MCA was pleased to sponsor and participate in the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM) 2018 Annual Meeting (October 17-19). The conference examined how museum members respond to evolving challenges while addressing best practices in technology, interpretation, and collection-related issues. The conference featured many excellent seminars relevant to modern museum management and our team enjoyed once again meeting and socializing with our colleagues in the museum world. The opening reception was sponsored by MCA and hosted by the Baltimore Museum of Art. The recently renovated Thalheimer and May galleries were open for the event, featuring a retrospective John Waters’s visual arts career, John Waters: Indecent Exposure, which will be on display through January 6, 2019.
To kick off the event, MCA’s Rick Barton, Cara Versace, Tia Harris and Veronica Plischke all had the opportunity to once again participate in the “White Gloves Gang” Day of Service on October 17, where they each volunteered at different museums in Baltimore.
Rick volunteered at the Fire Museum of Maryland, where he assisted in cleanup of fire apparatus on display following leaks, resulting from roofing work. He cleaned and polished the “German silver” radiator on a 1918 Seagrave engine. Daniel Bleemke (BMA) and John Odell (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum) cleaned and polished portable fire extinguishers affected by the roof leaks.
Cara volunteered at the B&O Railroad Museum, where she assisted in covering deteriorating books with Tyvek Paper. Some of the covers are suffering from red rot – a condition where the leather deteriorates to a fine dust. The dust gets everywhere and can stain surrounding items. The Tyvek paper protects the covers from further damage, reduces the friction between books (making them easier to get off the shelf), and prevents the red rot from contaminating adjacent artifacts. The White Gloves Gang participants, Museum staff, and Museum volunteers where able to wrap four carts of books.
Tia and Veronica both volunteered at the Reginald F. Lewis African American Museum.
Tia photographed 101 prints from the museum’s collection, capturing everyday life from the 1970s to the 1980s in various areas of West Baltimore. The prints were based on the popular “Arabbers” who made a living selling fruit from carts pulled by horses.
Veronica catalogued approximately 600 Jazz LPs, dating back to the 1920’s and 50’s, and filling over 70 boxes of media.
