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March 2003
As I write this, it is more than five months since the Spurlock
Museum dedication of September 26th, and the Museum staff changed
their activities from construction and opening to the operation
of a modern museum. The new work is welcome, and the staff are
enjoying being in the galleries and interacting with our visitors.
General attendance has been good (even on some of our snowiest
days!), and we are particularly pleased to see University classes
from a wide variety of campus units from within LAS, FAA, Engineering,
and GSLIS making use of the Museum. Our spring calendar for guided
tours is fully booked, and the special events program schedule
is nearly filled.
For the opening, the
Museum's Horowitz Collection of brass rubbings from Britain was
featured in the Focus Gallery, and this exhibit
was replaced over winter
break by one featuring Bronze Age Trade
in the Mediterranean. The Knight Auditorium
is proving to be a comfortable setting for lectures and performances. Mark Horowitz
lectured on the brass rubbings, and the trade exhibit was accompanied by a lecture
by Dr. George Bass of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A & M
University, who described the underwater excavation of two bronze-age Mediterranean
shipwrecks. Dr. Bass's presentation was the first event of the Dr. Allan Campbell
Family Distinguished Lecture Series. During the entire month of April and the
first weekend of May, the exhibit Beethoven and the Creative Process, developed
in conjunction with Professor William Kinderman and the School of Music, will
be featured in the Campbell Lobby.
In the Museum’s
feature galleries, exhibits are being expanded as well. John
Garvey, an emeritus University professor in the School of Music,
and his
family have contributed a portion of his fine collection of artifacts from Bali
to the Museum, including a Barong Ket now installed
in the Asian Gallery. The
Barong Ket is a costume used for religious dances in Bali, and
the Museum’s beautifully crafted example provides a striking
exhibit. The tipi featured in the Gallery of American Indian
Cultures is a source of much
interest to visitors, many of whom wish to peek inside. Unfortunately, nothing
can be seen except the floor on which the tipi is mounted, but soon installation
of artifacts from the Laubin Collection will be complete and a view of the interior
will open to visitors. The arrangement is being modeled after a photograph from
Reginald Laubin's book The Indian Tipi.
Museum general collections are being expanded with a constant
stream of new donations - thanks to all our kind supporters!
The Museum has had some fine tuning to do as well. Because of
fiscally stringent times in the University and the State, special
programs rely on visitor donations,
and we have installed a new donation box in the lobby. There is ongoing monitoring
of the Museum climate and adjustment of lighting arrangements and exhibits
as well.
All and all, the Spurlock Museum staff are as busy now as it
was before the dedication! |
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