Highlights From Docent Training

This blog post was written by JMM docent Robyn Hughes. Robyn has been volunteering with the museum since 2006 and recently attended a docent training for our new exhibition, A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People.

Last week I attended docent training for the Jewish Museum of Maryland's new fall exhibition, A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People. This traveling exhibit, which was curated by several faculty members from Xavier University, focuses on how Pope John Paul II (born Karol Wojtyla) was shaped by childhood friendships with Jews as well as his other interactions with members of the Jewish community in his hometown of Wadowice, Poland. These interactions served as a catalyst for his papal desire to actively promote positive interactions between Catholics and Jews.

Robyn listening to Dr. Buchanan

Upon entering the exhibition gallery, I felt as though I had been instantaneously transported back in time to 1920’s Wadowice. I saw vivid large photos of the buildings in Wadowice that played a central role in the Pope’s youth. These buildings included: the Pope’s boyhood Catholic church, his close childhood Jewish friend Jerzy Kluger’s synagogue, the schools that they attended together, both their junior high school and their gymnazyum (high school). As I stood in the center of this welcoming re-creation of this community, I became transfixed by the sounds of chiming church bells and the happy, bright sounds of popular Polish music from the 1920’s in the background, as I listened intently to the exhibition co-curator Dr. James Buchanan retell us stories of some of the interactions between the Pope and his Jewish childhood friends. I could easily imagine myself sitting in the Pope’s Catholic church where Dr. Buchanan told us that after Jerzy had learned that he had passed his entrance exam for admission into gymnazyum, he went into Karol’s church where Karol was attending mass, in order to tell him about his great news. While Jerzy was sitting in the church waiting for Karol, a woman told him that he did not belong there. Upon hearing about her comment, Karol replied to Jerzy, “Why? Aren’t we all God’s children?”

As we walked further through the exhibition, I saw a replica of a 1920’s soccer ball that Karol used when he chose to be the goalie for the community’s Jewish soccer team. This was an interesting decision as there was also a Catholic soccer team, but Dr. Buchanan explained that the Jewish one was the one that needed a goalie. As we began walking through time, Dr. Buchanan drew our attention to a picture of a by all accounts very attractive Jewish young woman who scholars believe Karol was in a relationship with while he was studying at Jagiellonian University in Krakow before he entered the priesthood. It was also during this time period, (the early 1940’s Nazi occupied Poland era) that Karol while he was still living in Krakow joined the Nazi resistance movement. It was in this part of the exhibition that we viewed artifacts from the death camps both film footage and objects such as a canister which had contained the deadly poison Zyklon B which was utilized to exterminate many of the inmates in those camps.

Dr. James Buchanan leading the docents through the exhibit

This exhibition has deepened my understanding of the formative events that occurred in the Pope’s life which would, according to Dr. Buchanan, inspire the Pope to become an activist for dialogue and understanding between the Catholic community and the Jewish community. Several examples of this dialogue according to Dr. Buchanan include: the Pope’s formal written proclamation which stated that Catholics and Jews shall be a blessing to one another, Pope John Paul II was the first Pope in history to make a formal visit to the State of Israel and he established formal relations between the Vatican and the State of Israel. The exhibition also highlights a uniquely diverse City, Wadowice, which to a great extent according to Dr. Buchanan’s research accepted Jews in a region where and in a time when Jews faced tremendous anti-Semitism.

Beginning in September, staff members of the Jewish Museum of Maryland were required to contribute to our online presence. As a way of easing them into this new frontier, the web mistresses created this miniseries. We hope you enjoy the second installment! The model, curator Karen Falk, had the honor of writing the first mandatory post. See it here.

It is 9am. Hilda has just arrived at work, sporting a fancy new skirt and shoes bought at Payless (BOGO!). She sits down at her less than impeccably organized desk and opens up her to-do list.

Hilda: Oh! It's my day to submit a blog post! I forgot all about this what with my super demanding job, crazy home life, and perpetually nagging boss! What will I write about?

Hilda spends a few minutes clearing her brain. She checks her facespace account, she emails her sister about her BOGO score, and then she settles in to write her blog post.

Hilda: I know! I had such a good time at that lecture last night, I couldn't tear myself away from what the author was talking about. I should write about him! Now... what were the steps?

