Author: melinda.gales

SERA News

The Newsletter of the Southeastern Registrars Association

Volume 47, Issue 1
Winter 2024
www.seregistrars.org

Inside this issue:

Notes from the Chair Tricia Miller

Notes from the Chair	1
Treasurer’s / Report	2-3
Membership	4
SERA News	5-10

SERA OFFICERS
Chair:
Tricia Miller
Vice-Chair:
Jennifer Spence
Secretary:
Alyssa Magnone
Treasurer/Membership Chair:
Kaitlyn Hof-Mahoney
Development Chair:
Ainsley Powell
Communications Chair:
Sabra Gossett
State
Coordinator:
Deanna Taylor
Scholarship Chair:
Elizabeth Le
Nominations Chair:
Christy Sinksen

Dear SERA Members,
I am writing my note from the chair on the last day to make session proposals to SEMC and I want to thank everyone who stepped up to make a proposal. I am hearing that there are many more collections-based proposals this year and I am proud of our membership for heeding the call. Competition may be stiff this year so don’t be discouraged if your session is not chosen. Save it for the 2025 conference!
We had our first board meeting recently and I am so impressed by our excellent group of volunteer board members. We had a good discussion on several topics, including scholarships and the Registrar’s Respite. We need your input as well, so be on the lookout for a poll regarding scholarship interest and more information about possible new ways to advertise and manage the respite.
Spring is on the way and I hope you are all looking forward to longer days and warmer weather. Keep up the good hard work I know you are all doing, but also be sure to plan a vacation!
All my best,
Tricia Miller

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Treasurer’s Report Kaitlyn Hof-Mahoney

Greetings SERA Members,
Happy 2024! As we enter a new year, I am delighted to share that 43 of our current members have already renewed their memberships and we are off to a wonderful start. I enjoyed seeing those of you who were able to join us in Louisville and hope to see many of you again in Baton Rouge.
As a reminder, SERA’s memberships expire at the end of each calendar year. So, if you have not renewed since the 2023 SEMC Conference, your membership is now technically expired. We currently have 70 2023 members who have not yet renewed. You must be a member in good standing to qualify for SERA’s upcoming conference scholarship opportunities (Please apply for these! I want to give you money!). The Executive Board is currently reviewing our scholarship process and amounts to make them as useful as possible for our members. There will be a survey going out shortly about scholarships, so please share your thoughts with us.
We had a wonderful gathering at the Bourbon Barrel Loft for our Registrar’s Respite this year but went significantly over what we had budgeted for the event. The Executive Board met recently and discussed ways to be sure we stick to our budget for the future, so stay tuned for some changes coming this year.
As of February 9, 2024, SERA has 115 active members, up 11.7% from last year.
As of February 9, 2024, the current balance in the Chase checking account is $9,793.76. The current balance in the PayPal account is $3,274.97. The combined total on-hand is $13,068.73, down $1,595.10 (-10.9%) from the $14,663.83 on-hand reported this time last year.
Below is our full statement of activity for 2023. We had a net loss for the year of $1,650.32 after paying for conference and award expenditures. I have also included our year-to-date statement for 2024. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Kaitlyn Hof-Mahoney, Treasurer/Membership Chair

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Treasurer’s Report Kaitlyn Hof-Mahoney

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Membership

New* / Renewing Members
AL
Haley Aaron
Registrar, Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alexandra Campbell
Intern, Berman Museum – Anniston Museums & Gardens
Sabra Gossett
Collections Manager, Berman Museum – Anniston Museums & Gardens
Anna Grace Silvey*
Intern, Berman Museum – Anniston Museums & Gardens
Paula Haymon
Collections Manager and Registrar, Wiregrass Museum of Art
FL
Heather Culligan
Curator of Collections, Tampa Bay History Center
Kaitlyn Hof-Mahoney
Executive Director, Matheson History Museum
Valarie Kinkade
Principal, Museum and Collector Resource
GA
Aimee Brooks
Collections Manager, The Columbus Museum
Erica Hague
Collections Manager, Atlanta History Center
Christa McCay
Collections Manager, Marietta History Center
Christy Sinksen
Associate Registrar, Georgia Museum of Art
KY
Laura Hendrickson
Director of Collections & Registrar, The National Quilt Museum
Hannah Mahnken
Registrar, Kentucky Historical Society
LA
Sierra Polisar*
Head of Collections, Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University
NC
Loran Berg
Collections Manager, Mountain Heritage Center
Jordan Brothers Cao
Associate Registrar for Collections, North Carolina Museum of Art
Corinne Midgett
Registrar, High Point Museum
Ainsley Powell
Curator of Collections, City of Raleigh Historic Resources and Museum Program
SC
Robyn Adams Thiesbrummel
Registrar, South Carolina State Museum
Alyssa Magnone
Associate Preservation Specialist, Northeast Document Conservation Center
TN
Chris Inabinett*
Museum Specialist, Gray Fossil Site and Museum, East Tennessee State University
Michelle Lopez
Collections Manager/Registrar, National Civil Rights Museum
VA
Cathy DeSilvey
Registrar/Curator, Virginia Military Institute Museum System
Jeanne Niccolls
Museum Collections Consultant
WV
John Spurlock
Registrar/Assistant Curator, Huntington Museum of Art
New* / Renewing Institutional Members
Atelier 4, Charlotte, NC
Justine Chan, Senior Project Management
Estevan Collado, Sales Manager
Luke Lunsford, Project Management
Steve Pardun, VP Sales and Business Development
Kim Schantz, Director of Museum & Exhibition Projects
Jonathan Schwartz, CEO
Culture & Heritage Museums, York, SC
Rylee Aquilanti, Reference Archivist
Carleigh Isbell, Archives Specialist
Jen LaMaster, Collections Specialist
Jillian Bingham, Director of Collections
Nancy Sambets, Director of Archives
The Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LA
Susan Eberle, Registrar
Rachel Ford, Registrar
Jennifer Ghabrial, Collections Manager
Kylie Hewitt, Associate Registrar*
Maclyn Hickey, Conservation Coordinator
Beth Sherwood, Associate Registrar*

