Exhibition Planning and Design: Writing with Thread

Exhibition Planning and Design: Writing with Thread
(Educational DVD, 60 minutes, 2010)
Lecture by Tom Klobe
Producer: Karen Kosasa
Director and Camera: Clinton Uyehara

Tom Klobe, former director of the University of Hawaii Art Gallery (1977-2006), introduces crucial elements of a successfully designed exhibition. For his case study, he uses the development of Writing with Thread, an exhibition of traditional textiles from ethnic minorities in southwest China. Mr. Klobe begins by describing his collaborative research with Huang Yin Feng, director of the Evergrand Art Museum in Taiwan, and a team of scholars and exhibition specialists, and their travels to several Chinese villages. As he walks us through the conceptual and physical development of the exhibition, Mr. Klobe discusses thematic concepts, spatial arrangements of objects, color choices, lighting effects, selection of mannequins, construction of specialized stands and bases, and the writing of signage and labels. Viewers will enjoy a rare glimpse of the "behind the scenes" process and the students and volunteers who helped create this stunning exhibition of embroidered clothing and silver jewelry from Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi Autonomous Region, and Hainan Island. This lecture is an invaluable resource for designing exhibitions on a range of topics.

Fashion professor leaves stylish footsteps at UH

Marcia Morgado walked onto her old turf at the University of Hawaii's Miller Hall on Sunday afternoon, expecting a meeting with the school's dean. Instead, she was surprised with an intimate retirement party and exhibition of garments pulled from the UH Historic Costume Collection in her honor, comprising donations she'd made to the collection over 40 years.

Morgado started teaching in the Apparel Product Design and Merchandising program in 1965 and retired on July 31.

Planning for the exhibition actually began a few years ago, when Linda Arthur Bailey -- who worked in the department before taking a job as Washington State University's professor and curator of apparel, merchandising, design and textiles -- returned on sabbatical leave.

"Marcia was talking then about how, when she retires, she would just lock the door and walk away, and we said, 'You're not gonna do that,'" Bailey said. She and Carol D'Angelo, professor and curator of the costume collection, searched for the pieces and "got (Morgado's) daughter in on it as well, hunting down the most important pieces," Bailey said. "We actually had it ready to go two years ago."

During the past few weeks, Bailey found herself uncharacteristically sneaking into and around the building to set up the exhibit, so as not to run into Morgado, who is wrapping up unfinished business and clearing her office before the new semester starts.

The exhibit will not be open to the public, due to space and time issues, but D'Angelo said they are working to have the pieces photographed and displayed on the university's virtual museum website, www.museum.hawaii.edu.

Clothes easily reflect the life stories of the people who wear them, and due to Morgado's lengthy interest and appreciation of fashion, the collection presents a neat snapshot of the evolution of fashion from the mid-20th century until now, including her move from rural Utah to the formality of a big city, and finally capturing the loose, casual vibe of sunny Honolulu.

Pieces range from a childhood Hopalong Cassidy cowgirl outfit to late 1950s cocktail dresses and a T-shirt that reads, "Fashion Sucks."

But don't take that message at face value. She's just keeping up with trends.

"One might think it's an anti-fashion statement, but one must think of it in the context of contemporary society's post-modern irony," she said.

Confronted with nearly two dozen pieces of her life story, Morgado said: "It's been fun dredging up the memories. Some of these pieces are particularly meaningful, some are not, but of those that are, I can look at them and remember where I was when I was wearing them and what I was feeling."

Some pieces, like a cute, sexy pink, pinup girl swimsuit reading "Aloha" from the 1980s, were never worn but purchased with the intention of donating them to the collection.

"It's my style. If it had been the right time in my life, I would have worn it. I'd even wear it today," Morgado said.

Eyeing a perfect specimen of an original 1960s bubble dress, complete with detached, drawstring petticoat (they weren't built into the hem the way it's done today), brought back the indignation she felt when she learned her mom had thrown out her favorite bubble dress.

"(The collection) could have had two, but my mother discarded the best. It was light green, of silk shantung, gorgeous beyond belief. It was very high fashion, so she couldn't stand that. She never threw anything else out!"

Seeing elements of the cowgirl outfit she wore as a 7-year-old brought back memories as well. She recalled details of the outfit, down to its snap-pearl-button shirt, original designer Hopalong Cassidy signature, double gun holster and leather wrist cuffs. For her, it wasn't just make-believe.

