Memphis Rock and Soul Museum!

Jordan and I are attending Memphis museums on their free day while he is on his Spring Break. Yesterday we went to the Rock and Soul Museum. Check out my impressions from our tour.

Jordan and I in front of the Rock and Soul Museum in the FedEx Forum plaza

The Rock and Soul Museum is located in Memphis, Tennessee, around the corner from the bustle of historic Beale Street. Founded in 1996, the museum was developed by the National Museum of American History as a part of the legendary Smithsonian Institution. Originally meant to be a traveling exhibition, funding for such was never available. The museum became a Memphis reality when a group of Memphians stepped in to secure funding to construct the museum locally.[1] Touring the Rock and Soul Museum should be an important part of any trip to Memphis because it does a fantastic job of situating the musical heritage of Memphis within the overarching cultural context of the Mid South.

The tour begins with a seven minute video discussing the convergence of country, blues, soul, and rock music in the rural Midsouth, and how Memphis came to be the epicenter of that music. The video is dated by the musicians and record executives who appear in it, but not by the information or cinematic style. From there, the tour is self-guided with an optional audio component. The first room of the exhibit focuses on the shared roots of country and blues in Southern porch culture, sharecropping, and rural life. Along with a reproduction of a rural porch, the exhibit featured a covered wagon and representations of cotton and cotton culture. My only complaint about this portion of the exhibit is that it was possible to hear the introductory video while touring it, since the two rooms are only separated by a heavy black curtain. It would be beneficial at some point to build a wall separating the two. The exhibit continues with the depiction of a country kitchen and bedroom; a depiction of how the music migrated, along with sharecroppers, to Memphis; and continues with music memorabilia. It ends with a collection of modern albums that were recorded in Memphis, a blurb about each, and a wonderful wall of post-its inviting visitors to “record” themselves in Memphis.

I especially loved how the video and exhibits combined musical history with social history, particularly race relations, civil rights, and sharecropping. I also loved the “touchability” of the exhibits and artifacts. Signs invited visitors to explore the porch replica and to touch items set out on the table in the kitchen exhibit. Some artifacts, such as an old radio, were housed in glass cases, of course, but quite a bit of the objects were out. I felt like displaying objects in this way in such a setting really helped to immerse the visitor in the cultural history that gave rise to the musical revolution of the 1950s and 60s. In addition, there were multiple forms of media, including text, photograph, audio and video. The text on the exhibits was not overwhelming, but still informative, especially combined with the photographs, descriptions of objects, and audio tour.

The audio tour was also a wonderful accompaniment to the exhibits. The combination of interpretation, famous voices, and music on the audio tour helped to provide visitors with an interesting and varied tour experience. Halfway through the tour, Jordan discovered that one of the juke boxes on display actually had a code next to each song that, when entered into the audio tour handset, played the particular song to which it corresponded. I thought that this was a fun and interesting novelty within the tour. I also really enjoyed the post-it wall at the end of the tour. It is a smart way to gauge visitors’ opinions about the tour, involve children, and make visitors personally invested in the museum experience.

            

The Rock and Soul Museum is a wonderful gem in the middle of the busiest part of Memphis. The walk to and from the museum was half the fun of the experience. We parked several blocks away, but the walk wasn’t difficult as we passed through Beale Street, past the Ida B. Wells historic marker, through the FedEx Forum open air plaza, and into the museum. Going in the early portion of the evening was an especially exciting time to visit because one could hear the music from Beale Street drifting through the air. The location of the museum was a bit of strategical genius because the surrounding area sets the mood perfectly. Visiting the Rock and Soul museum was a Memphis experience I wish I had done sooner. I definitely plan on returning to experience more of the exhibit at a more leisurely pace.  

My post-it "record"

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[1] For more information, see http://memphisrocknsoul.org/aboutus. 

Me at the Ida B. Wells historical marker at Beale Street and Rufus Thomas

Yesterday Jordan and I visited the National Civil Rights Museum here in Memphis. Its primary focus is to document the nineteenth and twentieth century African-American struggle for liberty. Although the Civil Rights museum is a fantastic example of a large, well-funded and well-developed museum, there are also some negative issues that deserve consideration.