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SERA News

Alabama
Pamela Bransford Registrar Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
The MMFA opened the exhibition, (Un)Settled: The Landscape in American Art on January 26. The exhibition is a joint effort by the MMFA, Columbia Museum of Art, Mobile Museum of Art, and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. It is funded by Art Bridges. Each museum lent about 15-20 artworks to the show and each will host the exhibition over a two-year period. Pam enjoyed working with Alison Parman, Art Bridges Fellow in the Registrar’s Office at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Alison had quite a job coordinating loans, crating, and shipping for each venue. The design team of Kstudio did the layout and branded the show and a two-person installation crew from Level Fine Arts in Hartford was on site for four days. In addition, Atlanta-based conservator, Larry Shutts was hired to do incoming and outgoing condition reports. Instead of the traditional condition report notebook, Alison set up a condition report process using an iPad. She loaded each museum’s original condition reports into the Wadsworth’s database, Filemaker Pro. Three iPads traveled with the show one each for Alison, the conservator, and the venue registrar. Once the conservator made his report, Alison and Pam added any further comments and images with all entries uploading to Filemaker Pro in real time. Except for a few “dead spots” in the MMFA galleries, the system worked really well. Despite the MMFA’s status as guinea pig, the show was completed in time for the grand opening. The visiting curators and directors seemed pleased with the results and got a sneak preview of how the exhibition will look in their galleries.
Rose Wood
Registrar
Birmingham Museum of Art
All of the objects for Heroes and Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume have arrived and installation has begun in preparation for the February 17 opening. Rose is working with Lauren Brunk with Brunk Auctions in Asheville on a possible program for SEMC related to deaccessioning.
Arkansas
Amanda Cheatham Exhibition Designer/Museum Registrar Wingate Museum of Art at Hendrix College
"In the Shadow of the Moon" a multi-media exhibition opened at the museum in January in anticipation of the total solar eclipse whose path will cross over central Arkansas on April 8. The exhibit explores humankind's relationship to the Moon and Sun. It looks at how different cultures have interpreted and presented solar eclipses in art and the history and folklore surrounding the moon. Various media like science fiction illustration, video games, and contemporary art and sculpture, as well as other works make up the exhibit. Solar eclipse expedition artifacts from the late 1800s and early 1900s are also on display.
Jennifer Kick Collections Manager Rogers Historical Museum
The Rogers Historical Museum is busy preparing for their Collections Gallery exhibit showcasing American Glassware. As most of this exhibit is featuring clear glass, they decided to paint the entire gallery a darker color to help the glassware stand out more, so that has kept Kick busy. She is also building a few custom display shelves and doing unique lighting for each case and display stand – including an entire UV light stand to showcase uranium glass. They also just finished up the last day of a big collaboration field trip with the local Arkansas Arts Academy 6th graders. In this program, they learn about all the different jobs in a museum, how the exhibit process works, and get to see behind the scenes. At the end of the year they will take everything they learned from RHM and put together their own exhibit in our Dickerson Classroom space featuring their art and history project for the year – their own reproductions of historic artifacts from around the world.
Carolyn Reno
Collections Manager and Assistant Director
Shiloh Museum of Ozark History
The Shiloh Museum will open "Tracing the Threads: Weaving in the Arkansas Ozarks" on March 9. The exhibit tells the history of weaving from being a necessary task to a creative handicraft. The exhibit is collaboration with the Northwest Arkansas Handweavers Guild which is celebrating its 75th Anniversary.
Florida
Austin Bell
Curator of Collections
Marco Island Historical Society
Former SERA Treasurer Austin Bell is pleased to share that after more than 10 years as Curator of Collections for the Marco Island Historical Society, he has accepted a new position as Chief Curator of the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee, Florida. Austin’s wife, Erin Wolfe Bell, has also been named Executive Director of the Thomasville Center for the Arts in Thomasville, Georgia. Austin and Erin, along with their daughter Chloe, will be relocating to Thomasville and look forward to remaining active in the Southeast’s museum community. [Family photo by Ashley Gutierrez]
