New collections in Trove - March 2015

New collections in Trove

Man sorting through the card catalogue for exhibitions at the museum, Sydney, 28 May 1930

A look back at the last six months

The Trove team is always hard at work bringing in new records to Trove and the past six months have been no different, with a wide range of new collections coming in. We post in the Trove forum and tweet about new collections, but in case you missed it here is a quick look at what’s new in Trove. 

Museum collections

The items that museums collect are always so different and varied; it is always interesting seeing what new things we’ve harvested into Trove. In October last year we started work with Victorian Collections, a collection of museum items from organisations all over Victoria, to bring in some of the items their members had to offer.

So far from Victorian Collection we have the following organisations:
Cyril Kett Optometry Museum
Murumbeena Cricket Club
Federation University of Australia (both their art collection and history collection)
Ballarat Base Hospital Trained Nurses League
RSL Victoria - Anzac House Reference Library & Memorabilia Collection
HMAS Cerberus Museum
Glen Eira Historical Society
Tatura Irrigation and Wartime Camps Museum
Deaf Children Australia
Albury Library Museum4th/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse Regiment Unit History Room 

Photograph collections

We’ve also added some great photograph collections such as the Kurrajong-Comleroy Historical Society, who have more than 5,300 images from the 1840s onwards, and other collections.

Read more . . .

Events which may be of interest

Rebecca Pinchin, Regional Services Coordinator, Powerhouse Museum has kindly sent me a list of events which may be of interest in the next few weeks, for those who may be travelling from the Central Tablelands.

Please pass on to to those of your members who may have a potential interest.


Lecture and Workshop in Maitland

Australian Dress Register
Wednesday 11 September 2013
A public lecture and workshop on the Australian Dress Register website will be held at the Maitland Gaol 10am -11.30 (all welcome)
Lunch and afternoon tea included.
Where: Maitland Gaol Auditorium, John Street East Maitland
Cost Lecture- free, Lecture and workshop $5
Booking essential – contact Justine Malinowski – Committee Member AMCAT 0409 929 839 or justinemonstar@hotmail.com  or Rebecca Pinchin rebeccap@phm.gov.au  ph 9217 0220  or  Freecall 1800 882 0922


Part of History Week 7 - 15th September, 2013 Powerhouse Museum 

Caring for Photographs
Tuesday 10th September 9:30am -12:30
Photographs are a wonderful visual record of history and everyone collects them. But that history can disappear if they do are not looked after properly. In this workshop, you can find out about different photographic processes and learn conservation techniques such as surface cleaning, appropriate storage and archival framing of photos. The second session will demonstrate how to get good results from digitising and scanning your collection.
http://sa2.seatadvisor.com/sabo/servlets/TicketRequest?eventId=100643493&presenter=AUPMUSEUM&venue=&event=&version=
 
Talk: David Mist celebrates the swinging sixties, again!
Wednesday 11 September, 12.30pm – 1.30pm (arrive 12pm)
Modelled on the Birds of Britain book of 1967 which featured photographs of influential young British women like Mary Quant, Dusty Springfield and Marion Faithfull, David Mist’s Made in Australia book of 1969 focused on Australian ‘bird’ life. Revisit the era in conversation with photographer, David Mist and Powerhouse Museum curator, Anne-Marie Van de Ven
 http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/whatson/talk_Mist.php

and at Castle Hill

From Streetscapes to Photo Albums 
Presented at the Powerhouse Discovery Centre, the Powerhouse Museum’s off-site publicly accessible collection storage facility at Castle Hill, Powerhouse social history curator, Anni Turnbull and Powerhouse conservator, Dee McKillop will take you on a journey through highlights of the museum’s photography collections, looking at the rationale behind collecting certain photographs, the stories behind some of the iconic photographic images in the collection, as well as providing conservation and storage tips on how to care for your own treasured family photographs.
http://castlehill.powerhousemuseum.com/history-week-seminar-from-streetscapes-to-photo-albums/
 
And don’t forget the   …….
Regional Services Applications for the 2014 Regional Services program now open.
Professional advice, project assistance and regional internships are available across all the collection areas and other areas of museum practice such as developing exhibitions, museum learning, publishing, security and marketing. Closing September 2013

Thanks Rebecca

Workshop on understanding the significance of objects held in museum collections

Clues and insight into accessing funding

Samantha Friend from Bathurst District Historical Society attended our Access to Funding seminar in Wagga Wagga in March. She kindly agreed to contribute her experiences of the day to our blog, including the clues of the day!