"I became a cowgirl," she said. "I really did wear pearl-button shirts. I had horses."

That was all before she moved to California to attend Mills College in Oakland. There, she met her husband, a Hawaii boy who was attending the University of California at Berkeley, and after graduating they moved to Hawaii, where he pursued a doctorate degree in physics.

Morgado had majored in merchandising, but in the 1960s was considered too educated by most employers. There were also few stores that could use her skills.

Liberty House was interested in hiring her, but needed assurance that money spent putting her through its executive training program would not go to waste.

Recalling costumer Edith Head's chutzpah in passing another student's drawings off as her own to get her plum job at the MGM movie studio, Morgado said she told the employers: "I'm going to be here the rest of my life," not knowing then how true that statement would turn out to be.

"I was there for many years, so they did get their money back," she said.

At Liberty House, she found herself in the right place at the right time. She worked as a buyer in several departments, including junior girls and sportswear, before launching a Polynesian department focusing on Hawaiian wear.

"At the time there was a phenomenal explosion of people interested in Hawaiian-looking merchandise," she said. "Hawaiian wear was sort of like the Roxy of its day."

Attire from local companies such as Tori Richard, Iolani and Surfline was prominently featured in national advertising campaigns by major retailers and magazines from Life to Vogue.

Divorced when her daughter was 3, Morgado realized that as a single mom, she could not keep retail hours "seven days a week, 363 days of the year," she said. That's when she saw an ad seeking a UH fashion department instructor that "seemed like something I could do," she said.

At the time she was hired, it was unusual for university faculty members to have practical experience, according to Morgado. Even so, she said, "that first semester I shook like a leaf while I was teaching. I had little experience as a public speaker, none in teaching, but I've been here 35 years."

Now that she's retired, she keeps busy training dogs and seems genuinely fearful of shopping.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to stop," Morgado said. "I'm a shopaholic. I just fall in love with something and have to buy multiple copies. Now that I'm retiring, I can't do that. I have to stay out of shopping malls."

But for others left to carry on the mission of training the next generation of fashion disciples, she feels promise in the air.

"I feel we're on the precipice of another big explosion and this is a wonderful place to nurture design talent," she said. "New York is dynamic and exciting all the time and I feel Hawaii has the same energy. This is the kind of place that inspires culture, people."

Star Advertiser, Aug 12, 2010 ....

Musings of Mystery and Alphabets of Agony: The Work of Edward Gorey

The University of Hawaii Art Gallery in collaboration with the University of Hawaii Library is pleased to present Musings of Mystery and Alphabets of Agony: The Work of Edward Gorey from September 26 through December 10, 2010. This exhibition highlights the work by celebrated, prolific American author and artist Edward Gorey (1925-2000) who is revered for his distinctly elegant, enigmatic, and eerie black and white illustrations. The press release is below and in the attachment.

You are invited to attend the opening program and reception for Musings of Mystery and Alphabets of Agony on September 26, 2010. Andreas Brown, Co-Trustee, from The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust, will be the keynote speaker at 2:00 p.m. The reception will be held from 3:00 to 5:00. Free tours are scheduled on Sundays beginning October 3. Details for more special Gorey events, including a Halloween family fun day, will be forthcoming.

We look forward to your visit!

Lecture: The Web and Indigenous People: The Future is Here

The Web and Indigenous People: The Future is Here

With Philip Gordon, Aboriginal Heritage Officer
Australian Museum, Sydney

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Bishop Museum, Pākī Room II
Free and Open to the Public. Free Parking at Bishop Museum.

Philip Gordon, Aboriginal Heritage Officer at the Australian Museum in Sydney, will discuss an innovative web-based project developed in partnership with the Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation. The project provides digital access to an important indigenous cultural collection held at the museum and a web-based platform designed to promote local intergenerational experiences of the collection. By delivering specialized new media skills (video production, web 2.0 programs), and by promoting the cultural transmission of intangible cultural heritage and supporting the development of local identities and community relations, this project was structured to facilitate social transformation in the Singleton region. It also offers high school workshops in which indigenous students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the āonline collection and engage with their culture through new media and the web.


