Symposium for curators and archivists

"Choices and Challenges: Hot Topics Facing Curators and Archivists"
The Henry Ford to Host The 2nd Biennial Choices and Challenges
    National Symposium
October 8-10, 2004

The Biennial Choices and Challenges National Symposium brings
together nationally prominent speakers with curators and archivists
from history museums, historical societies and collecting
repositories October 8-10, 2004 at the Benson Ford Research Center
in Dearborn, Michigan. The focus is on sharing best practices;
encouraging collaboration and helping professionals recognize
opportunities and overcome obstacles in controversial areas of
practice.

Hot topics will include:

    *   Thriving in the Digital World. In an age of virtual reality
        and pseudo-authentic immersion experiences, does presenting
        the real thing still matter? Under what circumstances is
        access to a virtual image as good as access to the original
        image, document or 3-dimensional artifact? How can
        historical organizations best use new media to serve their
        missions and their audiences?  Speakers for this session
        are: Max Evans, Executive Director, National Historic
        Publications and Records Commission and Steve Brier,
        Co-Director, New Media Lab, and President, American Social
        History Project, Inc., City University of New York

    *   Who Owns What?: Legal Contests Over Documents, Objects and
        Ideas. Issues of intellectual property and copyright
        threaten to give us all nightmares.   In this confusing area
        of law, it can be hard to know what museum and archival
        professionals can and cannot do.  The proliferation of the
        Internet and the digital world has made this area of law
        even more confusing.  This session will discuss the
        following aspects of intellectual property
        law--understanding fair use; rights of privacy and rights of
        publicity; The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
        Featured presenters are: Heather Briston, University
        Archivist, University of Oregon, Susan Kornfield, J.D.,
        Chair Intellectual Property Practice Group, Bodman, Longley
        and Dahling, Peter Jaszi, J.D., Professor of Law, American
        University, Washington, D.C., with Bill Maher, University
        Archivist, University of Illinois, as the session
        chairperson.

    *   Career Paths: Recruitment, Education and Advancement in the
        Archival and Museum Professions. Among the signal
        responsibilities of any profession is to ensure that it
        recruits outstanding people to the profession, educates them
        about underlying theories, equips members with the knowledge
        base and skill sets that allows them to perform their duties
        effectively, develops research skills, and promotes
        professional development and advancement to leadership
        roles.  Panelists for this session include Tim Ericson,
        Professor, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Philip
        Nowlen, Director, Getty Leadership Institute, and Ildiko P.
        DeAngelis, Director, Museum Studies Program, George
        Washington University, led by chairperson Beth Yakel,
        Assistant Professor, School of Information, University of
        Michigan.

    *   Preservation Strategies: Balancing Access, Use, Exhibition
        and Preservation. Archives and museums face many of the same
        issues when it comes to prioritizing and then balancing
        collection preservation, access and use.  From curators of
        heavy machinery to conservators of documents, the
        participants will explore their approaches to strategizing
        about collections use and preservation.  Pete Daniel,
        Curator, National Museum of American History, Jan Paris,
        Conservator for Special Collections, University of North
        Carolina-Chapel Hill, Ann Russell, Executive Director,
        Northeast Document Conservation Center, Carl Schlichting,
        Conservator, Vancouver, B.C. will present their views, with
        chairperson Barbara Appelbaum, Partner, Appelbaum and
        Himmelstein, New York leading the session.

    *   Summing Up. Ownership, preservation and program, replication
        and access, professional development-the symposium's
        speakers will have addressed perennial issues in light of
        current choices and challenges. But what are we to take away
        from this symposium in terms of our work and our audiences?
        Returning as summarizers from the inaugural Choices and
        Challenges symposium are Christopher Bensch, Director of
        Collections, The Strong Museum and John Fleckner, Chief
        Archivist, National Museum of American History.

The event will allow for ample time for stimulating conversation
with the speakers and other symposium attendees.  Tours will be
available of The Henry Ford's Conservation facilities and the Benson
Ford Research Center. Attendance at the symposium includes admission
to Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.

The registration fee is $150 per person.  A limited number of
reduced fee spaces are available for $75 to students with a valid
student ID. Registration materials will be made available in early
July.

For more information on the three-day symposium, please contact

    Marilyn Yee
    Project Coordinator
    313-982-6100, ext. 2559
    marilyny [at] thehenryford__org


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:13
                 Distributed: Tuesday, August 17, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-18-13-010
                                  ***