"I was lucky enough to attend a very good seminar put on by M&GNSW in Wagga Wagga, NSW on 21 March 2013. I am from a small, volunteer run museum in Bathurst, NSW and we, like most volunteer organizations, run on the smell of a dollar note, so ANY information at all about what’s out there in terms of funding is an absolute bonus for us. 

The presenters were all very good and full of useful information, tips and tricks, and hints on how to write an application – “Read the guidelines”, “Use plain English” and “Don’t be afraid to ask” seemed to be the clues of the day! But each presenter had plenty to say on the serious nuts and bolts side of funding applications too. I think the most important thing I found was while it is paramount to get the application right and some of them are complex, you are not doing it alone – there is plenty of consultation and time to get it right. And that there is a decent amount of funding out there; you just have to know where to look. Rachel Vincent from the Museum of The Riverina in Wagga Wagga gave a great presentation on other funding opportunities – it’s amazing who’s out there prepared to fund Museums and Collections!

My Society is small and a bit disorganized, and I am new to the industry, but everyone at these events always makes me feel very welcome, is very good about answering my stupid questions, and is interested in who and what we are. It’s also great to meet others in the Museum game, and to catch up with those you know, and there is always fantastic food! Last week’s was really good – specially loved the pies!"- Samantha Friend, Bathurst District Historical Society.

Collections Management - Just say no!

Participants of the workshop. Photography by Tamara Lavrencic.
Image courtesy of Alan McRae.

On 15 March, M&G NSW hosted a workshop, Introduction to Collections Management, at the Orange Regional Gallery, with the generous support of the Sustainable Collections Project. This is the fifth of six workshops funded through a Community Heritage Grant from the National Library of Australia. 

The presenter was Margot Jolly, a Museum Consultant with years of experience working with museums large and small, in a broad cross-section of museum practice. Margot’s experience as a Museum Advisor working with community museums around Bland, Orange and Cabonne Local Government Areas, makes her very approachable and the workshop participants responded with enthusiasm, contributing their own anecdotes and experiences.

Of most interest was the session, Just Say No, where participants focused on refusing a donation and explaining why the object is not being accepted into a collection. It's never easy dealing with the disappointment from someone who has treasured an object and is looking for a safe home for it.

The following organisations were well represented: Carcoar Hospital Museum, Bloomfield Hospital Collection, Millthorpe Museum, Blayney Family History Group, Molong Museum, Orange City Library, Orange & District Historical Society, Canowindra & District Historical Society, and Bathurst District Historical Society.

The success of the workshop is expressed in the following email received a few days later:

“I just wanted to let you know how much I really enjoyed this workshop. Margot is a terrific presenter and she really made a lot of things much clearer...It's great to hear someone who knows what sort of things we have to deal with, and the sorts of problems we have to solve. We really appreciate all that M&G NSW does for small museums, and particularly all the help and assistance we get from you and the others personally.”

- Tamara Lavrencic, Museum Programs and Collections Manager, Museums & Galleries NSW 

Powerhouse Museum-Farewell to curator, Christina Sumner, OAM

  Farewell to curator, Christina Sumner, OAM

Published on February 4, 2013 by Anne-Marie Van de Ven in ceramics, Curator profiles, Object of the week and Textiles. 0 Comments Tags: Bright flowers: textiles and ceramics of Central Asia, christina sumner, South East Asian textiles.

On the eve of of Christina Sumner’s departure we asked her a few questions about her experiences at the Museum over the last 28 years.

What have you enjoyed the most about working in the Museum?