Upon entering the museum, a visitor veers to the right and begins the tour with a depiction of slavery. From there, the museum continues chronologically through the escalation of the Civil Rights Movement. The first half of the tour ends in a replica of rooms 306 and 307 of the Lorraine Motel, the former being the room where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was staying during the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike. The second half of the tour continues across the street in the former boarding house where James Earl Ray is said to have fired the shot that killed Dr. King. It begins with a chronology of the days surrounding the assassination and continues with replicas of both the bedroom where Ray stayed and the common bathroom from where the shot was fired.

As far as interpretation is concerned, the Civil Rights Museum does a great job. The facts included in the exhibit are accurate, clear for the most part, and free of grammatical error. The museum also does a great job of situating the movement in its cultural context and provoking the visitor to think clearly about its foundations and legacy, posing important questions and depicting multiple theories. I did appreciate the various forms of media in the museum, including text, image, artifact, video and audio. I also especially enjoyed the exhibits’ larger artifacts, including a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, a destroyed Greyhound to illustrate the Freedom Rides, and a Memphis garbage truck to represent the Sanitation Workers' Strike.

I did perceive some issues during our tour, however. The abundance of text in the exhibits is overwhelming. There is no way to read all of it and, when one attempts to do so, the exhibit space becomes congested. I heard several complaints, including “I feel like I’m not getting to see all of this,” and “I’m so overwhelmed.” To be fair, we visited on a Monday afternoon, when the museum is congested because Tennessee residents with a valid driver’s license can enter for free. I appreciate free admission because it allows many people to attend who otherwise would be unable, but I can’t help feeling that the driver’s license requirement is more restrictive than it ought to be, undermining the mission of the museum to educate and inspire the public about Civil Rights.

The overall flow of the museum was sometimes confusing. Exhibits interpreting M.K. Gandhi and Barack Obama were awkwardly placed. The Gandhi exhibit occupies space between the two tour halves, extracting visitors from the narrative of events. Similarly, the Obama exhibit is situated at the end of the Ray trial exhibit, but before the exhibits on post-MLK civil rights. Indeed, the entire second half of the tour lacked a cohesive flow. Jordan and I spent time trying to figure out how the exhibit was supposed to continue, particularly at and after the introduction of the boarding house bathroom replica. The physical path of the museum should reflect the chronological flow of interpretation more clearly. Jordan, a weapons enthusiast, also noticed conflicting information about the gun used by Ray on the day of the assassination. One portion of the exhibit states that Ray purchased a 30.06 and traded it for a .243-styled rifle the next day, while another portion states that Ray used a 30.06 to fire at Dr. King.

Finally, one ought not discuss the National Civil Rights Museum without mentioning the very contentious presence of Jacqueline Smith, who as of today, has protested the Civil Rights Museum for 24 years and two months. Smith, a former resident of the Lorraine Motel, maintains that the forced removal of herself and other residents of the motel desecrates King’s memory, and that his legacy would be better served through service to the poor and maintaining the integrity of the neighborhood.[1] She has received support from many Civil Rights and social justice leaders, including Arun Gandhi, the grandson of M.K. Gandhi and founder of the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, hosted at Christian Brothers University in Memphis. I left the Civil Rights Museum with more questions than I had upon entering, especially after stopping by Smith’s protest corner, as many of her ideas echo those informing the museum’s mission and interpretation.  

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[1] For more information, see Ms. Smith’s website at www.fulfillthedream.net

Museum Careers: A Practical Guide for Students and Novices by N. Elizabeth Schlatter

Click on the photograph to go to the Amazon listing for this book!

This book, as the title suggests, is a practical guide for students and new professionals hoping to enter the museum profession. Schlatter’s wealth of experience as a seasoned museum professional has allowed her to write a well-informed book full of smart advice and real world examples to support it. It is truly beneficial to students and new professionals, and one of the most useful books I’ve read in the course of my Masters Degree program.

Part Two, “Museum Jobs,” was especially interesting to me as a public history professional currently in the middle of the job search. Schlatter creates her chapters by identifying three categories of jobs that a museum might employ, leaving the final chapter in Part Two dedicated to “The Director.” These three categories, which make up chapters three through five, include: jobs focused on objects and/or exhibitions; jobs with a public focus; and jobs with an administrative focus. Within these categories, Schlatter has identified several specific jobs – eight each in chapters three and four, and five in chapter five.

