Dear Karen:
I'd really like to help you with your project, but I don't know the answer to most of your questions. To explain my situation... I work for the Georgia Parks and Historic Sites Division of the Department of Natural Resources. As such I'm responsible for the documentation and care of the historic artifacts at all 63 state parks and historic sites. In actual fact most of the historic artifacts are affiliated with about 20 historic sites/parks located around the state. The other parks are primarily recreational and/or natural history parks.
The Preservation Lab that I manage maintains the official artifact records and cares for the objects. Most of the park staff don't have any museum background so my staff and I are also the art handlers for the state park system, This means that we make the individual artifact mounts and install the artifacts in the exhibits. We also do a bit of exhibit refurbishing, but new exhibits are designed and fabricated by outside contractors to meet the interpretive plans of my supervisor, Debbie Wallsmith, who is Interpretive Supervisor for the state parks system. She's the one who develops the exhibit idea, works with the designers and fabricators and keeps an eye on the budget.
To further complicate things, most of the money for museum exhibits comes through the Engineering and Construction section of parks and historic sites. They are responsible for the construction of everything from picnic shelters to rental cabins at the parks to museum exhibits. I believe they farm out a lot of the specialized work to outside contractors. Those who do good work, are competitively priced and are reliable tend to get more work, but I don't know how the process of choosing a designer and fabricator for an individual exhibit project works although I'm sure that Dr. Wallsmith can suggest possible exhibit vendors.
Dr. Wallsmith is in a better position to answer your questions. She can be reached [log in to unmask], but she has a particularly tight schedule right now with lots of looming deadlines so I'm not sure she'd be able to answer your questionnaire in a timely manner. I also think that because Parks and Historic Sites is a part of state government, we have to do things very differently from most museums. I think you would get much more useful information for your project by contacting museums where the exhibit process is handled within the museum by a limited group of people even if the design and fabrication work is out-sourced. I've listed a few museums below that might give you information that more closely reflects the norm among museum.
Dorothy Olson, Director, Georgia Capitol Museum, Atlanta, GA, 404-657-6996
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The State Capitol Museum is a state operation within the Secretary of State's Office, but it is a stand alone museum. They upgraded their exhibits a year or so ago using an outside contractor so they would be in a good position to answer your specific questions.
Susan Neill, Director of Exhibits and Collections, Atlanta History Center, 404-814-4000
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Dr. Andy Ambrose, Director, Tubman African-American Museum, Macon, GA 478-743-8544
Their general e-mail contact is [log in to unmask]
Katie Russell, Director, Rome Area History Museum, Rome, GA , 706-235-8051
Their genreral e-mail contact is [log in to unmask]
I'm sorry I couldn't answer your questionnaire, but hope that these referrals will help you. Good luck with your project.
Linda Bitley
>>> [log in to unmask] 03/23/06 11:57 PM >>>
Greetings!
I need your help with a graduate school project. In order to finish my
Capstone Course, I need to write a full-blown business plan in the next
six weeks. My team and I decided to do our business on a museum exhibit
design firm, and museums, like yours, will be our clients.
Would you kindly assist us by completing the short, confidential survey
located at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=958401911267 by Sunday,
April 16, 2006?
You help will be much appreciated.
And if you think of questions that we should have asked in the survey
but didn't, please feel free to send me an e-mail with your thoughts.
Thank you so much.
Karren Jeske
Keller Graduate School of Management of Devry University
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Linda Bitley
Curator of Collections
Georgia Parks & Historic Sites
2600 Hwy 155, SW
Stockbridge, GA 30281
T: 770-389-7812
F: 770-389-7813
E: [log in to unmask]
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