About Philip Gordon:
Philip Gordon, has worked at the Australian Museum since 1980, where he is currently the Aboriginal Heritage Officer. He advises Aboriginal communities on Aboriginal museum outreach, and the repatriation of Aboriginal human remains and other significant cultural properties. In turn, he advises government agencies on cultural heritage issues and policy development. He works with cultural centers and Keeping Places on their development and planning practices, as well as on their training needs. Through his membership on several state and federal committees, including his chairmanship of the New South Wales Museums Committee, Mr. Gordon is widely respected for his ability to move between institutional spaces and local communities and facilitate interaction between them.

Other Relevant Experiences:

· Manager of the Australian Museum Aboriginal Heritage Unit and Head of the Division of Anthropology (2000-2004).

· Involved in the development of museum policy and procedures dealing with indigenous cultural issues, as well as indigenous public programs at the Australian Museum.

· Recently appointed to the Joint Federal and State Committee dealing with the Return of Indigenous Cultural Property.

· Member of the New South Wales Government Arts Advisory Council, State Committee

· Member of the Return of Indigenous Cultural Property Committee, Joint Federal and State Committee

· Member of Visions Committee (funding organization), Federal Committee


This lecture is co-sponsored by the Hawaiʻi Museum Association, Bishop Museum and the University of Hawaiʻi Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program.

Please direct inquiries to museum@hawaii.edu or 956-7428

Video available: Exhibition Planning and Design: Writing with Thread

Exhibition Planning and Design: Writing with Thread video now available online.
Click here...

Tom Klobe, former director of the University of Hawaii Art Gallery (1977-2006), introduces crucial elements of a successfully designed exhibition. For his case study, he uses the development of Writing with Thread, an exhibition of traditional textiles from ethnic minorities in southwest China. Mr. Klobe begins by describing his collaborative research with Huang Yin Feng, director of the Evergrand Art Museum in Taiwan, and a team of scholars and exhibition specialists, and their travels to several Chinese villages. As he walks us through the conceptual and physical development of the exhibition, Mr. Klobe discusses thematic concepts, spatial arrangements of objects, color choices, lighting effects, selection of mannequins, construction of specialized stands and bases, and the writing of signage and labels. Viewers will enjoy a rare glimpse of the “behind the scenes” process and the students and volunteers who helped create this stunning exhibition of embroidered clothing and silver jewelry from Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi Autonomous Region, and Hainan Island. This lecture is an invaluable resource for designing exhibitions on a range of topics.

NOTE: We would like to hear from you about this video. Please give us your comments (including how to improve it) by taking the “Survey Monkey” questionnaire by May 22nd, 2010. Thank you very much! Please return to this site to see the final version in early June 2010.

Exhibition Planning and Design: Writing with Thread
(Educational DVD, 60 minutes, 2010)
Lecture by Tom Klobe
Producer: Karen Kosasa
Director and Camera: Clinton Uyehara

Ethnomusicologist receives prestigious Koizumi Fumio Prize

Barbara B. Smith, Mānoa ethnomusicologist and professor emerita, has been named one of two recipients of the prestigious 21st annual Koizumi Fumio Prize for 2009. The annual prize was established by the estate of the late Japanese ethnomusicologist Koizumi Fumio to honor outstanding colleagues in the field throughout the world. Smith is honored for her long-term contributions to the knowledge and understanding of the music and the people of Asia and the Pacific. The prize will be presented during a ceremony in Japan on May 27.

One of the American pioneers in the field, Smith founded the ethnomusicology program at Mānoa in 1960. The program has grown in both regular faculty and lecturers in Asian Pacific performance traditions and currently offers MA and PhD degrees.

In 1972, Smith developed and edited an education resource for world music—an entire issue of the Journal of the Music Educators National Conference which reached K–12 educators and classroom teachers nationwide. The resource was later re-issued as a book.

Beginning in the 1960s, she undertook one of the first systematic field research and music collection efforts among various cultures in Micronesia. Smith’s current project is repatriating sound recordings collected a half century ago to cultural institutions in Micronesia for local use.

University Art Galley Catalogue Wins Honors

Mānoa’s Art Gallery won a Pele Regional ADDY Award for book design and honorable mention the American Association of Museums 2010 Museum Publications Design Competition in the exhibition catalogues category for the Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities catalogue.

