Kingman Museum- Battle Creek, MI

Happy Birthday Planetarium!!!!

2009-11-24T11:11:00.002-05:00

November 27th marks the one year anniversary of the community planetarium at Kingman Museum. It’s been a great year! Over 6000 people have enjoyed planetarium shows during this past year, either through school groups, public shows, or special events. We’ve shown nine different weekend shows and have nine unseen shows to debut in 2010. We hope you’ll stop by November 27th to help us celebrate our first birthday.

Last year we debuted Mystery of the Christmas Star during the planetarium’s opening weekend. We’re bringing Mystery of the Christmas Star back for this year’s holiday season. We’ll be celebrating with special holiday hours on November 27th with shows from 1-5pm, starting every hour on the hour. Mystery of the Christmas Star explores some of the scientific explanations for the star of Bethlehem. Using modern science we examine the stars of long ago and attempt to discover the mostly likely explanation for this fabled celestial occurrence. This fascinating show will be enjoyed by all ages. Plus watching it will be a fun new holiday tradition for the family.

Before and After

2009-11-02T16:27:00.010-05:00

During the demolition of the mezzanine the crown molding was damaged in several places. This crown molding was original to the museum and made of plaster. The crown molding on two of the columns was completely destroyed and there were chips in several other places.

We feared that it could not be repaired.

We saved all of the pieces with the hopes that it could be put back together like a jigsaw puzzle. We then called Schwietzer, Inc. and asked if there was anything they could do. Schwietzer, Inc. sent over a very talented plasterer.

He painstakingly worked for two weeks to repair all of the damaged plaster.

After that a team of painters came to the museum and put fresh paint on the mezzanine.

The paint was followed by new lights and tile.

As you can see the mezzanine is looking better than ever!

Everything is Falling (And I Don’t Mind)

2009-10-20T09:59:00.004-04:00

The leaves are falling, the temperature is dropping, and it definitely snowed last Friday morning. I admit it, I like Michigan weather. I enjoy having all four seasons to look forward to. I would much rather have a snowy December than a rainy one. Fall is a great time of the year because it means the start of football season, apple cider, and tomato soup and grilled cheese lunches. Fall is an especially busy time of the year for Kingman Museum. This Saturday will be our third annual “Making a Difference at Spooky Science Saturday.” The event started as a membership drive for the museum many years ago and has evolved into one of the biggest fall events in Battle Creek!

Two years ago Kingman Museum decided to wave the admission fee and bring in other area organizations to participate by hosting science stations in the museum. Staff was hoping for 300, planning for 500, and was amazed as 1,000 visitors came through our door! It quickly became apparent that this was filling a need for free, local, family entertainment. Last year we expanded to include outside activities and partnered with HandsOn Battle Creek. Since National Make a Difference Day falls on the same date as Spooky Science it became “Making a Difference at Spooky Science Saturday” and focus became more on promoting volunteerism, making a difference in your community, and promoting science exploration.

This year Leila Arboretum will also be joining us. Activities will be going on at the Children’s Garden, as well as Kingman Museum, including ghost stories from the Battle Creek Central High School drama students. Kingman’s outside area has expanded (and we have heaters this year)! Force 5 planetarium show tickets will be given out on a first come, first serve basis and hayrides will take visitors around the Arboretum.

So after you rake up the leaves and pull out that warmer coat join us this Saturday, October 24, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and experience a fun and unique Battle Creek fall event!

As much as I dislike having to type out “Making a Difference at Spooky Science Saturday” 100 times a day, I really don’t think the abbreviation MADASS would fly with the parents.

All Aboard, Next Stop Twin Cities! (Sorry Tiger fans)

2009-10-07T14:48:00.000-04:00

If you were watching the game last night and the Tiger’s loss still gives you an empty feeling inside than you may want to wait to read this until after you are feeling better and preferably before the next Lions game.

I was very fortunate to receive funding this year to attend the Association of Midwest Museum’s (AMM) Annual Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota (thank you Midwest Registrar Committee!). I took the train from Battle Creek to St. Paul last week. I must make a plug for Amtrak. If you can take the train for your next trip, then do it! Lots of leg room, good food (no really, they do), less stress, and you help the environment by producing less fossil fuels!

