Monthly E-News from Michael Bouman, Executive Director
Missouri Humanities Council
Contents:
- St. Louis Reception for Author Ntozake Shange
- "White Cloud Comes Home" by Greg Olson
- Chautauqua is Open for 2006 Host Community Applications
- Smithsonian's "Between Fences" Exhibit Tour is Taking Applications
- April 30 Deadline for Governor's Award Nominations
- Charettes - An Invitation to Participate
- Sensational Judy Onofrio Exhibit in Sedalia
- "Homer and Dylan" by Michael Bouman
Reception May 4 for Ntozake Shange
Everyone
is welcome to attend a reception for Betsey Brown author, Ntozake
Shange on May 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Julia Davis Branch of the St. Louis
Public Library. The library is at 4415 Natural Bridge Avenue in
St. Louis. We're sponsoring the reception in partnership with the
fabulous librarians who conduct the ReadMOre project throughout Missouri.
Shange will be present for a book signing.
ReadMOre, Missouri's book club, is a statewide initiative of local libraries to involve people in reading and discussing the same book once a year. For a complete listing of ReadMOre events, or to download a free copy of the 2005 Reader's Guide to Betsey Brown, visit our web site.
http://www.mohumanities.org/programs/readmore/index.htm
White Cloud Comes Home
by Greg Olson, Exhibits Specialist, Missouri State Archives
When
we write a story or create a work of art and send it out into the world,
we sometimes initiate a chain of events that may find their way back to
us in surprising ways. In January of this year, the State Historical Society
of Missouri published an article I wrote in their quarterly journal The
Missouri Historical Review. The article told the story of an Ioway Indian
chief named White Cloud who lived from about 1784 until 1834. White Cloud
has long fascinated me because his lifetime coincided with a very tragic
period in the history of the Ioway people. At the time of his birth, the
Ioway were a powerful and autonomous tribe living in much of the present-day
state of Iowa and in northern portions of what is now the state of Missouri.
However, just three years after White Cloud’s death, the Ioway were
an impoverished and decimated people living on a two-hundred-square-mile
reservation west of the Missouri River in what is now Kansas. My article
told the story of White Cloud’s attempts to lead his people through
this extremely difficult period of their history.
One Saturday morning, about three months after the article appeared in
the Review, an elderly man appeared at my front door. He asked me if I
“was the one who wrote the article about White Cloud.” [Continued...]
Read the full article at
http://www.mohumanities.org/E-News/April05/whitecloud.htm
Apply Now for 2006 Chautauqua
You can tell people are happy about this program! Here's Nancy Viselli, the City Administrator of Osage Beach, posing with the sign her husband, Mike designed and painted. Nancy is serving as Chair of the Chautauqua Committee for the festival that will begin on Monday, June 13 with a tent-raising. Programs take place Tuesday through Saturday that week starting at 6:30. Check our web site for all the details.
Now we're taking applications from towns that want to sponsor this program in 2006. The application deadline is May 14, and the materials are ready to download from our web site.
http://www.mohumanities.org/programs/chautauqua/index.htm
Smithsonian "Between Fences" Exhibit
The Smithsonian Institution's "Museums On Main Street" program is an engine that drives much of our yearly programming. Coming up in 2006 is an opportunity to generate community activities around the boundaries in our lives.
From urban chain link to suburban privacy, the barbed wire of the cattle rancher to the small town white picket, fences define our boundaries. Between Fences is a cultural history of the millions of miles of American fences, and how they divide and protect, offend and defend.
Between Fences is an exhibition rich in possibilities because it asks visitors to consider personal values in the context of American history. Use fencing, and its real and implied consequences, to explore topics of settlement patterns, town architecture, and neighborliness. Examine the invisible fences of race, culture, politics, gender, or age. Examine the border wars that tormented the people of Missouri and Kansas.
We are able to book this exhibit, plus some program assistance, into
six rural towns. The Applications to host the exhibit are due by
May 15, 2005, and can be downloaded from
http://www.mohumanities.org/programs/cultural/BetweenFences.htm
or by contacting the Council at (314) 781-9660 or (800) 357-0909.
Governor's Humanities Award Nominations
Please help us recognize outstanding community historians, teachers, and writers in the annual recognition ceremony in the Governor's Mansion. We invite nominations by April 30. Do you know someone who wrote a distinctive book about Missouri? Nominate that writer! Do you know of an inspiring high school history teacher, language teacher, or English teacher? Nominate them! Do you know of exceptional work at a local history museum or historic site? Please nominate the exceptional people who are doing that work. We absolutely love to shine the spotlight on their achievements. The nomination forms are on our web site:
http://www.mohumanities.org/new/gaward05.htm
Charettes - What Good Are They?
First, let's explain that "charette" word. Architects use it to describe a process of brain-storming to help a community find a way to solve a design problem. I use the word to describe a process of brain-storming to help a local institution find a way to move into a better mode of outreach, operation, or programming.
James Symmonds, a member of the Osage County Historical Society and now a member of the MHC board, describes the 2001 charette for OCHS as "a transformative experience." That defines the mission of the charette program.
I see the humanities as transformative...their study produces a person who has learned to think deeper, wider, and better. A charette holds the promise of helping an institution, and its trustees, think deeper, wider, and better about their mission, their relation to the local population, and the highest aims of their work.
This year we have helped a group of cultural organizations in Sedalia think about how they can unite themselves behind a single interpretive agenda for their city. We've done the same thing for the small town of Waverly, population 892. We've just completed a session in Columbia for the city officials and community volunteers to want to create a world-class community history project that will begin with the restoration of the John William Boone home. Next month we're meeting with people in Springfield who want to develop experiences for travelers, to interest people in the slice of U.S. History that revolves around Route 66.
I expect to put consultant teams together for another four or five institutions next year, and invite you to contact me if your organization thinks a charette is what you need. If you're selected for this service, you'll be in great company--the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home, the Mark Twain Foundation, the Champ Clark Home, and a long list of county historical societies.
http://www.mohumanities.org/programs/cultural/charettes.htm
Judy Onofrio Exhibit in Sedalia
While
I was in Sedalia for the charette this month, I went to the Daum Museum
of Contemporary Art to see the exhibit of sculptures by Judy Onofrio.
Wow!!! What a joyous experience!
These sculptures are outlandish fantasy creations built up of all sorts of found stuff, such as the print balls from old IBM Selectric typewriters, or the attachments of earrings. You don't know what these creations are made of unless you look real close.
These pieces come in all sizes, and you could easily spend an hour enjoying them all. But while you're there, enjoy the other treasures in this remarkable museum. It's on the campus of State Fair Community College. The Onofrio exhibit is open until May 15 and is worth a fairly long drive.
Homer and Dylan
Sometimes I have nothing better to do than read books. My winter and early spring were dominated by two poets who have been large presences in my mental life for a long, long time. I've written an essay to try to interest you in Robert Fagles's translation of The Odyssey and in Bob Dylan's quite fascinating memoir, Chronicles, Volume One.
http://www.mohumanities.org/E-News/April05/homer_and_dylan2.htm