The 430-page catalogue was designed by alumna Kelli Ann Harada and contains 9 scholarly essays and 345 stunning color images of the rich and intricate textiles and costumes. It accompanied the 2008 exhibition of the same name of more than 500 of the finest and historically significant textiles and costumes of Southwest China. The collection, on loan from Taiwan-based collector Huang Ying Feng, focused on a region of topographic, climatic and human diversity home to 31 of China’s 56 ethnic groups.

The American Advertising Federation District 13 presented the ADDY awards to recognize the best design and advertising work created in Hawaiʻi during the previous year. Local winners will compete in the national ADDY awards competition in June.

The AAM Publications Design Competition drew 655 entries from 260 international institutions. The Writing with Thread catalogue was among more than 160 books, catalogues, posters, invitations, press kits and other materials that were selected as winners in 15 categories.

“This recognition clearly demonstrates the caliber of work our students do,” says Art Gallery Director Lisa Yoshihara. “The gallery is committed to giving our students a quality education and professional opportunities to work with faculty and staff.”

Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities is available from the Art Gallery.

Source: http://blog.hawaii.edu/newsatuh/2010/05/art-catalogue-wins-honors/

Hawai‘i Museums Association recipient of groundbreaking IMLS grant

HONOLULU, HI ~ Hawai‘i has a rich cultural heritage that is cared for by museums, arboretums, archives, libraries and other institutions. The significance of these diverse collections and the challenges associated with caring for them was recognized by a grant from the Institute for Library and Museum Services (IMLS) awarded to the Hawai‘i Museums Association (HMA). The project director, Lynn Davis (Head of the University of Hawai‘i Library’s Preservation Department) sees this grant as an important step in creating a sustainable and collaborative culture to care for irreplaceable cultural heritage collections statewide.

The first event, Building a Culture — Collections Care in Hawai’i, is an HMA annual meeting post-conference workshop. It will take place on Saturday, May 22nd at Bishop Museum (Paki Hall Rooms I & II) from 9:00 – 1:30 pm. The workshop is free but those who wish to attend need to register in advance:

< http://www.hawaiimuseums.org/HMAinfo_annualconf.htm >

The interactive presentation will identify preservation needs faced by diverse collections throughout the islands, and examine common issues. Lynn Davis and the project facilitator, Barclay Ogden (University of California Berkeley), will conduct the workshop.

The Hawai‘i grant has been cited as being groundbreaking for bringing together people responsible for caring for cultural heritage collections from diverse institutions on all islands. This is an innovative model for building a sustainable response to collection care issues. A survey will be conducted as part of the grant, and a report of the findings will be made at a second workshop in January 2011.

This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.

For more information, contact Teri Skillman at skillman@hawaii.edu or by calling (808) 956-8688.

2010 HMA Conference & Annual Meeting

On Friday, May 21, the 2010 HMA Conference & Annual Meeting will take place at the Ford Island Conference Center, the hub of four interpretive centers: USS Arizona Memorial, Battleship Missouri Memorial, Pacific Aviation Museum, and USS Bowfin Submarine Museum.

The one day conference will start at 9 am with a behind-the-scenes tour of the new visitor center at the Arizona Memorial, led by National Park Service Interpreter Daniel Martinez. On Ford Island, the program offerings will include

- Update on the state-wide conservation initiative undertaken by HMA this year
- Opportunities to network and exchange ideas
- Lunch
- The annual meeting in which the new board will be voted into place
- During the afternoon, conference attendees will visit the Pacific Aviation Museum, and then board a boat for a special tour of the area’s historical sites and memorials.

Also, for those interested in a truly unique experience, reservations will be accepted for a sleepover aboard the USS Missouri on Friday night.

------------------------
Post-Conference Workshop
Saturday, May 22
------------------------

In addition, on Saturday, May 22, from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm, HMA is offering a post-conference conservation workshop, Preservation Issues in a Bad Economy—maintaining collections with lower budgets from 9am to 1:30pm. Lunch included. This interactive presentation will be conducted by Lynn Davis, Head, Preservation Department, University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library.

http://hawaiimuseums.org/HMAinfo_annualconf.htm

RCWR to host AAM /Disaster Preparedness webinar: Honolulu site added

Join your Colleagues and attend this webinar for free! Bring your lunch and questions - it's a great chance for us to get together and learn! Your attendance sponsored by the Registrars' Committee Western Region.

