository links, images and even social networking features that will allow individuals to share their steamboat memories and research. Other plans are also in the works, but the Committee wants to encourage local historical societies, museums, libraries and communities along the Ohio River to think early about how they will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the voyage of the New Orleans and its legacy.

All organizations interested in learning more are welcomed to contact the Rivers Institute at Hanover College at rih@hanover.edu or (812) 866-6846 for details. 

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Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko Leaving Lew Wallace Study and Museum
The General Lew Wallace Study and Museum announced that the director, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko, will be leaving the organization in May. She has accepted the position of CEO at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine. An interim director will be appointed in March to guide the organization for the next four to six months. 

Catlin-Legutko has led the organization since 2003 when it was a seasonal museum.  Over the past six years the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum has been transformed into a model for excellence in small museums, winning the National Medal for Museum Service in 2008 for its community service and collections care. Under Catlin-Legutko’s guidance, the Museum has established such community mainstays as the Lew Wallace Youth Academy, the Artists in Residence Program and the Taste of Montgomery County, the tremendously successful Museum fundraiser that attracted over 2,000 visitors and helped to fund needed structural improvements to the Study building.

“Serving as the director of the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum has been an incredible honor, from beginning to end,” said Catlin-Legutko. “We knew that the General’s study could teach thousands about the power of the individual spirit to affect American history and culture, and it’s this powerful mission statement that I will miss the most.”

Board President Suanne Milligan shared, "We are grateful for Cinnamon's inspiring leadership and wish her every success in her new role. The Board of Directors is moving forward with enthusiasm about future possibilities for the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum and this community."

The Museum board of trustees has appointed a search committee to guide the selection process for a new museum director. 

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Local:

Executive Director at the Indiana Medical History Museum in Indianapolis
The Board of Directors, Indiana Medical History Museum seeks an energetic, ambitious individual to lead the Indiana Medical History Museum in Indianapolis, which is housed in an 1896 pathology laboratory.

The position will start Sept. 2, 2009. 

Desired qualities and skills for the position:

• Understanding of museum practices and appreciation of history, culture and science at the turn of the last century.
• Ability to raise awareness and operating funds and write successful grants.
• Capacity to prepare and monitor the museum’s annual budget with the Board’s Treasurer.
• Organizational and planning abilities, especially in developing staff and volunteer work schedules and exhibit and event timelines.
• Staff and volunteer recruitment and management experience.
• Ability to work with the Board of Directors, members of the museum, the community, and other cultural organizations and institutions.
• Creativity and intellectual interest in research, exhibit and educational program development.
• Instincts and drive to promote the museum to the public and cultivate partnerships, donors, exhibit sponsors and rental customers.
• Ability to develop long-range plans to address future physical and organizational needs of the museum.
• Flexibility to perform a variety of tasks associated with a small museum.
• Willingness to work Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and alternating Saturdays, including some evenings and some weekends.

Preferred qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree, preferably in Museum Studies, History, Historic Preservation Science or a related field. Master’s degree preferred.
• Three to five years experience in educational programming, project management and administration.
• Excellent communication, administrative, organizational and public relations skills
• Ability to work independently
• Proven record of responsibility and accomplishment

The annual salary for this part-time position (30 hours a week) is $30,000.

Submit a cover letter, current resume, list of three references and writing sample by May 1 to:

Richard Gantz, Search Committee
Indiana Medical History Museum
3045 W. Vermont St.
Indianapolis, IN 46222


National:

Contract Collections Assistant at the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City
The Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City seeks a qualified candidate to assist Collections Staff with several ongoing projects during a six month contract.

The museum's extensive collection consists of toys, scale miniatures, marbles and folk art dating from1750 to the present. Current Collection Department projects focus on documenting and processing objects along with the reorganization of existing collections storage areas.

The Collections Assistant will assist with cataloging objects, digital photography, object handling and data entry. The Collections Assistant will spend three days a week processing objects and two days a week on Past Perfect data management projects. Supervision and training to be received from Curator.

Qualifications:

• Coursework or experience in collections care and management.
• Experience with database software and ability to quickly learn new software programs. (Experience with Past Perfect Museum Software is a plus.)
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and legible handwriting.
• Able to produce precise, detail-oriented work.
• Able to work independently.
• Demonstrated ability to meet goals and deadlines.
• Able to lift 25 lbs. and climb ladders.

The Collections Assistant is an independent contractor with a pay rate of $10 per hour. No benefits, housing or paid time off is provided. Museum will provide IRS form 1099 at end of year.

Application packets must be postmarked by April 3, 2009 and include a cover letter, resume and three references. Send application materials to:

Kristie Dobbins, Curator
Toy and Miniature Museum
5235 Oak St.
Kansas City, MO 64112

Application questions should be directed to dobbinsk@umkc.edu.

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Portions of the Minnetrista Heritage Collection Now Available Online
Minnetrista is excited to announce that a selection of object and archival records are now available online at http://www.minnetrista.net/.

Currently, there are approximately 4,400 collection records accessible that include postcards, photographs, objects and over 2,300 book catalog records. Topics include but are not limited to Muncie Pottery, Ball Corporation, Ball family, businesses, clubs and organizations, gardening, collectibles, artwork, museum profession-related topics, etc.

More than 10,000 square feet of behind-the-scenes space at Minnetrista is devoted to the preservation of the artifacts and archival material that document the history of East Central Indiana. Minnetrista has more than 15,000 objects in its museum collection, including artifacts and archival materials such as photographs, correspondence, clothing, quilts, furniture, locally manufactured products and much more.

Not only is Minnetrista's library and archives a repository for the area's written and photographic history, it is also a research center that is open to the public. If you are looking for a photograph of downtown Muncie in the 1940s, doing a research project on the service of area soldiers during the Civil War, or trying to determine when a local business existed, investigate the library and archives.

Some of the materials available for your research include county and town histories, indexes to birth, death and marriage records and city directories. Archival materials include correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, records of clubs and organizations, maps, diaries, records and advertising materials from area businesses, school yearbooks and military records.

For more information, visit http://www.minnetrista.net/ or contact Susan Smith, Archivist, at (765) 282-4848.

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Do you know someone who might want to receive Communique Online? Anyone may join the mailing list by e-mailing col@indianahistory.org.

If your historical organization, genealogical society or museum has changed its address or phone number in the past six months, please send the updated information to Coordinator, Local History Services, at the above e-mail, or Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, 450 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis, IN 46202.