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November 2000
As reported in my last
letter, the museum's accomplishments should be visible to anyone
who has driven by the new building site. We have received a number
of generous gifts from museum friends this year that will help support
our galleries and facility. The museum's plans for moving the offices
and collections proceeded on schedule and we are working from within
the new facility. Unfortunately, along with our many positive strides
forward, we have encountered a few problems. Several construction
related problems have delayed our next important phase of work,
exhibit fabrication. Our floors remain the main issue of concern,
and Dean Delia, as well as other University representatives are
working with us to resolve this situation so that future delays
are kept to a minimum. Because we want a museum facility that all
our constituency can be proud of, we intend to continue testing
our floors and working toward the best solution possible for the
long-term health of the museum. This being the case, our scheduled
opening date, by necessity, must be pushed back to accommodate further
testing and any repairs that might be recommended. To accommodate
the uncertainly of our schedule, we now envision a 2002 date for
our opening.
Naturally, this comes
as a big disappointment to us, as we have been looking forward to
beginning our gallery installations, but the staff and I are sure
our museum friends understand the importance of sticking to the
goal of "quality" for our building as well as our exhibitions.
If a silver lining can be found in our current situation it is that
we feel fortunate that our problems were discovered now, rather
than after we had begun or even finished our exhibits. Should such
a scenario have occurred we certainly would be worse off than we
are today. As director, I feel these delays are frustrating, but
not deleterious to our ultimate goal. I trust you will continue
offering the museum your support through these difficult times.
We will over come these impediments and have a finer museum to show
for it, in the end.
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