To attend please contact the local RCWR representative directly listed below.

If your city is not hosting this webinar this time and you would like your local state representative to host an upcoming webinar please contact your RCWR state representative. Their contact information can be found on the website at www.rcwr.org.

Honolulu Academy of Arts

MLC Lecture Hall, Basement level

Parking at Linekona Art Center

Enter through Ward Avenue Gate

Contact: Cynthia Low

Telephone: 532-8752

clow@honoluluacademy.org

Disaster Preparedness: Water and Works on Paper
May 5
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (Pacific)
Organized by the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) and LearningTimes for AAM.

In this 90-minute webinar, we'll explore the importance of the first 24-28 hours in responding to water emergencies that impact works on paper, including the benefits and implications of a variety of responses (keeping objects wet, air drying, freezing, etc.). Presenters will share real-life examples of water emergencies, responses taken, lessons learned, and tips for next steps beyond the 24-48 hour response period. This webinar will focus on paper (archival collections, books, photographs, but NOT paintings, drawings, etc.)

Outcomes:After participating in this webinar, attendees will be better able to:

• 
  
• Plan for a variety of water emergencies
• Respond quickly and strategically in caring for works on paper in the first 24-48 hours after the emergency
• Ensure that post-emergency actions are conducted with the best care of the particular objects in mind
• Use emergency response actions as important and meaningful steps toward subsequent and successful conservation efforts

Presenters
Julie Page, co-coordinator of the California Preservation Program (CPP), and the Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS), San Diego, CA
Theresa Anne Voellinger, Paper/Photograph Conservator, National Park Service Harper's Ferry Center-Conservation, Harper's Ferry, WV
Ellen Carrlee, Conservator, Alaska State Museum, Juneau, AK
Mary Morganti, Archivist, California Historical Society, San Francisco

Hawaiian Dress: The Holoku in Cultural Context (38 min) now on YouTube

A video production of the Historic Clothing Museum which describes the historical context of the Hawaiian Holoku. 1996. Transferred by Michael B. Thomas from VHS to digital format in 2009 by the Museum Consortium, University of Hawaii. Producers: Dr. Linda B. Arthur, Textiles and Clothing Program, University of Hawaii, CTAHR Video Production Facility, Honolulu, HI.

2010 HMA Annual Meeting - May 21st at Ford Island Conference Center

2010 HMA Annual Meeting

The 2010 Hawaii Museum Assocaition meeting will be held at the Ford Island Conference Center, May 21st. Visit http://www.hawaiimuseums.org/HMAinfo_annualconf.htm to view Schedule and agenda information.

Smithsonian Online Conference: Problem Solving with Smithsonian Experts

LearningTimes is very pleased to invite you to another unique online conference sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution.

The "Smithsonian Online Conference: Problem Solving with Smithsonian Experts" is a free series of interactive workshops taking place throughout April 2010. Participants may register now at:
http://www.smithsonianconference.org/expert/

The live online events will be of special interest to educators, entire classrooms of engaged students, and to the general public. Throughout the month, Smithsonian historians, scientists, researchers and other experts share their questions, their methods, and their unique way of thinking in an interactive format that welcomes you to contribute your own ideas.

The sessions span the arts, history, science, and culture, and are organized around four key themes. All events take place live online you participate and interact directly from your computer in real time. Each session will be recorded and posted after it takes place for on-demand access.

Schedule and Themes
Day One: Understanding the American Experience
Tuesday, 13 April 2010

Day Two: Valuing World Cultures
Wednesday, 14 April 2010

Day Three: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe
Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Day Four: Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet
Thursday, 29 April 2010

To review the complete program and to register please visit:
http://www.smithsonianconference.org/expert/program

Write to si@learningtimes.net with any questions.
LearningTimes,LLC

Virtual Museum Debuts with Aloha

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 11, 2010 By Nadine Kam

If you like to go snooping in other peoples' closets, the University of Hawaii Apparel Product Design and Merchandising Program has the show for you.

Closet voyeurs can now peek into the program's Historic Costume Collection from the privacy of their own home, thanks to the University of Hawaii Virtual Museum.