First, now that Hilda has decided on a subject, she researches her post. The time to gather information is upon her. She rifles through her chic purse and pulls out the event postcard. Brushing off the crumbs from her powerbar she locates the name of the lecturer, the location of the event, and when it took place.

Hilda opens up her web browser and uses "THE GOOGLE" to search the author's name. As information rushes through the cardboard tubes, Hilda finds not only a website for the author, but a great Wikipedia article, a review of the book presented, and an announcement for his next book.

Hilda: Internet score FOR THE WIN! What's next? I wonder if anyone took photos last night?

Hilda: Now that I have my idea, my research, and my visuals, I can write my post. I think I'll write an opening paragraph about what the event was about, who the author is, and what is coming up for him. Then I'll write about my opinions and why I liked it.

Studiously as ever, Hilda writes her post. After pouring her heart onto the keyboard she double checks it for typos, grammatical errors, and spelling. She inserts notes about where the visuals should be placed, saves the file with the name of the lecture, and drops everything into the folder specified by the web wizards.

Great! Now I can move onto more important things- chocolate croissant!

BLOG: A Dramatic Miniseries, Writing an Event Post

Beginning in September, staff members of the Jewish Museum of Maryland will all be required to contribute to our online presence. As a way of easing them into this new frontier, the web mistresses created this miniseries. We hope you enjoy the first installment!

After sitting on the 1-83 for an extra twenty minutes, Amelia arrives to work in a tizzy. She chucks her lunch in the fridge, evades small talk, powers up her email, and is greeted with an outlook reminder "BLOG POST TODAY!"

Amelia: Blergh. I really need to work on my Generations article. But the web wizards will kill me if I don't get this done, so I guess I'm blogging. What should I write about though?

Amelia picks up the phone and calls her buddy Sven. He always has good ideas, being from Svedan and all.

Amelia: Yo, Sven.

Sven: Jah?

Amelia: I have to write this stupid blog post today and I'm drawing a total blank. Ideas?

Sven: Well, I wrote one last week about an article I read on mythical Svedish unicorns. But that makes sense because my job is cryptozoologist at the Karlstad Zoo. Since you're an archivist, why don't you write about something in your collection?

Amelia: Genius! I just finished processing a manuscript collection. Thanks, Sven. This was totally worth the long distance call to Svedan. Next time you're in town we can hit the Ikea meatball counter. My treat.

Now that Amelia has an idea, she needs to do some information gathering. First, she pulls up a finding aid.

Amelia: This biographical data is pretty well written (go me!). It'll make a great base for my blog post.

Amelia scans the finding aid and picks out a couple of interesting documents to use as examples of the collection. Next she checks if there are any objects or photographs included.

Yay! Amelia has found one related object and three great photographs.

Amelia: Perfect! I'll use the bio paragraph and then write a few sentences about the object and photos. I better go take a picture of the object.

Amelia photographs the object in question and scans the photos. She writes out her blog post, checks it for errors, and places everything in the appropriate folder (after naming it, of course).

________________________________________________________________

Boo! Amelia has not been able to find any related objects. She decides to look on the interwebs for related material.

Amelia: Oh! Here's a great picture on the Pratt website. As long as I credit the image and link back to it, this will be perfect for my blog post.

Amelia writes her blog post, checks it for errors, and places everything in the appropriate folder (after naming it, of course).

Be sure to check back next Friday for the second installment of our miniseries.

I Love the Archives

This one time, long long ago (in Canada), the Discovery Channel released a commercial that went viral.

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Then, XKCD (the awesome site of awesome) made this comic:

In their honor (because the internet loves XKCD) this video was made:

Later, the archives webcomic, Derangement and Description, written by Rebecca Goldman, made this comic about how she loves the archives:

The JMM, inspired by the whole process (and the love of archives), could only do one thing: make an awesome video.

I Love the Archives from Jewish Museum of Maryland on Vimeo.

Based on the comic by Derangement and Description (based on the concept by the Discovery Channel), the Jewish Museum of Maryland's staff and interns (from archives, collections, and education) bring you this short video. An ode to the archives, if you will.

Secret Lives of Interns: Writing and Writing Over at the Contemporary Jewish Museum

A blog post by Rachel Ellis


This past March, before I was an intern at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, I visited San Francisco and the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Rainy San Francisco is best remedied by museum visits!

Two of their exhibitions juxtaposed each other quite beautifully: “Our Struggle: Responding to Mein Kampf” and “As It Is Written: Project 304,805.”

