Today's DAR
“Museums are more than just four walls” is a philosophy that has particular resonance these days. For decades, staff in museums all over the world have worked to make their institutions relevant to contemporary society and to create welcoming spaces for communities to learn. Those places are not just the galleries, buildings and sites that exhibits inhabit; they are neighborhoods, parks, websites, and yes, even social media platforms. As the DAR Museum staff members moved from the offices at 1776 D St., to their respective homes in response to the pandemic, we continued much of the work we normally do and have even expanded our offerings.
The DAR Museum Works on Projects at Home
On March 16, when it became clear that we were to be working from home for an undetermined amount of time, the museum staff packed up files and books, ensured our computers were on so that we could access databases and digital records from home (thanks to our great IS department) turned off the lights and shut the doors. That is not to say that we completely abandoned the museum’s collections and galleries. Every week, sometimes more frequently, Leo Sylvester the museum’s preparator, has made his way into the building to check all the collection storage areas, the period rooms and the exhibit galleries. He ensures environmental conditions are where they need to be and looks for anything that might endanger the collections from a leak to a carpet beetle.
At home, members of the museum staff have added and edited nearly 200 records in our online collections database searchable from our website. They’ve written articles for publication, created social media posts and presentations, conducted research for future exhibits and on objects for accession to the collection. We were fortunate to have our new online DAR Museum Shop up and running before the stay at home announcement and we have been working to keep up with orders (with a slight delay). We keep in touch with each other through emails, chats, and video conferences, checking to make sure everyone is healthy, working on group projects and holding meetings that are normally attended in person.
We recognized early on that the museum experience for all of us, visitors and staff alike, will change as we get a handle on the virus that has disrupted lives across the globe. Educators Katie Cannon and Rebecca Quam went right to work developing activities based around the museum’s collections. You can find word searches, jigsaw puzzles, paper dolls and even lesson plans for at-home instruction on the museum’s webpage. They went further, devising ways for some of our public offerings to become digital. We now present virtual period room tours guided by a museum educator where participants can even ask questions. You can sign up to attend through our website. In the past we have filmed our monthly Tuesday Talk lecture series and posted it on the DAR Museum You Tube channel. Just last week we hosted our first digital Tuesday Talk and more than 100 people attended! The video of that talk is also on our YouTube channel. The DAR Museum Facebook and Instagram accounts continue to share objects from the collection, fun quizzes and live DAR Museum Chats, short interviews with some of our friends and colleagues.
No matter how long it takes to welcome visitors back to our galleries and period rooms, the DAR Museum will remain accessible and vibrant. We are now developing an online version of our current exhibit, which opened only a week before we had to close our doors. We are working to make even more of the collections, staff expertise and educational programs available to all. If you are like me and treasure the experience of seeing historical objects up close and in person, it is a challenging time, but we hope that our digital efforts will help to tide you over and maybe even spark a new interest.