The costume collection is the museum's featured exhibition, marking the start of a move to digitize the university's vast holdings, with the aim of eventually making it easy for the general public to search out everything from the 250,000-specimen insect collection in the Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, to the 250-piece fish bone reference housed in the Anthropology Department Archaeology Program.

The pieces in the costume collection number 20,000, but the exhibition focuses on aloha shirts, with 52 examples tracing the shirts' evolution beginning in the mid-1930s. The shirts reflect the influence of design elements from native Hawaiian and Hawaii's many immigrant cultures, and their rise coincided with tourism and the need to bring home items representative of the islands. Included are examples of 1940s silky shirts, as well as the palaka that is a legacy of plantation days.

The UH aloha shirt collection is one of only two such collections in the western United States, and the only one in the Pacific, according to Dr. Michael Thomas, digital collections manager of the University of Hawaii Virtual Museum, who is trying to secure funding for further development of the museum.

The museum project was started in fall 2009 by Jennifer Halaszyn, a student in the Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program. A collaborative internship project, it involved several faculty, staff and volunteers to photograph and upload images, while bringing the various campus museums and departments together through one Web site.

FOR CAROL D'Angelo, curator of the collection and a longtime professor in the APDM program, the extra help is a dream come true.

"I do as much as I can, but we have no budget and the collection keeps growing. It's huge, with 20,000 items, but few people get to see it," she said.

With no physical space for a museum, she has organized small exhibits on campus and off, with the largest held last fall when Ala Moana Center made a vacant store space available for the "Fifty Years of Fashion in Hawaii" exhibition that tied in with its own 50th anniversary celebration.

"It would be nice to have an aloha wear museum in Waikiki, where both visitors and residents would be able to see it," D'Angelo said. "We got a huge response at the 'Fifty Years' exhibit, from local people and tourists, although nobody has volunteered to give us $1 million to maintain the collection."

The collection has been in existence since the 1960s, when the APDM program started inheriting clothing from community members who understood the importance of preserving Hawaii's clothing legacy, from traditional apparel that arrived with immigrants, to family businesses that focused on aloha shirts and muumuu, to young designers of the 1960s who reinterpreted mainland pop culture trends to suit an island lifestyle.

D'Angelo said one of the treasures of the collection is a kimono dating to the 1850s, following Japan's opening to trade with the West. "It's gorgeous," she said, making a note to herself to include it in the next round of photographs for an exhibition of kimono.

In the early days, D'Angelo said the collection was kept in boxes on the ground floor of Miller Hall, and her introduction in the 1980s was memorable in her discovery of a centipede nestled in their midst. "I ran out the door screaming," she said.

Today, the collection is kept in a more spacious, climate-controlled environment, thanks to Linda Arthur, a former APDM professor and author of "Aloha Attire: Hawaiian Dress in the Twentieth Century," who pursued better facilities for the collection.

Even so, because of the size of the collection, D'Angelo said she often turns down donations when pieces are not in good shape, but it's a difficult task.

"People understand this is everybody's history, and sometimes they want to give us a wedding gown with pictures of their wedding. People expect us to take care of it. There are so many stories and memories tied to clothing. People always remember what they were wearing during the special occasions in their lives."

NADINE KAM / NKAM@STARBULLETIN.COM

The University of Hawaii Historic Costume Collection had its largest showcase last fall at Ala Moana Center. Now, about 50 of its aloha shirts are on view as part of the UH Virtual Museum. (Click through the photo gallery to see some of the shirts on exhibit.)

View more photos >>

IMLS Encourages Participation in America: The Story of Us Contests

Dear Colleague:

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), together with HISTORY^TM and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, invites libraries and students across the United States to flex their creative muscles and share their passion for American history by participating in HISTORY^TM’s America: The Story of Us contests. For libraries, the contest entails creating a special exhibit or media project about American history that will strengthen their communities’ interest in American history. Students are asked to create a short video based on any topic related to American history and are encouraged to use the resources of local libraries, historical societies, and archives for information on their own local history or on the American history topic that interests them most.

These contests are exciting opportunities to promote learning about American history and explore our nation’s diverse heritage. We are delighted that HISTORY^TM is reaching out to the nation's libraries to encourage a community dialogue about America's past.

Please see the attached flyers about each contest and refer to HISTORY^TM’s website for more information.

Marsha Semmel
Acting Director, IMLS