Hi, Carol.

I've been wishing that MOMS could circulate a replica of one or two of the
tribal exhibits at NMAI.  I think there is tremendous potential for
involving community members who may believe they have Native American
genealogy, however obscure and undocumented.  There are 25,000 "Native
Americans" on the Missouri census, and I'll bet fewer than 100 are actually
"enrolled" in a "Federally Recognized" tribe or nation.  In implementing
something like this there would be opportunities for local sponsors to make
contact with cultural preservation officers at nearby tribes, or with the
tribes that were historically resident in the region.  Imagine a small town
in New Jersey inviting representatives from the Delaware Nation in Oklahoma,
or of a museum in Indiana contacting an officer of the Absentee Shawnees in
Oklahoma.  This is one of several Shawnee communities, but it may be the one
with the strongest traditional inheritance.  Museums in Illinois, Iowa,
Missouri, or Kansas could work with officers of the Sac and Fox federation
in that area.

We are finding in our Lewis and Clark programs (a series of four programs in
rural museums and libraries in four states) that the appearance of tribal
spokespersons for a talk and Q&A is perhaps the most valuable part of the
experience for non-Tribal audiences.

We currently have three exhibits in production to represent the modern and
historical Osage, Sac and Fox, Delaware, and Shawnee people, all of whom
were resident in Missouri two centuries ago.  These exhibits are
small-scale, modeled on NMAI in method, and based on tribal input and
approval all the way.  I'm not sure they would be candidates for MOMS, but
they represent an impulse to take NMAI technique as a model and implement
the model locally.

--Michael Bouman, Missouri Humanities Council

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum on Main Street [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Carol Harsh
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 7:08 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: New MoMS exhibitions

Hi all,

As you know MoMS is launching the tour of Between Fences in September 2005
and New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music in March 2007.  The MoMS
staff is starting to think beyond these two exhibitions to yet another new
MoMS exhibition that will begin traveling in 2009.

We would love to hear from you regarding exhibitions that you have seen, or
possibly that your council helped to develop, that you feel could be adapted
to make a great MoMS exhibition.

A good MoMS exhibition is one that has a national focus but that inspires
locally developed programs that are focused on local history and culture.
The exhibition needs to be thematic in approach and draw upon a variety of
humanities disciplines. It needs to be limited security so that we can
travel it to small museums and libraries, and therefore can't involve rare
collections or artifacts. The topic needs to have a broad appeal, and
preferably inspire a passionate reaction at the local level as we have seen
with barns and food.

Please send your comments and suggestions to me by June 1. Robbie and I will
follow up with curators and explore the viability of the topics.  In
addition to any ideas we get from you, we are currently developing a handful
of other exhibition proposals on a variety of topics.

Our plan is to distribute a slate of exhibition proposals to you on August
1, 2005, and ask you to rank and rate them as to which ones might make a
good MoMS exhibition tour in your state.  Surveys will need to be returned
to us by mid September so that we can make the final determination and
announce the decision at the Federation's National Humanities Conference.

Please remember that a lot of factors come into play in determining which
exhibition ideas are appropriate for MoMS.  We value your input and
appreciate your understanding that the MoMS team is working hard to make
sure that only the best and most viable exhibition topics are presented to
you for your consideration.

I am looking forward to your good ideas!

Carol

Carol Harsh
Co-Director
Museum on Main Street
Smithsonian Institution, SITES
(202)357-1760
(202)465-5267 (cell)
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