A staff role playing session may have helped, if only to make obvious to the 
director what could happen! The again, I know directors who won't wear 
gloves in their own museums.

Dean

Dean Krimmel, Creative Museum Services
Affiliated with Qm2: Quality Management to a Higher Power
Improving Museums, Historic Sites, Cultural Organizations and Businesses
423 Range Road   Baltimore, Maryland 21204
410-746-8350; [log in to unmask]; www.qm2.org
Check out my recent project: Go to www.pnclegacyproject.com and click on 
Oral Histories
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jennifer Holt" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 12:37 PM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] The Ruby Slipper incident


> If you saw the incident you would have seen that they did provide her with
> gloves.  Unfortunately that seemed to translate for her as okay to grab 
> and
> wave around the objects as long as she had the gloves on.  I agree that
> there should have been some object handling discussion/training prior to 
> the
> segment--but do you think the Oprah organization actually provided the
> Smithsonian staff with the opportunity to do that?  I wouldn't be 
> surprised
> if the Smithsonian staff hadn't had the opportunity to speak in person 
> with
> Ms. Winfrey until they were "on" and it was too late to stop her at that
> point.  These things should have been discussed and planned for before the
> shoes ever left the museum.  Maybe gloves should NOT have been provided to
> non-staff members because it only encourages handling?  Maybe the shoes
> should have been kept in a plexi container so they could be seen but not
> touched?
>
> Jennifer
>
>
> Jennifer Holt
> Curator
> Will Rogers Memorial Museums
> P.O. Box 157
> 1720 West Will Rogers Boulevard
> Claremore, Oklahoma 74018
> t:  918.343.8124
> f.  918.343.8119
> www.willrogers.com
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
> Behalf
> Of Janzen, Mark
> Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 11:00 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] The Ruby Slipper incident
>
> Although I agree her actions were inappropriate, I would not jump to blame
> her quite so quickly. According to the transcript, she was definitely 
> pushy
> and presumptuous, as well as rude, but she IS Oprah after all.
>
> Surely, after couriering the objects and being so careful with their
> planning, they were aware that she might want to touch them. It was her
> show, and to be honest(even though I do not like her much) she is a pop 
> icon
> as well. If it is not already, some of her stuff will end up in the
> Smithsonian alongside the shoes, gloves, and jacket.
>
> Should she have insisted on touching them? Absolutely not.
> Should they have planned ahead and told her why she should not touch 
> BEFORE
> the interview segment? Absolutely yes.
>
> They should have prepared better, provided her with gloves, then asked her
> if she would like to touch them properly. That way the extreme honor of 
> the
> action would have been conveyed. Instead they chose to let her act like a
> child, touch them anyway(improperly), and get away with acting the fool
> while doing it.
>
> Unfortunately the planners of the event, including the Smithsonian 
> handlers,
> are equally responsible for setting collection care in the eyes of the
> public back a decade or two. I suspect it was the horrified collection
> manger watching from the sidelines that Dr. Glass was looking to for
> confirmation. It should have been the other way around.
>
> Mark Janzen
> Registrar/Collections Manager
> Ulrich Museum of Art
> Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection
> 316-978-5850
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
> Behalf
> Of Kevin Schlesier
> Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 10:19 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: The Ruby Slipper incident
>
> Any Registrars out there going to write a letter to our friend Oprah
> explaining why her actions were inappropriate:
>
> http://www.originalprop.com/blog/?p=1496
>
> "Do not arouse the wrath of the great and powerful Oz."
>
> Kevin
>
> --
> Kevin P. Schlesier
> Exhibits and Outreach Librarian
> Special Collections Research Center
> North Carolina State University Libraries
> 2205 Hillsborough Street
> Campus Box 7111
> Raleigh, NC 27695-7111
>
> 919-513-8087 (phone)
> [log in to unmask]
>
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