The AMM Conference was a great opportunity for me to talk with museum professionals from around the Midwest and learn new ideas. One of the best sessions I went to was putting your museum’s collections online. Kingman Museum has been working towards posting our collections online for two years. You may why is it taking so long? Well before we can post collections you have to know what you have so for the last two years staff, interns, and volunteers have been cataloging and inventorying all our objects. Last summer we began posting some information on our website with our “Artifact of the Month” section. Click http://www.kingmanmuseum.org/feature_archive.cfm to view our postings.

It is my hope that through this blog and podcasts posted on our website that we can expand this feature to include more artifacts and specimens. An example of what I would like to do can be found at the Minnesota Historical Society’s website, http://discussions.mnhs.org/collections. If you would like to help me with this project you can contact me at knelson@kingmanmuseum.org.

St. Paul and Minneapolis are great cities with wonderful museums. I enjoyed crawling like an ant at the Minnesota Children’s Museum a bit too much. I tried to curse the Twins stadium (per a friend’s request) while I was there, but I still need to work on my technique I guess.

What's happening at Kingman?

2009-09-30T12:18:00.001-04:00

A lot! The reconstruction portion of our mezzanine project is moving along. The wallpaper has been removed. The walls have been patched. And now the walls are being painted. Next week the new flooring will be installed. After that the electricians will be back to finish installing new lights. We are using low VOC paint and the new lights will be CFLs or LEDs (depending on what works best for each area).

The mezzanine should be reopened in a couple of weeks and then new exhibits will be installed as they are completed. Stop by to see the progress for yourself!

Global Warming has hit the Museum!

2009-08-27T12:35:00.011-04:00

The glaciers are melting and the ice age is gone! We’ve been very busy with the demolition phase of renovations. See the pictures below for all the changes taking place at Kingman Museum.

The musk ox and canoe were moved.

Friends of the museum worked hard at the demolition party and helped us save a lot on demolition fees. They also had a fun time enjoying brats and beer, donated by Arcadia Brewing Company.

Look how much they got done!

Schweitzer came back to remove the white stuff around the railing. It looks great without all the wood and the circulation is already better!

Next the crew from Schweitzer started removing the very large and heavy “glaciers.”

Then Battle Creek Tile and Mosaic started removing the old carpet.

We’ve had the dumpster emptied 3 times already and there’s still more to remove. The construction portion of the project will be completed by the end of September.

“Just Whistle While You Work!”

2009-08-05T11:53:00.002-04:00

Last week the museum posted the floor plan for our new mezzanine level exhibition galleries. Usually as the Collections Manager I work on the planning and implementation of Kingman Museum’s exhibits. A project this large, however, requires a lot of staff time, time that I just do not have (refer to A Jack of All Trades blog for further explanation). Grants we received for this project included funds to hire one of our staff full time so that person could devote more time to the project. I was happy to turn over some of my responsibilities to Jennifer (who is doing a wonderful job by the way).

One way that I am assisting with the renovations is removing the artifacts and animal mounts from the current mezzanine exhibits and relocating them in our storage rooms. Beginning last Monday, Terra (my wonderful slave, I mean intern), volunteers, and I relocated the embryo collection, sea life cases, and animal adaptation wall to the storage rooms. Not all of it was put away; the black bear and white-tail deer are now on display on the lower level. They are actually better displayed now because there are out in full view. We are just asking guests to remember to not touch the mounts because of the oils on our hands.

Below are some pictures of us moving the collections. It really is a team effort! All of the objects will be removed in time for our Demolition Party. This fundraiser is Friday, August 21, from 6 to 10 p.m. For a mere $50 per person you can swing and crowbar your frustrations away and enjoy some delicious brats and beers afterward. Tickets are available at the museum, 269-965-5117.

Thank you to all my wonderful volunteers who help us out everyday. I really can not do my job without you!

Check that off the “To do” list!

2009-07-28T13:38:00.002-04:00

Over the past weeks Ray (exhibit designer) and I have been working to create a site plan for the mezzanine. We’re finally done! See the below picture for a look at the floor plan. We haven’t decided what’s going in all the cases yet, but at least we have a plan.

If you can’t read the floor plan here’s a list of the exhibition themes.

Circulatory system
Fetal Development
Insects
Whale Tale
Animal Adaptations
Aquatic Ecosystems- coral, arthropods, Great Lakes, Pond
Michigan Habitats- dunes/ shoreline, wetlands, prairie, backyard, forests
Extinct and Endangered animals
Birds- nests and eggs, curiosity case, Brigham birds of South America, birds of prey, Birdcage of North American birds

Comments and Questions are always welcomed.

