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Show 'A credit to the state' Campus houses two accredited museums . AHrtnr lAill affprt its 5tato hnfh or. , state both as an education and as a tourist information,: It is truly remarkable winnings win-nings and his staff have d tar with limited funds" th ernor said during a p 1" 1970 the Museum t $60,000 from the Utah Le to help pay the debts t while the museum was beinc' blished. Since then the has had to rely on donations'" sion fees, gift shop sales ard funds from the ASUU coy,.' remain in operation and ex-exhibits. ex-exhibits. Hopefully accie.'. will aid the museum in p funds from the legislature prepares the state budget thp uary. As well as adding to p exhibits for the public and tinuing the Junior Science Acac Program, the museum hopes lo more extensive collections use-scholarly use-scholarly research and begin'; lishing results of this rese Director Jesse D, Jennings; how accreditation will affect its future. For the last year the museum has been running on a shoestring budget with doubts as to whether it would be able to keep its doors open. A bill is now pending in Congress Con-gress that, if passed, will allocate federal funds to aid museums. Accreditation Ac-creditation will help in making the Museum eligible for funds. "Accreditation will not make our job any easier, though," said Donald Don-ald Hague, associate director of the museum. "It is simply a distinction and honor. Maybe it will help us when we try tQ raise funds." The idea for the Natural History Museum was first conceived by Dr. Jesse D. Jennings, professor of anthropology an-thropology and director of the museum. In 1963 the Utah Legislature Legis-lature authorized its establishment on the campus, and the museum opened in the old George T. Thomas library building in 1969. When the museum opened Governor Gov-ernor Calvin L. Rampton said he believed it would be valuable to the - r Of the 6,000 museums in the United States and Canada, only 139 have received accreditation from the American Association of Museums. Mus-eums. Two of the museums are housed on the University campus. The Utah Museum of Natural History His-tory and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts were visited by the Accreditation Accredita-tion committee in May of 1972. Both received accreditation in August. Museum accreditation signifies that, in the opinion of the AAM Accreditation Accredi-tation Commission, a museum has met the standards established by the museum profession. The 495 museums which have applied for accreditation underwent a rigourous examination. The process included completion of a detailed written questionionnaire, on-site investigation investiga-tion of the museum's operation, and final review and decision by the Accreditation Commission. The committee praised both museums mus-eums highly in their respective reports. re-ports. At the Natural History museums mus-eums they found "... a remark able metamorphsis taking place. This is not just another Museum of Natural History, but an exemplary institution for resign and technique, a credit to the University and the state of Utah." The opening paragraph of the report re-port on the Museum of Fine Arts states: "We found the museum housed in a beautiful new building build-ing with tasteful and imaginatively hung exhibitions and run by a knowledgeable and cooperative staff. The milieu was one of thorough tho-rough competence." The University Univer-sity of Utah Fine Arts Museum is the only university art museum west of Nebraska to have received accreditation ac-creditation so far. The Fine Arts Museum was founded in 1951 and for many years occupied the fourth floor of the Park Building. Two years ago it moved to its new building west of the Art and Architecture Complex. Since then the Museum has developed devel-oped a program that include temporary tem-porary and permanent exhibitions, concerts, lectures by visiting artists and art historians, film senes Sunday Sun-day afternoon Gallery Talks by staff members and guided tours. The Museum has organized many major exhibitions of loan material which often circulate to other institutions. in-stitutions. Over a dozen exhibits put together by the Museum staff have travelled to more than 40 other institutions across the United States. Frank E, Sanguinetti, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, believes accreditation will become very important im-portant to a museum in a few years. It will become a primary requisite when a museum asks for loans of exhibition from other museums. It will also figure into the requirements require-ments when foundations distribute grants. The Fine Arts Museum's most immediate plans call for continuing con-tinuing the temporary exhibits and expanding their permanent collection. collec-tion. The Utah Museum of Natural History His-tory is especially concerned with "The achievement of accredilal : a commentary on the quality o' museum staff and its work, simultaneously a reward and e mulus, because we lose accie-staus accie-staus is if our standards drop Accreditation was first esta: . ed to help the museums me: their own performance an: prove their service to the . and to give public standarc which to judge museum opera: There should be no doubl it the Utah public's mind that th; museums on the University pus are worthy of the public's port. |
