Heroic Efforts: An update to museum staff and stakeholders

During our spring LSM Board of Directors meeting we discussed challenges we face this summer preparing for two major exhibitions. The Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond opening in 2010 may have been the last time we marshaled so many resources and departments behind a major initiative. This time around things are a little different because we are opening two significant exhibitions, one in Baton Rouge followed by another in New Orleans.

In late October our Capitol Park Museum in Baton Rouge will begin Louisiana's Battle of New Orleans commemoration with the presentation of Revolution! The Atlantic World Reborn. This amazing exhibition on loan from the New York Historical Society explores the big bang against tyranny resulting in the American, French, and Haitian revolutions. LSM is supplementing this fascinating exhibition with loans from our collection including Napoleon's Death Mask and our early 19th century painting titled Napoleon Crossing the Alps.


Two months later we open the keystone exhibition for the Battle of New Orleans celebration titled From "Dirty Shirts" to Buccaneers: The Battle of New Orleans in American Culture. As with any monumental undertaking it takes an ambitious and visionary team to realize success.




I cannot help but relate our efforts in 21st century New Orleans with those feverish days of preparation leading up to the Battle in New Orleans in 1815. First, planning and information are critical. Museum leadership in Curatorial, Education and Maintenance Departments began planning in earnest for this historic objective nearly two years ago.

We all understood that this is an important moment in the 100+ year history of the Louisiana State Museum. The Museum staff, our partners, and friends make up an incredible force that will bring success.



Education leadership began analysis through diagrams and spreadsheets with the goal of coordinating the myriad of programs surrounding the exhibitions in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

LSM Friends organizations are also planning to present a wide array of public programs over the next six months and the Friends of the Cabildo have announced a symposium featuring the finest in scholarship.



 LSM's Marketing partners analyze current web content and
plan the architecture for the museum's new web site.

Marketing staff began organizing and planning a new brand and dynamic web site for the LSM system that will help us market globally. The new Internet destination will launch this fall before the Revolution! exhibition opens in Baton Rouge.  The Marketing team is also developing stories, press packets, social media platforms and leading the community in the creation of a joint marketing initiative benefiting seven museums throughout New Orleans.




 Conservators working on an American uniform

Not only are LSM curators gathering artifacts and negotiating loans from other museums, but our partners in the conservation community have been working diligently to restore and conserve uniforms, paintings, sculpture and other artifacts for the Battle of New Orleans exhibition.

Very shortly we will formally announce additional loans from major collections. The Revolution! and Battle of New Orleans exhibitions will garner Louisiana, the Museum system and our Friends organizations national recognition.



LSM Carpenter crafting the cannon carriage

We are considering every detail. Museum Painters and laborers are cleaning and remodeling the public spaces and pathways leading to the new exhibition in the historic Cabildo.

Carpenters have also undertaken an amazing recreation of the Naval carriage for the Spanish cannon used in the Battle. The completed carriage will be dedicated to LSM maintenance staff members from 1906-1915.

 

LSM Historians have been deeply involved in research and developing an exhibit storyline that shares the compelling story behind the Battle of New Orleans.

Our exhibitions team are busy designing and crafting artifact fixtures, mounts and interpretive panels for the Battle of New Orleans exhibition and working with the New York Historical Society staff in the exhibit design for Revolution! at the Capitol Park Museum.

Concert at the Old U.S. Mint

Of course all our efforts would be futile without financial support. Our events staff, the museum police department, and maintenance crew deserve special honor for their hard work over the past few months. They have been very aggressive in helping raise much needed revenue by facilitating special events in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Wedding receptions, commercial movie shoots, concerts and festivals all generate income that support our exhibition and program efforts throughout Louisiana.

Finally, the Louisiana Museum Foundation, the Friends of Capitol Park Museum, and the Friends of the Cabildo are making great headway in securing corporate and foundation support for these exhibitions.

Thank you to everyone involved in this monumental effort. Please remember that we all have a vital and important role to play.  Andrew Jackson said, "Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in." I believe General Jackson would be a little envious of the team we have behind the Louisiana State Museum.