Kingman Museum Participates in BC’s Green Initiatives

2009-07-16T15:45:00.004-04:00

Do you have old batteries lying around? If you're like me, you do because you know they have mercury in them and you don't want to throw them away, but you're not quite sure what to do with them. Well, if you live in the City of Battle Creek you can get a battery recycling kit! We had a lot of old batteries lying around the museum, so while at the Department of Public Works building I picked up a battery recycling kit. It's a postage paid cardboard box. Once it's full of old batteries it gets closed up and sent to be recycled (see picture). Easy, right? And it’s a small box so it won't be sitting around for too long before it gets filled up. The City of Battle Creek also has similar CFL recycling kits; both are available at the Department of Public Works.

Expanding the recycling program is just one of the things the City of Battle Creek is doing to go green. You can learn more about local green initiatives at Green Drinks. Green Drinks meets at 5:30pm the fourth Thursday of every month at Arcadia (located on West Michigan in the lovely downtown Battle Creek). Each month has a different speaker and an informal discussion of environmental topics. It's a lot of fun! Green Drinks is organized by the Battle Creek Area Clean Water Partners, which is a subcommittee of the city’s Public Information and Education committee. Kingman Museum just joined the planning committee for Green Drinks and we're super excited! So stop by Arcadia, July 23rd at 5:30pm, to see us and learn about environmental issues.

Hollywood Here I Come!

2009-07-08T14:14:00.000-04:00

For three years now arts and culture organizations in Battle Creek have been taking turns producing a 25 minute video for the local station, Access Vision. The segment, Culture at the Creek, runs every week at 7 p.m. on channel 16. Kingman Museum’s month is July so as soon as March rolls around the staff begins to plan for our segment. As I stated before in previous postings, we are a small staff so each person is asked to perform duties that may or may not directly connect to their title. Since a volunteer films and edits the video, and I am the Volunteer Coordinator, I have the pleasure as acting as the video’s writer, director, and producer.

This year we used our video as a way to market our current temporary exhibit, “Where in the World is Edward Brigham?” Using information from archives that are loan from the Brigham Family, along with our records, Jon Kirkwood, the Archive Intern, wrote the script. Old pictures of Brigham’s travels, the various museum buildings, and Leila Arboretum help bring the story to life. One of our board members, Valerey Holmes, has been filming and editing our videos since we began producing them in 2007.

Valerey and I sat in a booth for two straight days editing the film and photos. You always think it won’t take long to produce a 25 minute video, but it does and you never seem to get it exactly how you want it to be. I don’t know how Hollywood producers do it on a regular basis! The end result is a nice piece about Edward Brigham and the museum’s history. It also talks about our current programs and what we have planned for the future. Thank you to Jon, Valerey and Bob Coward (our narrator) for helping to complete this project.

I also have to give a shout out to Paul because he asked me to. Thanks for keeping me sane this week.

Where in the World is Edward Brigham?

2009-06-29T13:18:00.007-04:00

A lot of work goes into each one of our temporary exhibits! Even though they are only on display for a few months we start planning at least a year out. Katie came up with this idea quite some time ago because we have archival material related to Brigham including a large collection of glass negatives from photos taken during his many expeditions and a large portion of the museum’s collection was obtained by Brigham Senior and Junior. Jennifer Brigham loaned us the Brigham Family archives last summer, to help supplement the exhibit. An intern from Western Michigan University is helping us inventory our archives, the Brigham family archives, and Heritage Battle Creek’s archives. Jon cataloged all three collections and made a comprehensive finding aid. Now, Jon is in the process of scanning all of these archives, creating an electronic set for each group.

Looking through Brigham’s personal archives helped us establish a timeline of his travels. Once the timeline was created Katie could go through the collection and select artifacts that were collected by Brigham during his expeditions. The exhibit features archival materials such as letters, a passport, and a stamp collection, photos taken by Brigham from each expedition, and artifacts collected on the expeditions.

After artifacts were selected we could start researching and writing labels. This takes a long time. After the initial labels are written they get passed around the staff and edited to death! Then labels can be sent to the printer, along with posters and photos.