Also, The Marco Island Historical Society (MIHS) is pleased to present Out of the Sand: The Origins of Golf on Marco Island. The exhibit is at the Marco Island Historical Museum (MIHM) from November 14, 2023 through March 2, 2024. Generously sponsored by the Island Country Club Charitable Foundation, the exhibit is free and open to the public. Out of the Sand examines more than 50 years of Marco Island golf history through historical images and objects from the MIHS collections. According to MIHS Curator of Collections Austin Bell, “Golf has been a significant part of Marco Island’s identity since the 1960s. From its beginnings with the first pitch-and-putt golf course on the beach, golf grew into a signature island activity recognized by golfing enthusiasts from throughout the country.” The Marco Island Country Club — today known as the Island Country Club — has a long and illustrious history having hosted many of Marco Island’s world-famous golfing pros and other celebrities. The golfing world’s rising star, Tony Lema, was recruited in 1965 to be the Marco Island Country Club’s first professional golf pro. Tragically, he and his wife were killed in a plane crash in 1966. The Marco Island Country Club’s first Tony Lema Memorial Tournament was held in 1967 in his honor. For 14 years, it was a star-studded event that included golfing greats such as Gene Sarazen, Bobby Nichols, and Arnold Palmer. Many other celebrities also participated, including Mickey Mantle, Peter Falk, Perry Como, Joe DiMaggio, and others. This fun and interactive exhibit features many more interesting stories on Marco Island’s significant golf history. It even includes a three-hole “mini-course” which has proven to be a hole-in-one for all ages. Since the exhibit opened in mid-November, more than 200 participants have had their scorecards “attested.” Nearly half (42%) of the participants have been age 18 or under, and 20% of all participants were children under the age of 10. By comparison, about 17% of all museum visitors in 2023 were 18 or under. [Exhibit photos by Heather Otis]
Heather Culligan
Curator of Collections
Tampa Bay History Center
The Tampa Bay History Center is currently in the middle of digitizing a portion of the Touchton Map Library collection. Thomas English from Creekside Digital will be working for several weeks to capture anywhere from 1,000 to 1,200 maps, with many of the maps requiring multiple images. This is the third onsite visit for Creekside Digital, and the fourth overall digitization project between Creekside Digital and the Tampa Bay History Center. Currently, there are almost 6,000 digitized maps and related ephemera from the collection available online. While things on the exhibition side have been quiet for the Tampa Bay History Center, donations have been keeping Curator of Collections Heather Culligan and Curator of Exhibitions Malerie Dorman (who oversees the Touchton Map Library collection) very busy. The museum has received double the amount of donations this January compared to January 2023. Some of the highlights include contemporary art maps, letters depicting race, politics, and life in Tampa during the 1960s-1980s, an original painting from artist Nancy Henderson, programs and tickets from the first comedy festival held in Tampa, Seminole clothing items, and archaeological material from the historic black neighborhood known as The Scrub.
Georgia
Erica Hague
Collections Manager
Atlanta History Center
Atlanta History Center staff have been busily working on digitization of museum collections to beef up our search portal. The work that our project staff have completed since January is cumulating as photography of the items and the final digital records. If you’re interested in seeing some of the items go to https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/learning-research/search-the-collections Our GRAs and Interns that have worked on this project include, Deb Wold, Jess Landers, Titilope ‘Rosemary’ Falola, all from the University of West Georgia, and Amel Jackson from Agnes Scott College. This project has given us some unique insight into the timing for different parts of the project. We found it takes GRAs about 30 minutes per object record to inventory, it takes staff about 1.75 hours to do the data cleanup and research for each record, and we can photograph about 7-10 objects an hour. We’ve compiled this data for future projects, and to answer the ongoing question “why does it take so long!” This of course doesn’t include the time that it takes to do image cleanup, and the pulling and staging for each piece as it is photographed. All-in-all, it has been a very rewarding project and we look continuing this work. We are looking forward to welcoming Jen Glaze as our Associate Registrar full-time in January 2024. Jen has been working part-time on digitization project as Project Registrar and is responsible for the research and data cleanup of the records. In this new role she will be working to bring items that are on exhibit in our Turning Point Gallery online before our 100th year anniversary in 1926. Erica has also been busy assisting the Georgia Heritage Responders (GHR) Education Committee. GHR is a new state-wide group in Georgia, formed primarily from Heritage Emergency Response Atlanta (HERA) and Savannah Heritage Emergency Response (SHER) members. GHR offered our first in person training this past November at the Georgia Archives and plan to have a free virtual training for Mayday that will focus on emergency plans, and will include tabletop exercises. While our primary focus is Georgia, folks from out of state are always welcome to attend. If you’re in Georgia and are interested in getting involved in GHR, please reach out!
