Office of Exhibits Central

Journeying with Journey Stories

The process of creating Journey Stories has been a journey in itself. The traveling exhibit, in development since October 2006, will hit the road in 2009 in Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Oklahoma. OEC is producing this exhibition for Museum on Main Street (MoMS), a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and the Federation of State Humanities Councils.

Journey Stories focuses on the mobile elements of American society. Regardless of their cultural backgrounds, all Americans have a story to tell of their own personal journeys or of their ancestors. The exhibition tells the story of migrations (both voluntary and forced) into and throughout the United States, the tenacity and creativity of transportation workers, and of development of the methods of transportation that our desire to explore demanded. The exhibit highlights people’s stories about picking up and moving somewhere else and of fun and frolic on the open road. Methods of transportation may have changed from the wagon to the train to the car, but Americans keep on moving.

OEC editor Angela Roberts and OEC designer Tina Lynch have been involved with the exhibit from the very beginning of the project. William Withuhn, curator of Transportation History at the National Museum of American History (NMAH) and curator for this exhibit, is writing the script, while the team from OEC and MoMS works to customize this content-rich exhibit for the needs of cultural organizations in rural communities. Our “journey stories” are told through audio and text quotes, compelling historic photographs and artwork, and reproduction objects and maps.  MoMS staff have been researching and gathering the components, as well as obtaining rights and permissions to use photographs from collections around the country.

Designer Lynch has converted several of the black and white photographs into colored duotones. This change from the original image gives visitors a new way to look at something familiar. Several of the photos used in the design Lynch obtained using connections through friends of friends, which was a pleasant surprise in the design process. OEC graphics specialist Theresa Keefe works with Lynch to prepare the final high resolution images for printing.  Using Photoshop, she cleans up the images and makes corrections in the final color output.

OEC mountmaker Howard Clemenko is hard at work bracketing objects , and our crating specialist, Harry Adams, has made the necessary calculations to safely ship the entire show within strict shipping parameters.  Other modelmakers are experimenting with methods for encapsulating or replicating different materials, such as barbed wire and tobacco twists.

OEC has a long history with MoMS.  We’ve designed and produced all of their exhibits since 1994, starting with Produce for Victory and its award-winning design. 

The Art of African Exploration

Starting in December 2008 visitors to the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) get the chance to view rare illustrated books highlighting European explorations of Africa in the 1800s. The Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL), through a donation from the Folger Foundation, is building and installing two exhibition cases in NMNH’s lobby that will showcase the Libraries’ vast collections of books.

Damage from light is an important consideration when deciding how to exhibit rare books. Light damage is both permanent and cumulative, so the exhibition will display volumes on a rotating basis. The exhibit will also include works on paper and manuscripts that relate to African exploration. Members of the OEC Design/Editing unit met with the Libraries in March to view the books in person and start planning the exhibit.

Lynn Kawaratani, Bart McGarry, and Alicia Jager are the OEC designers working on this exhibition. Jager is designing the graphics while Kawaratani and McGarry design the three-dimensional layout with small-scale paper models of the cases and books. Kawaratani stressed the advantages of using the paper models to design this exhibit instead of a computer, such as the ability to verify the book rotations and easily present the vision to the client.

photo: McGarry and Kawaratani arrange books in the scale model.

Interview with Janette Pitts, OEC Management Service Specialist

Q: What exactly does a management service specialist do?
A: Another way of describing my position would be an “administrative officer” or “office manager.” Basically, I manage the office.

Q: What kinds of responsibilities does managing an office include?
A: I process personnel actions such as hiring and terminating staff, updating staff personnel files, writing position descriptions, and setting up training for staff. Timecards, travel requests, and purchase orders are all processed through me. I provide services to all of OEC staff and clients within and outside of the Institution. I work closely with a variety of offices in the Institution that handle staff and financial affairs. My goal is to provide excellent customer care to all of OEC staff and clients by making sure their needs are met to their expectation in a timely manner.

Q: How long have you worked at OEC and why did you decide to start working here?
A: I’ve been working here since 1996. I started out as a management support assistant. A friend who was working here told me that OEC needed some help. They contracted me to work with them for thirty days. Somewhere along the line, those thirty days turned into twelve years of employment!

Q: What kind of training and/or experience did you have before coming to OEC?
A: I worked at a large health insurance company for twenty-three years prior to coming to the Smithsonian. There I worked as an enrollment specialist, claim processor, unit leader, and customer service representative. I have had various training in leadership skills, how to manage time and people, the federal policy and regulations pertaining to procurement, travel, and many other topics.

Q: What is your favorite part of the job?
A: I love working with people. In my job, I spend a lot of time working with the staff of OEC. Also, I get a behind-the-scenes look at how exhibits come together prior to being put on display in a museum.

Q: What is a challenge you have had to face?
A: One challenge is adjusting to changes as they come down through the Institution and communicating those changes to the staff. Changes startle some people, so my job is to reassure and assist staff as they adapt to the changes.