Always always always it’s been the people and the collection. I’ve been lucky enough to spend every working day with curatorial and other colleagues who are bright, interested, articulate and as passionate as I am about the collection – building it, and committing ourselves to interpret, tell stories about and communicate the meaning of our objects to the wider community.

Can you nominate 3 favourite objects you have acquired for the permanent collection?

 
The first great treasure I acquired was the Anzac House Australia tapestry in 1988. I’ll never forget the goosebumps and excitement as this great tapestry was unrolled in a warehouse for me to see, and I realised what I was looking at. The tapestry was designed by Jean Lurçat, who is known as the father of modern tapestry, and woven at Aubusson in France between 1960 and 1962. In 1987 the Anzac House Trust moved to smaller premises and presented the tapestry to the Musuem as a bicentennial gift to the people of New South Wales.

Another beloved textile is the early 19th century suzani from Bukhara that I acquired in 1992. This was the start of a long love affair with these beautiful dowry embroideries that eventually resulted in the 2004 loan exhibition Bright flowers: textiles and ceramics of Central Asia, for which we borrowed suzanis, other embroideries, costume and 10th to 20th century ceramics from the amazing collections of state museums in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. It was quite an experience to see our suzani displayed in its own cultural context, with other embroideries from Central Asia.

Read full article

2012 Community Heritage Grants Now Open

Applications for the 2012 Community Heritage Grants are now open. Grants of up to $15,000 are available to community groups around the country to help preserve and manage locally held, nationally significant cultural heritage collections of documents and objects for future generations.

Projects supported include significance assessments, preservation needs assessments, conservation activities and collection management. Representatives from historical societies, museums, public libraries, archives and Indigenous and migrant community groups are encouraged to apply.

Find out more and apply online

Image: Mark Arbuz, Spray and Steam Iron Horse, 1981. Image from the Craft Australia National Historical Collection 

Image Bank, CHG recipients in 2010

Powerhouse Museum Regional Services 2012 Program

Please click on text to enlarge,

Kandos Collection Management Workshop

To Everyone who attended the Kandos Collection Management Workshop,

Thank you so much for your time on Saturday.  It was lovely to meet you all and we found the workshop to be both rewarding and stimulating. 

We found the discussion of museum methods in the regional context was extremely thought provoking and has provided useful input for planning future regional programs.

On our return to the Powerhouse we have found out where to purchase supplies of paraloid used for physically numbering objects.  Our Conservation Department do not sell the products but say that Preservation Australia does. Their website is: http://www.preservationaustralia.com.au/.  The advice is to Look under adhesives: Products :Adhesives :Numbering kit - Both Paraloid B72 and B67, Price: 2 x 15ml $25.00.

The other common request was to see a full copy of our Deaccession policy.  We have provided it as an attachment.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Many thanks


Judy Coombes
Manager, Registration
92170225

Nicky Balmer
Assistant Registrar
92170117

IMAGinE awards 2011 - inspiring museums & galleries in excellence

The IMAGinE awards are an annual event that strengthen and promote the NSW and ACT museum and gallery sector by celebrating the wonderful institutions, collections, exhibitions, education programs, outreach projects and individuals that make up our industry.

With the awards closing date fast approaching on Tuesday 30 August, now is the time to get those nominations in! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to create great exposure for your organisation and gain recognition amongst the museum and gallery sector. Past awards winners have used their success to gain media coverage, raise the profile of their museum or gallery in their community and as an advocacy tool to funding bodies.

You can nominate for Collection Management, Exhibitions & Public Engagement, Education & Audience Development and Individual Achievement. These categories are broken down into four sections depending on the size of your organisation.

Nomination forms can be downloaded from the M&G NSW website: http://mgnsw.org.au/sector_development/imagine_awards_2011/

Nominations close on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 (nominations postmarked with this date will also be accepted). Winners will be announced at a gala event to be held at the Australian Museum on the evening of Friday 30 September.

The IMAGinE awards are presented by Museums & Galleries NSW in partnership with Regional & Public Galleries NSW, Museums Australia NSW and Museums Australia ACT.

Source: can-notices newsletter