>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jennifer Rothman" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 3:38 AM
>Subject: gingerbread
Jennifer,
The museum where I used to work will be having their 10th gingerbread
exhibit this year, so I can take a stab at some of your questions.
>Specifically, my questions are: 1) How did you display the houses, how did
>you protect them from pest, visitors, time, etc.
The museum was part of the historic city hall (which is still shared with
other city offices). The creations were placed in the main hallway (which
also led to city council chambers, so is not strictly museum space). They
also have two rooms they use for rotating exhibits, so those were
used. The rooms holding permanent exhibits were not used.
They were displayed on tables and museum staff tried to dress things up a
bit. If I remember correctly, one year gift wrap was used to make table
skirts. Plus they generally used batting on the tables to give a snow effect.
There really is no way to protect from pests. However, they never seemed
to have problems with insects or mice. The exhibit was only up about 3
weeks. (They were available for pickup in mid-December so participants
could have them for their own Christmas displays.)
Visitors are generally pretty respectful. We did remind groups of children
that these items were really not edible (having sat around awhile and been
touched by who knows how many people). One year a high school (!) group
came in and did some damage, but that was not the norm.
>2) Did you pay bakers or
>were they willing to do make gingerbread houses in return for publicity
Ours were generally done by non-professionals, from scout troops to
families. Now, we did use the term "gingerbread" pretty loosely. The rule
was that only food could be visible, except for the base that the item sits
on. So that could mean the walls were made of graham crackers glued to
cardboard, or log cabins made of peppermint sticks.
The levels of expertise varied widely. We did awards for various
levels. The whimsy of the creations was fun. I remember the three little
pigs creation where one house was made of pretzel sticks and the straw
house was made of broke Trisquit (sp?) crackers.
>3)
>Was it a difficult program to coordinate, manage?
The Education Director did most of that. The last year I was there, I
think they had 40 entries. It was time-consuming, but by the time I worked
there, she had a system. Notices did go out in late summer/early fall, so
groups had time to work it into their activities schedules.
>and finally, 4) Do you
>have any tips for starting this type of program?
She included rules on size and a handout with links to website and book
titles. She did outreach to scout groups, local high school home ec (or
that's what is was called in my day!) classes, families she knew who were
in to crafts, the local groups that had after school activities, and local
developmental centers. This last group was always so pleased to see their
creations on exhibit.
> > Thank you in advance for any advice you might be able to offer.
One last thing -- You will be _so_ sick of the smell of sugar by the time
the event is over!
Hope this helps.
Anne
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Anne M. Baker, Archivist
Southwest Missouri State University
Duane G. Meyer Library
901 S. National Ave.
Springfield, MO 65804
Phone: (417) 836-4298 FAX: (417) 836-4764
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://library.smsu.edu/Meyer/SpecColl/spcindex.htm
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