The week of the exhibit opening was spent putting the exhibition in place. On Monday walls were painted and all of the artifacts were pulled out of store to be organized and cleaned for display. On Tuesday a temporary wall was built, cases were painted, and we started to get a general idea of where things would go in the exhibit. On Wednesday all of the cases were put into place, things were picked up from the printers, photos were put into frames, and the exhibit designer, Ray Wetzel, started putting artifacts into the cases. On Thursday the cases got polished, all of the posters and interpretation was mounted, the supplies for the opening were bought, and finally all of the people came to see the exhibit opening.

The following photos chronicle the exhibits production and the VIP opening.

Thank you to the following for their contributions to this exhibit.
Partially Funded by
Battle Creek Community Foundation -
Berenice Bryant Lowe Fellowship Fund
Research and Development
Jennifer Brigham and The Brigham Family
Mary Butler, Heritage Battle Creek
Jonathan Kirkwood, Archival Intern
Ray Wetzel, Exhibition Design
Kingman Museum Staff and Volunteers

AccessVision Program Production- check out our segment on AcessVision in July!
AccessVision Staff
Art Angood
The Brigham Family
Robert Coward
Valery Holmes
Jonathan Kirkwood
Ray Wetzel
Kingman Museum Staff and Volunteers

Museum welcomes new boss…

2009-06-15T13:23:00.001-04:00

...Or museum’s boss welcomes new dog. We’re happy to announce that Kingman Museum director Sara Ann Briggs has adopted a dog. Porter has only been on the job for a few days, but she is adjusting well. Having spent the past 15 months in a shelter she is enjoying her new freedom. Porter is a lab mix and very friendly. Next time you’re at the museum stop by the office downstairs to meet Porter. She loves visitors!

Who said learning can’t be fun?

2009-06-01T13:29:00.005-04:00

On Saturday I dragged the museum’s outreach stuff and a hands-on activity to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum for Astronomy Day, hosted by the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. This was definitely the coolest astronomy event ever! In addition to my very cool, exciting, and fun Life on Mars experiment children could make telescopes, Big Dipper clocks, and planispheres. There was a solar observing session outside the museum and an evening observing session at the Kalamazoo Nature Center. The very talented Michael Francis preformed, “The Starry Messenger,” sharing with the audience Galileo’s most recent discoveries, as of the early 17th century. He also took questions while remaining in character!

The very smart and funny, Dr. Phil Plait, was the keynote speaker. He is the author of Bad Astronomy and Death from the Skies!, both are well worth the read. His blog is also worth a read. His talk was excellent, plus he’s a nice guy!

I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of his books and check out the blog. Phil is definitely doing his part to make science education fun!

Thanks to the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, and the Kalamazoo Nature Center for a very fun day!

What Lies Beneath (The Museum That Is)

2009-05-29T17:31:00.000-04:00

The argument could be made that natural history museum collections are the most diverse of all kinds of museums in terms of the variety of objects and materials. Kingman Museum, for example, has small mineral samples, large and heavy fossil bones, fragile ceramics, dried plants, and mounted animals just to name a few. The museum is currently completing a two-year Institute of Museum and Library Services cataloging collection grant. Volunteers and staff have been sifting through the storage rooms, writing descriptions, and taking pictures of all the collection objects. While cataloging and inventorying these rooms, a variety of items have “popped up” in the collection that we did not know existed.

Two weeks ago a volunteer informed me that there was a wooden crate on top of some of the cabinets in the sub basement storage room. She was unable to move it by herself so the next day I “volunteered” two helpers to assist me in taking the crate down so we could catalog its contents. After a very complicated and technical process of taking the crate down, we opened it up with a crow bar [this is where The Christmas Story “fragilé” comment is inserted]. The mystery item in the crate was…a Mastodon tusk! The tusk is one of two that was excavated by Kingman Staff in the 1940’s on Fort Custer grounds. The staff and board hope to repair this tusk and place it on display for public viewing in the near future. Please let us know if you are interested in donating to this project.

To prove my dedication to this blog I am literally typing this entry while in the back of a car that is returning to Battle Creek from a workshop in Ann Arbor. Nothing like multi-tasking!

A Change is Coming!

2009-05-26T14:29:00.003-04:00

The Kingman Museum recently received a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to renovate and reinterpret the exhibitions on the top floor of the museum. We’re very excited to get this project underway and create educational exhibitions for visitors of all ages. The renovation will take place in two stages first the Biological Science Hall will be completed, followed by the Small Animal Gallery, which was recently updated. Demolition will begin the end of August and the entire project will be completed by fall of 2010. We will remain open through the renovation process.

