HomeMy WebLinkAbout5.1.20 Attach 2 boardmemo5-1-20201 | P a g e
May 1, 2020
To the Board,
This memo will help keep you updated on what is happening at the Museum, as well as what to
anticipate when meetings resume. First, thank you for letting me know about the possibility of virtual
meetings; I hope we can begin regular meetings soon.
The refurbishment of the temporary (red) gallery is now in the initial phase. With the window coverings
removed to provide natural light for work, it is very evident that after 20 years of temporary exhibitions
the gallery really needed an overhaul. Coming up is refinishing the oak floor and repair and painting of
the ceiling and walls. The work is scheduled to be done by July 13. The tasks we are doing to prepare the
gallery for Titanic exhibition will serve us well in the years ahead. Staff are also anticipate setting up the
point-of-sale system and the special Titanic store, to be located in the Sawyer home parlor.
In regard to the actual Titanic exhibition, everything remains on schedule for a mid-August opening, and
the EM Group folks and artifacts arriving July 29. To save on our costs, EM Group agreed to utilize
Museum cases for the artifacts, thus saving us a significant amount of money. However, because the
Titanic artifacts are so fragile and rare, EM Group requires that cases have their own desiccant chamber
so that humidity can be controlled within each case. We have the in-house capability of fabricating the
chambers and Greg Witthun is performing that work. The acrylic bonnets are also being assessed and it
is likely we will have to order new ones.
Staff are making excellent progress on the Sporting & Recreation (S & R) exhibition. We have one section
remaining for the selection of objects and images and intend to complete that shortly. Once all that is
done, Split Rock Studios will complete their work and then we will have our first look at the preliminary
design via a WebEx on June 2; refinements normally follow. The final presentation is currently scheduled
for late July. Because of the winter cyberattack, the Museum only had its Past Perfect database up and
running for two weeks before the pandemic hit. Collection staff worked hard to get the exhibition back
on schedule once we had the database back and I am proud of what they accomplished. As it looks now,
I plan to present the Split Rock exhibition design to the Board at the August meeting. As I might have
said earlier, fit-out for S & R cannot commence until winter 2021. We will be staging the Titanic
materials in the old Paine model gallery, and of course we cannot have fit-out construction in progress
during the Titanic exhibition. Much of fit-out will again be done by staff and City divisions, with selected
work such as painting put out for bid.
In addition to the S & R exhibition, Katrina Achilli is working on additional interpretation of the
Menominee Clans Story, and Greg will be fabricating the associated kiosks. The Origin Story and other
elements will be presented in a manner similar to how we revealed stories in Cemetery Tales, which was
really popular with visitors. The new interpretive elements must be done by the official opening, which
is June 20, the day of the Powwow. We have arranged for special gifts to be presented to select
Menominee leaders who helped us, and special tee shirts for the dancers. These gifts will be presented
by the Board President and me on the day of the Powwow. Tammy Malewski is doing a fantastic job
developing and coordinating this event.
The foundation repair packet is almost ready to go out for bid. While it has taken a great deal of time to
move this forward, I feel confident that we made the right decision to coordinate with Public Works and
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other departments. The repairs will be performed in a careful, systematic way and I greatly appreciate
the input and expertise of Public Works.
We have scheduled an exhibition for 2021: original Star Wars toys from the 1970s and 80s. One thing
that I truly love about a public museum is its diversity. We can engage visitors with the 1912 story of a
famous disaster, or the culture of Wisconsin’s Native peoples, and then jump to a popular movie and its
sequels (and its widespread sub-culture) and engage an entirely new group of people. Star Wars toys
will be in the red gallery throughout the winter and spring months.
In the miscellaneous paragraph, on Wednesday morning Anna and I met with Alex Ramsey of Engberg
Anderson regarding the landscaping portion of the building design, which is the final element of design
development. Without a doubt, we will experience much better drainage away from the building. During
the meeting we talked about a new sign for the Algoma Boulevard side of the Museum, and one at the
northwest corner. We cannot reconstruct the masonry terrace sign destroyed in December by a hit-and-
run driver, so most likely it will be moved onto the grounds near the sidewalk. The landscaper’s ideas
resulted in improvements to the stairs and ramp, as well as better bus loading, and successfully
eliminated the concerns some Board members had with the logistics of the entrance design. I anticipate
presenting all this for your review and vote at the August meeting. Once formally adopted, this plan will
replace the previous site master plan. The Oshkosh Garden Club will not be working on the flower beds
this year because of the corona virus, so last week staff members Tammy Malewski and Daniel Fiser
took time to clean out all the beds and other high visibility planting areas near the entrance and east
lawn. We have depended on the dedicated help of Garden Club members for many years and do not
take their work for granted. Once we do reopen, collection staff have a long list of potential donors to
contact and follow up, as staff could not do this because of the cyberattack (we had no access to Past
Perfect), and now people cannot bring in items to consider for donation. We are also eager to have our
regular volunteers return, and we have to schedule volunteer training for Titanic. In other words, we
have much to do!
That ends the week. Normally I don’t wish time away, but in this case I am happy to put April behind us.
Brad Larson