In the former, artist Linda Ellia’s responds to Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. She invited hundreds of individuals to reclaim a page by painting, drawing, writing, or otherwise altering it. The exhibition interacted with themes of emotion and materiality. “Writing over” the pages allowed Linda, the other artists, and museum-goers to interact with Mein Kampf by acknowledging its existence and participating in their own way.

The above “from the project Notre Combat by Linda Ellia; one of six hundred works on paper; artist: Jean Dobritz; 8 ¾ x 5 ½ inches; Paris, France; 2007. Courtesy of the Contemporary Jewish Museum.”

Moving upstairs, “As It Is Written: Project 304,805” presents facts, history, and objects related to the Torah. Like the exhibition downstairs, the Contemporary Jewish Museum uses this space to interact with powerful words that are both historically meaningful and culturally central.

Julie Seltzer, a trained female scribe, is writing a Torah, all 304,805 letters, in front of our eyes. As she writes this text, Seltzer creates a living document for the Jewish people. It is amazing to watch as something holy, in a process so heretofore obscure, is revealed right before us.

Scribe Julie Seltzer writes the Torah, letter by letter.
Photo courtesy of thecjm.org

The last of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) is to write a Sefer Torah. This mitzvah has been interpreted in many different ways; the Contemporary Jewish Museum has found one way to achieve this commandment right in their exhibition space. The People’s Torah takes a photograph of the museum visitor’s hand and morphs it electronically into one letter in the Five Books of Moses. After 304, 805 people have a “hand” in making a 3-D Torah, it will be a contemporary and collective way to participate in the mitzvah.

Here is my hand, and the letter it wrote in Genesis 4:2!
Image found HERE – Click the link then click my hand,
and watch it transform into ה

The Contemporary Jewish Museum is hip, young, contemporary. In their exhibitions, Judaism interacts with the modern world in innovative ways. With Mein Kampf, we are reinterpreting the pages. With the People’s Torah, we are using a new method for a tradition that is thousands of years old. In the former, we are making profane a text sacred to the Nazis. In the latter, we are making a sacred text for ourselves.

These two adjacent exhibitions present a compelling juxtaposition of writing and rewriting. They reveal the power of words and different avenues for participation in making meaning.

“Our Struggle” closed on July 15, 2010. “As It Is Written” will remain open until March 29, 2011 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Live at AAM!

Greetings from lovely but rainy Philadelphia!

JMM Collections Manager, Jobi, and I (Lauren, Education and Program Coordinator) are currently at the American Association of Museums annual meeting. This is my first AAM conference as well as the biggest conference I've ever attended, with over 5,000 attendees. We've taken over the entire Philadelphia convention center.

I've attended some interesting sessions, including one on engaging immigrant communities and another on using Web 2.0 to reach international audiences. Did you know that the Dresden Museum has a 1:1 replica of their entire museum on Second Life? The curator giving the talk showed photographs of the exterior, grounds, and galleries within the museum next to photos of the museum recreated in Second Life - an alternate, virtual reality universe online. It was astounding.

And of course, there have been some fun parties too! On Thursday night was the Opening Night party at the amazing Please Touch Museum. Running around PTM reminded me of all the children's museums I visited as a child - combined. They have a historic, running carousel! So much fun. Not to mention the dessert bar, great band, and University of the Arts bucket band, Rumble.

They keynote speaker, Walter Isaacson, was quite engaging. I'm still not certain what he has to do with museums but his stories about Ben Franklin and Albert Einstein were wonderful. One of those situations where, even though I knew what was going to happen next, I was still on the edge of my seat. Was Einstein going to receive the Nobel Prize? How did Franklin get started in Philadelphia? I did immediately buy both biographies to have him sign. Even though I'm married to a librarian...

I'm giving a session on Tips and Tricks to Maximize Your Website - Not Your Budget as part of Small Museums Day at AAM. My co-presenters include Heidi Glatfelter, who does marketing and pr for Jerusalem Mill - a small museum in Maryland - and works for a consulting firm, Market Early America and Laurel Forsythe of the Ruthmere Museum. Unfortunately, Laurel had a family emergency and won't be able to attend. Hopefully, it'll go well!

I'll post again after I return. Thanks for reading.


Jobi at AAM


Convention Center lobby - the convention center used to be a working railroad terminal


In all the times I've been to Philly before, I'd never seen Independence Hall before!