The project is just beginning, but I’ll show you some of the things we’ve decided so far. Check back often for updates.

The tile:

The gray will be everywhere and the green will be an inset in the Small Animal Gallery.

Even though we aren’t renovating the lobby area, the updates will be obvious immediately. This is the current view from the lobby to the north east corner of the mezzanine.

This is sort of what it will look like after. Don’t worry, I’m not the exhibit designer- the real thing will look a lot better.

All of the white stuff surrounding the railing will be gone. There will be Plexiglas above the railing and there will be birds suspended in the Plexiglas on the north side of the building. The Canada geese will be gone. The electrical work will be updated. Instead of 12 light switches for the top floor exhibits there will be one control panel for the lights. (This is pretty exciting for everyone who works here and knows what a pain it is to hunt for the light switches). There will be pendent lights in place of the square fluorescent lights, this will be more appropriate to the era the museum was built. One of our goals for the renovation is to maintain the character and history of the building.

We’re happy to answer any questions you have about the renovations. Thanks for all your support!

Hubble gets repaired

2009-05-13T17:24:00.002-04:00

Currently, the space shuttle Atlantis and crew are out in space repairing the Hubble telescope. They’ll be replacing its batteries, updating the camera, installing thermal covers, and replacing the data-control unit. It’s a risky mission, but it should give the telescope another five to ten years. The Hubble telescope has made enormous contributions to the field of astronomy, helping us to learn more about our solar system and the universe. If you want to see some of Hubble’s work in action, stop by the Kingman Museum’s planetarium! We have a program called ViewSpace running between shows on a television in the planetarium. ViewSpace shows content downloaded directly from the Hubble telescope.

To learn more about the Hubble repair mission follow astronaut, Mike Massimino, on Twitter, Astro_Mike.

The Hubble telescope is a large telescope orbiting Earth. Because it does not look through the Earth’s atmosphere it is able to see things not visible through telescopes on Earth. Hubble has provided us with accurate distance measurements of far away galaxies, images of early galaxies after the big bang, information about black holes, the origin of gamma rays, and the life cycles of stars.

Out With the Old and In With the New Old

2009-05-11T12:16:00.004-04:00

Since I have been working at Kingman Museum, there have been many changes to the building and exhibits, but most permanent exhibits have been up since the 1980’s. According to museum best practices, a permanent exhibition should not be on display for longer than 10 years. (Obviously the museum is an overachiever in leaving exhibits on display.) Large, permanent exhibits can cost a museum several thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of staff time to complete. Due to Kingman Museum’s small budget, we have only been able to update small areas of the museum. In July 2006 the renovation of the lower level was completed, which included a space for temporary exhibits. Since then Kingman Museum has produced 6 in-house exhibits. Our current exhibit, “Safari Africa: Changing Perspectives” will be closing May 30.

I recently took it upon myself, with help from the Education Department, to change out some of the small mammals and birds in the North Mezzanine Gallery. With the help of our exhibit designer, Ray Wetzel, we completed this project on May 5. (Happy Cinco de Mayo!) The photo to the left shows me cutting labels that I printed on card stock. This was a cheep and easy solution for printing out new labels. Ray used his powers of design to create these new displays. All the animals live in Michigan either year-round or during the summer. We have also noted which are Threatened or Endangered in the Wolverine State. If you are missing a favorite animal, don’t worry, it’s just hibernating in the collection storage room.

Last week Kingman Museum received local funds to renovate the exhibition halls on the mezzanine level. This includes exhibits on the cycle of life, animal adaptations, and Michigan habitats. The wolverine and beaver will return with the new exhibits. Stay tuned for more information.

Some really smart and famous person once said that those who do not change, die.

Commitment to Conservation doesn't end April 23rd

2009-04-30T11:18:00.005-04:00

Last week we celebrated Earth Day by participating in the Calhoun Conservation District’s Earth Day Festival at the Calhoun County Fairground. It was a great event and we were able to teach a lot of students about conservation and what they as kids can do to save the planet! But our commitment to conservation doesn’t end here.