Of particular interest to me in chapter three was the librarian/ archivist position. For each job, Schlatter offers a description; a few examples of how a real person with this job in a real museum might work; and general information about salary, education, experience, and resources where one can find job listings and professional advancement opportunities. I particularly found it helpful that Schlatter included the career ladder with her salary ranges. For example, in the Librarian/Archivist job heading, she lists salary ranges for a Librarian Assistant, Assistant Librarian, Librarian, Visual Resources Librarian, Director/ Head Librarian, Assistant Archivist, Archivist, and Chief Archivist.[1]

Throughout the book, particularly in this section, I found myself encouraged by Schlatter’s information. It is practical and no-nonsense, but not depressingly so. It is easy to be discouraged as a public history professional searching for a job. This is especially true for archives professionals when so many fellow candidates are highly qualified and so many jobs require a candidate to have an MLIS or MLS. Schlatter’s section on archivists in museums reassured me that there is room for archivists with training in public history programs, even as she cautioned readers that not all museums need or can afford a full-time library or archive.[2] I also particularly enjoyed the section on Registrar/Collections Manager, as it’s a position within museums that I regularly see postings for and know very little about.

As a public history student, I was also interested in Chapter four, “Jobs With a  Public Focus,” particularly Educator/ Volunteer Manager, as so many of my colleagues have or have had this job at historic institutions, and Information Manager, as one of its alternate titles might be Digital Archivist. Much of my work experience thus far has been in establishing and curating digital archives collections. I have actually applied for two Digital Archivist jobs at museums within the past few months. Schlatter emphasizes that these are relatively new and perhaps unstable careers, although they carry a salary range that seems to be a little larger than other jobs within a museum ($35,000 to $50,000 for an Information Assistant and $70,000 to $95,000 for an Information Officer).[3] As Schlatter notes earlier in the book, however, salary ranges can vary depending on type and location of museum. In the case of one of the positions I applied for at a local museum, the high end of the salary range only slightly touched on the lower edge of the one listed here.

Part Three, Preparing For and Gaining Museum Employment, was by far the most important part of the book for me as a professional currently searching for jobs. This section of the book includes chapters on Education, Internships and Volunteering, Finding and Applying for Jobs, and Professional Development and Career Growth. The interesting aspect of this section of the book is that it includes advice for aspiring museum professionals at all seasons of their careers. This has likely helped to make the book such a seminal one in museums studies programs and in the field at large.

Chapter Eight, Internships and Volunteering, is particularly useful to someone in the middle of a program now, probably a large proportion of the book’s audience. I especially enjoyed it because it discussed the various reasons one should accept an intern or volunteer position, even if it is unpaid and one would rather have a paying position. Chapter Nine, Finding Jobs and Applying, was especially useful to me and, I suspect, to people like me. I felt as I was reading this section of the book that I got more out of it as someone who is currently going through the situations she describes than I would have if I read the book a year or two years ago. It is so well-written, however, that it would be easy to come back to the book and use it for reference, as I may one day do with Chapter Ten, Professional Development and Career Growth, as it emphasizes several ways in which museum professionals stay up to date on changes in the field.

I especially enjoyed this book because I could relate to it so well. Schlatter not only uses real world examples, but also discusses her own career trajectory and experiences during the seasons of her museum career: pre-professional, student, para-professional, and professional. I also enjoyed that she included some of her own experiences with having a family and being a member of the museum profession. Over the past few months, I have found it frustrating that my career choices would be so much more open if I were able to move anywhere in the country. This is impossible for me, however, as a new wife who now has a second person’s career to consider in addition to her own. Schlatter handles the issue of juggling family and career sensitively in many places in the book, and I am especially grateful to her for that. This is one of the best practical guides that I have read in graduate school and I plan on adding it to my collection as a well-loved favorite.

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[1] N. Elizabeth Schlatter, Museum Careers: A Practical Guide for Students and Novices (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2008), 67.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid., 87