Mark A Tullos, Jr., Director, Louisiana State Museum

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

Friday, October 23, 2014
Exhibition Opening: Revolution! The Atlantic World Reborn
Capitol Park Museum, Baton Rouge

Saturday, November 1, 2014
Louisiana Museum Foundation presents "The Buccaneer" Cecil B. DeMille's 1938 cinematic masterpiece about the Battle of New Orleans.
Old. U.S. Mint, New Orleans

January 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, and 10, 2015
CS Productions presents “The Battle of New Orleans - Bicentennial Celebration” projection mapping show of the historic Cabildo and Presbytere in Jackson Square, New Orleans

Friday, January 9, 2015
Victory Ball, Battle of New Orleans: From Dirty Shirts to Buccaneers
Cabildo, New Orleans

Saturday, January 10, 2015
Friends of Cabildo Member Preview, Battle of New Orleans: From Dirty Shirts to Buccaneers
Cabildo, New Orleans

Sunday, January 11, 2015
Public Opening, Battle of New Orleans: From Dirty Shirts to Bucanneers
Cabildo, New Orleans

 

Some Past is Present

Over the past year I have neglected to contribute to this blog which I began in 2012. Last year I assumed a new position as Assistant Secretary for the Office of State Museum/Director of the Louisiana State Museum system. After settling into my new role it seems like a good time to share again.

My intent is to share through these postings a few observations from my experiences in museum work. You will also find early postings from 2012 and reflections related to my experiences with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Hilliard Museum of Art. (see the archive to the right)

Futurists predict an age of Singularity dawning within the next 50 years. It is important to realize that if this new world emerges, where artificial intelligence is a pervasive influence on practically every aspect of our existence that the arts and humanities will continue to be a uniquely human manifestation. Museums in particular will continue to shape our reality and the values reflected in our shared cultures.

For example, literature, philosophy, poetry and storytelling shape the meaning of all religion. The image of oneself or one's Deity is crafted through language and objects. Our museums and libraries are the physical storehouses of what truly defines us. The tangible, organic/carbon-based objects in museums are imbued with unique qualities that a virtual world can never provide.

Friends of Cabildo Docent leading a tour of the Cabildo

Education should be the heart and soul of our process in developing exhibitions of objects and related programs throughout the Louisiana State Museum System. Exhibitions are the visible manifestation of our values and implicitly communicate our understanding of our past, present and future.  Education is the vehicle through which we nurture inquiry and exhibitions provide museum visitors with first-hand exposure to the artifacts related to our unique human experiences. 

This blog will explore the objects and ideas that we present in our nine museum properties throughout the state of Louisiana. Your thoughts and commentary are most welcomed.
I have proof that there is indeed a harmony between the past and present. You might agree that at some time you had a coincidental meeting, a re-acquaintance with someone, or you stumbled upon an object or a place that was a profound connection to your past. Life has a strange way of revealing the interconnected nature of past and present.

My sister, Melodye T. Willie, a retired principle and educator, developed a passion for researching our family history. She uncovered some intriguing facts about my family's past including a discovery that our third great-grandfather (maternal side) was a Steamboat captain in New Orleans in the mid 19th century.

Pilot Nathan Way

A census of “Free Inhabitants in the 11^th Ward of the City of New Orleans” document that he was 21 years old and lived in a house with Maria Roberts-age 62 a midwife from New York estimated real estate value was $3,000.00, Sarah Kenny age 50 from Virginia whose real estate value was listed at $4,000.00, Benjamin Kenny age 11, John King age 32 listed as a merchant, Eliza King age 35, Thomas C King age 1 and Elizabeth Griffin age 15.  The Kings and Elizabeth Griffin were from Ireland. Nathan Way is listed as one of two pilots for the J. M. White steamboat.

Last year when I toured our Capitol Park Museum in Baton Rouge I passed a scale model of the J.M. White Steamboat. Artifacts from the riverboat were also on display.  Soon after I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by retired New Orleans Riverboat Captain "Doc" Hawley and he provided me with a publication that confirmed that my great grandfather, indeed served as pilot for the first and second generations of the J.M. White Steamboat. Of course a chill went up my spine when I confirmed this phenomenal coincidence.



Model of J.M. White Steamboat (1878-88) at Louisiana State Museum's
Capital Park Museum in Baton Rouge, LA.

Now each day as I hold meetings in my office or stroll through the French Quarter, I hear the moan of the Natchez steamboat whistle as it beckons tourists to board a river tour. I can only imagine that the ghost of Nathan Way is at the wheel. I realize now that I have been given the honor and privilege to pilot a different kind of vessel than that of my Grandfather Way.

This story provides an opportunity for me to share another important value in museums. If you look hard enough you can find a part of yourself in the collections of the Louisiana State Museum. I hope you will begin your own search.