At the museum we are trying to do our part to spread the message of conservation and protect our planet’s resources. You may be surprised to hear that a museum is interested in conservation, but it makes a lot of sense. We have several extinct and endangered animals in our collection and humans are to blame for their conservation status. Apart from fossils of extinct animals, we have three extinct birds in our collection the Carolina Parakeet, the Passenger Pigeon, and the Imperial Woodpecker. These three birds became extinct because of hunting by humans and habitat loss. While there is nothing we can do to save these animals, we can spread their story and suggest ways you can prevent this from happening to other animals, like the Polar Bear on the main floor of the museum. Polar bears are currently threatened because of human hunting, habitat loss, and shrinking sea ice due to climate change.

In addition to educating, we’re trying to set a good example by reducing the environmental impact of our operations.

As you can see from the pictures, we recycle!

Katie sorts the recyclables and takes them to the recycling center once every two weeks.

We’re also collecting bottle caps, which are not accepted at the recycling center.

Usually, bottle caps are thrown away and end up in landfills. They can also end up in waterways where they are a threat to marine animals. To prevent the negative impact of this seemingly harmless object we collect them and send them to Aveda to be made into shampoo bottles.

If you’re interested in learning more about small steps you can take to save the planet, check out the conservation tips on our website. Additionally, we’re hosting a lecture on sustainable building at 6pm, Tuesday, May 5.

Adventures in Planetarium Land

2009-04-20T17:01:00.003-04:00

Its official the Kingman girls are planetarium geeks. This past weekend we hosted the Michigan Great Lakes Planetarium Association meeting and had a lot of fun. Having never been to a meeting like this before I wasn’t sure what to expect. Everyone was very nice and it was great to finally meeting people I’ve been emailing. In addition to networking with people who work at other Michigan planetariums, we got to show off our newly renovated planetarium, hear about what other people are working on, talk about challenges we all share, and enjoy great food at A Food Affair in Augusta, MI. We were also lucky enough to receive sponsorship from Evans and Sutherland and Bowen Technovation both of which sent representatives who attended the meeting and gave us further insight into their products. Overall, I had a great time and I think the pictures prove it, check out all those smiling faces.

A Jack of All Trades

2009-04-14T17:09:00.001-04:00

There is nothing “cookie cutter” about someone who works in a museum. Museums bring people with different interests, talents, and backgrounds together in order to fulfill the museum’s mission and community needs. When working for a small, non profit museum, you are asked to perform a variety of tasks any given day.

As the volunteer coordinator, I am asked to recruit community residents to donate their time at the museum on a variety of projects. As the outreach coordinator, I haul my museum paraphernalia around town to community events, like Kid’s Fest or Art in the Park, in order to get the word out about our programs and let everyone know that, “Yes, the museum is open.” I also am the unofficial graphic designer and IT personnel. (If you know me personally you would find the last part of that sentence quite humorous.)

Currently, as the Collections Manager, I am acting as researcher and detective. We are planning on replacing some of the animal mounts on the top floor of our museum. Most of these mounts have been on display since before the Reagan years. I am also working on gathering information on our first director, Edward M. Brigham, Sr., for our next temporary exhibition, “Where in the World is Edward Brigham?” Mr. Brigham was the original Indiana Jones; in fact, Indiana Jones probably stole some moves from this guy. Digging up information on his travels and objects he collected has led me to contact the University of Michigan, Field Museum, and the Smithsonian Institute of Natural History. More information on these projects to come.

Someone once told me that you know you are in the right profession when you wake up in the morning and going to work is not the worst thing in the world, but something you actually look forward to. I have found this to be true for me.

Something for Everyone

2009-04-06T13:29:00.001-04:00

Are you stuck in Battle Creek for spring break? Stop by the museum.

We have a lot of exciting things happening this week. Every morning, from 10 am – 12 pm, we will be hosting our spring break camp, Kingman Beach. There will be a safari theme, in honor of our current temporary exhibit, Safari Africa. Children ages 6-12 are welcome to attend, please call to pre register. Participants will learn about the African continent and culture, through hands-on activities. They will also see the planetarium show, Stars of the Pharaohs.

Our fist Tuesday lecture takes place April 7th at 6pm. As a part of our Year of Science programming the lecture is about wind energy. John Sarver from the Michigan Energy Office will share with us the current wind energy opportunities and what the state is doing to take advantage of them. The Climate Change Coalition will be passing out CFLs in the lobby before and after the presentation.

The planetarium will be showing Ice Worlds on Friday and Saturday. Ice Worlds is one of the newer Evans and Sutherland shows and it takes full advantage of the full-dome high definition system.

I hope to see you soon! For additional information on upcoming events see our website, http://www.kingmanmuseum.org.