Kentucky
Hannah Mahnken
Registrar
Kentucky Historical Society Now that our "slow" winter season is upon us at the Kentucky Historical Society, it is an opportune time to switch out some textiles in our permanent gallery. Staff installed six quilts just a few days ago. When selecting the quilts and coverlets, I looked for items that had yet to see display or hadn't been exhibited for many years. With almost 200 quilts in the collection, it takes some time to cycle through them. Attached is a picture of a quilt on display that depicts the story "The Elephant's Child" by Rudyard Kipling. Our team now turns its focus to re-accreditation with AAM and all the work that coincides with that process.
Mississippi
Cheryl Waldrep
Museum Curator
Natchez National Historical Park
A reproduction floorcloth was made and installed at the Melrose mansion in 2023. The pattern closely replicates the original, which is still in place underneath the reproduction. Original, mid-19th Century floorcloths are rare in the United States and we are fortunate to have two original floorcloths at the Melrose mansion. The replica is a primary means of preventative conservation to protect the original, and also allows for accurate interpretation of the space as guided tours enter the room on a daily basis. Layers of archival material separate the original from the reproduction.
South Carolina
Chelsea Sigourney
Curator of Exhibits & Collections
South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum
The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum warmly welcomes new Registrar, Megan Brigman! She was most recently working as a Collections Inventory Assistant at the South Carolina State Museum where she cataloged and digitized over 5,000 objects in the art and cultural history collections as part of an IMLS digitization grant. Her undergraduate degree is in Art History, and she has a master’s degree in Museum Studies from the University of Oklahoma. She and the Curator of Exhibits & Collections, Chelsea Sigourney, will be collaborating on a major project to improve and expand storage this summer.
Tennessee
Elizabeth Le
Collections Manager & Registrar
Hunter Museum of American Art
Elizabeth Le is excited to announce the acquisition of "Ferdinand-Philippe-Louis-Henri, Duc d'Orléans" by artist Kehinde Wiley. Wiley is an African-American portrait painter who was commissioned to paint the official presidential portrait of former President Barack Obama. The Curatorial staff is preparing for a large contemporary rotation in early March to include newly acquired works by artist Sanford Biggers, Kehinde Wiley, Rose B. Simpson, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Cooper & Gorfer.
Virginia
Cathy DeSilvey
Registrar & Curator
Virginia Military Institute Museum
The Virginia Military Institute Museum partnered with our Office of Diversity, Opportunity, & Inclusion to bring Museum Pros’ traveling exhibit Military Mapping Maidens to VMI’s Preston Library. This exhibit features the story of 224 young women who were recruited by the Army Map Service in 1943 to research and draw maps by hand for the Allied war effort in World War II. The exhibit is narrated through the personal experiences of Bea Shaheen McPherson (who just celebrated her 102nd birthday!), a Kent State University alum, who was encouraged to take a 60-credit hour course in cartography. Completion of the course, designed by pioneering female cartographer Edith Putnam Parker and taught at Kent State by Professor Edna Eisen, opened the door for McPherson to apply for civil service employment with the Army Map Service, which today has grown into the National Geospatial - Intelligence Agency. Dubbed the Military Mapping Maidens, or 3M Girls, the young women who trained and served as Military Mapping Maidens made a profound impact on the map making industry and preserved the lives of soldiers and citizens across the globe through their dedication to accurate, hand-drawn mapping. The exhibit opened November 1, 2023 and ends April 30, 2024.

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SERA NEWS is published quarterly by the Southeastern Registrars Association. The Southeastern Registrars Association (SERA) recognizes high standards of museum practice and fosters professional growth among museum registrars in the Southeastern region of the United States. We promote the exchange and dissemination of information and ideas through education seminars, publications and other means. SERA initiates and supports activities and projects which help create an atmosphere of cooperation and communication among, and between, registrars, other museum professionals, and those in related fields, and pursues further development of professional practices in the field.
Membership: Individual membership ($25.00) is open to museum professionals who perform registrarial functions for institutions in the twelve states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Associate membership is also available to those outside the region or those employed by for-profit businesses or organizations who express interest in the objectives of SERA.
Membership Contact:
SERA Treasurer/Membership Chair
Kaitlyn Hof-Mahoney