HENRY FORD MUSEUM & GREEFIELD VILLAGE ANNOUNCES SYMPOSIUM
A National Symposium for Curators and Archivists is sponsored by the Benson
Ford Research Center with support from the Americana Foundation

(DEARBORN, MI – April 4, 2002) - Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
will play host to “Choices and Challenges: Collecting By Museums and
Archives”, November 1-3 at the Benson Ford Research Center on the museum’s
campus in Dearborn, Michigan.

The symposium, with support from the Americana Foundation, will bring
together curators and archivists from leading history museums, historical
societies and collecting repositories from across the United States. Topics
covered will include the what, how and why of collecting . The goals of the
symposium are to share best practices, encourage collaboration and to help
professionals better understand the strategic implications of collecting.

Speakers and topics include:

 Elaine Gurian – “Meaning of Artifacts.” Gurian is a consultant and
advisor to a number of museums and visitor centers. Her current clients
include, in part: the National Museum of Australia, The Jewish Museum
Berlin and the Government of Puerto Rico’s proposed children’s museum,
PRISMA. Her topic “Meaning of Artifacts” will cover the exploration of the
many meanings of objects in museums.

 Lonnie G. Bunch – “Who Owns the Past?” Bunch is president of the Chicago
Historical Society. He also has worked in various capacities at the
Smithsonian Institution.  His topic will use case studies from New Zealand,
South Africa, and Great Britain to explore the challenge of collecting
through the prism of contemporary culture and politics.

 Richard Cox – “Archival Appraisal Alchemy.” Cox is a professor at the
University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Sciences, Archival
Studies.  He will argue that archivists have been trying to accomplish too
much at once with their appraisal and acquisition strategies.

 Barbara Franco – “Collecting Stories, Creating Meaning: Community-Based
Collecting in the 21st Century.” Franco is president and CEO of the
Historical Society in Washington, DC. She is currently heading up a project
of the society to create a City Museum of Washington, DC that will open in
2003 at the renovated Central Public Library building at Mount Vernon
Square. She will address the issue of community involvement in collecting.

For more information on the three-day symposium, please go the Henry Ford
Museum and Greenfield Village website at www.hfmgv.org/calendar/symposium
or call Marilyn Yee at (313) 982-6100, ext. 2559, e-mail at
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