100 Hours of Astronomical Fun

2009-04-03T17:30:00.000-04:00

100 Hours of Astronomy officially kicked off at 11:00 am, April 2, at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute. For 100 hours, April 2-5, people throughout the globe will be celebrating Galileo’s contribution to science, the telescope. Numerous planetariums, astronomy clubs, and educational organizations will be participating in this exciting event, including the Kingman Museum. Stop by between 9-11 pm on Friday or Saturday night for a public star party. Members of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society will be providing the telescopes. Admission to the museum will be free during this time. There will be a special preview of the planetarium show, Wonders of the Universe, for $1.00.

Visit http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/ to participate virtually.

What Does a Collection Manager Do Anyway!?

2009-03-25T16:30:00.001-04:00

When I introduce myself as the Collections Manager of Kingman Museum the first reaction I usually get is, “are you the person who collects the bills?” Unfortunately, I do not have the honor of collecting money; my job usually consists of trying to spend the museum’s money. The Collections Manager’s role varies from museum to museum; depending on its size and scope. If you break down my title into its two words, the job can be explained in its simplest terms. I “manage” the museum’s “collections” or artifacts.

One way of looking at is it that I am a caretaker for the museums objects. Without the collection, there literally is no museum. The American Association of Museums defines a museum as an institution that makes a, “unique contribution to the public by collecting, preserving, and interpreting the things of this world.” Like I said before, no collection, no museum. Therefore you could consider me the most important person at the museum (don’t tell my boss or coworkers though). All kidding aside, though, my job is to make sure our collections are well cared for so that Kingman Museum can continue to utilize the artifacts and specimens to educate the public through exhibitions and programs.

The next question you are probably asking is, “How do you go about managing the collection?” Volunteers, interns, and I have been inventorying and cataloging every object in the collection. Whether it was a Potawatomi black ash basket or a black bear mount, it was measured, photographed, and a description and location recorded on a worksheet. The information was then entered into our collection database. Have you ever wished you kept an inventory of all your tools or Christmas decorations with their exact location? It would make it easier to plan out your decorations or projects ahead of time if you knew what you already had in your house, and no more digging around for that pesky hammer, just look up its location on the inventory sheet. It works just the same way when we are planning exhibitions.

I hope I have been able to give you a slight clue into the life of a Collections Manager. My future postings will dig deeper into the depths of my job!

As a high school senior I would get asked by my parents’ friends what I was going into at college. I would inform them I was going to major in archeology. Their response was always, “What are you going to do with that?” My answer to that was, “Anything I want!”

Welcome to Kingman Museum!

2009-03-17T15:37:00.002-04:00

As the only natural history museum in Southwest Michigan, we at Kingman Museum believe that we have a responsibility to serve all of southwest Michigan and in particular Calhoun County. Because of this Kingman Museum has chosen to start a blog to make us more accessible to our constituents, readers like you. Please share your comments and suggestions for how we can serve you better.

Kingman Museum’s mission is to promote an understanding and appreciation of our natural world, the universe, and human cultures. We do this through the interpretation of our collection, the presentation of programs, and through planetarium shows. We have three floors of exhibit space with exhibitions on human health, animals, geology, the Ice Age, dinosaurs, and more. Our current temporary exhibit is “Safari Africa: Changing Perspectives.”

We are also excited to introduce the community to their brand new state of the art Digistar III HD planetarium system. This is the third Digistar III in Michigan and the only high definition system in the state! We currently have 13 shows and hope to continue adding to our library. The public shows changed every 6 weeks and are followed by a brief star talk, which is updated with the seasons.

Kingman Museum is in Battle Creek, located in the Leila Arboretum and across the street from Northwestern Middle School on Limit Street. The Museum is open Tuesday-Thursday 11:00 am to 4:30 pm, Friday 11:00 am to 8:00 pm, Saturday 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, and closed Sunday and Monday. We are open until 8:00 pm the first Tuesday of every month for a free educational lecture. We are closed major holidays. Planetarium shows are Friday 4:00-8:00 pm, shows every hour on the hour and Saturdays 1:15-4:15 pm, shows every hour on the quarter. Admission is $18.00 for a family (up to six individuals), $6.00 for adult, $5.00 for seniors or military, $4.00 students (3-17 years old), and children 2 and under free. Planetarium shows are included with admission or $1.00 for adult members.