Director’s
Desk
 You may remember that last summer we hosted the Scientific Instrument Collections in the University International Conference II. A total of 55 participants attended, including 20 from 13 other countries.
The recently reinstalled optical paintings in our Millington & Barnard collection, painted by Joseph Silbermann, received a great deal of attention.
Paolo Brenni, the president of the international Scientific Instrument Commission (SIC), a group whose mission is to save, study and interpret instruments, was particularly interested in them. We shared some information with him, and, as he was returning home to Switzerland, he stopped in Paris to do some additional research on Silbermann. After a few weeks, I began to get e-mails from Brenni expressing a desire to follow up, and even develop a paper to be presented at the 2007 meeting of the SIC on our paintings.
For the next few months, myself, Maribeth Stolzenberg and Tom Marshall, both of the physics department, were in constant contact. The result was a paper entitled Silbermann’s Didactic Paintings in the University of Mississippi Museum. It was presented at the XXVI Symposium of the Scientific Instrument Commission hosted by Harvard and MIT in September 2007. In addition, it was published in the Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society, No. 95, 2007. Apparently we have the only collection of Silbermann’s paintings known to exist, and we have 61 of the original 80 that were bought.
This spring, please join us at the Museum to view historic documents on loan from the Remnant Trust Athenaeum, and at the ever-popular Spring Brown Bag Garden Lectures arranged by the Master Gardeners of Oxford/Lafayette County. The Gardening Outside the Box series welcomes a larger attendance every year of folks seeking the qualified advice and enrichment provided, so don’t miss it. In addition, join us for a trip back in time as we explore science in the Victorian era at our annual Spring Walton-Young Open House.
Summer will also provide exciting campus-wide offerings in the Mystical Arts of Tibet, a nontraditional quilt exhibition and a rare opportunity to view another side to William Christenberry. See you in the galleries!
Albert Sperath
Director of University Museums
Gardening Outside the Box
Spring garden lectures at The University of Mississippi Museum
 Thursday, April 10
“Doing Time in the Garden: Penitentiary potatoes and corn for convicts”
- Speaker: Leo Mask (former Pontotoc sheriff )
- Story of how an enterprising sheriff fed prisoners with fresh vegetables cultivated by themselves for 40 cents a day
Thursday, April 17
“The Secret Life of Bees: No bees, no honey, no work, no money”
- Speaker: Harold Brummett
- He has kept bees for 10 years, as did his father and grandmother before him.
- He has enough bees to supply his family and friends with honey and to keep his fruits, flowers and vegetables pollinated.
Thursday, April 24
“Home Grown with the ÔLittle Rascals’: How playing in the dirt makes better kids”
- Speaker: Hilary Shugart
- President of local chapter of the Native Plant Society
- Organized gardening for the children at the Barksdale Boys & Girls Club
- Instrumental in installing a native garden at the Oxford Public Library
- Coordinated first Mississippi Sustainability Conference (for keeping our state green) at Ole Miss
Organized by the Master Gardeners of Oxford and Lafayette County and hosted by the
University Museum.
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Scientific inquiry takes center stage
in spring Open House activities
Our annual spring Walton-Young Open House will explore the state of scientific inquiry during the last half of the 19th century, featuring the university’s collection of scientific instruments from that era. Dr. Tom Marshall, chair of physics and astronomy, and his faculty, staff and students will be utilizing instruments from the Millington & Barnard Collection to demonstrate scientific explorations in the late 19th century. Principles of electricity, light, sound, magnetism and mechanics will be demonstrated.
Beloved local historian Jack Lamar Mayfield will make a presentation about Drs. Millington and Barnard, for whom the scientific instrument collection is named, and discuss their important roles in our university’s beginnings.
Throughout the event, science demonstrations will run continuously in the classroom and in the Lawrence Gallery. Children are also invited to gather in the education laboratory to do their own experimenting.
First-person interpreters at the Walton-Young house will assume the roles of the Walton and Young family members and other Oxonians, receiving visitors and sharing their Victorian life experiences.
This family-oriented event is free and open to the public.
Spring Open House Schedule
| 1, 2, 3 p.m. |
First-person tours
Walton-Young Historic House |
1:30 p.m.,
2:30 p.m. |
Jack Lamar Mayfield portrays Drs. Millington
and Barnard, respectively
Museum |
| 1-3 p.m. |
Science demon strations
with historic instruments (continuously)
Museum |
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Exhibition:
Quilt National 2007—May 20-July 6
 While the South will not be wanting for warmth, an exhibition of quilts from the Quilt National 2007 competition held at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio, will be on view in the Museum’s galleries. This show of 19 quilts is a selection of one-third of the original show; the full show is divided into smaller segments to accommodate more
institutions in hosting them.
The show tugs at the fringes of what some might call a “quilt.” Included in the show are works in which the traditional quilt is being tested by folks whose needs are not met by
that approach. Some
new approaches explored in this show are painting, photography
and ink-jet printing. Some of the quilts included also test the shape commonly associated with the functional quilt, and half of them use traditional-size format. Don’t miss this opportunity to view a Southern icon in another light.
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Exhibition:
William Christenberry: Site/Possession—July 20-Sept. 21
Perhaps best-known in the region as a photographer, William Christenberry: Site/Possession will afford the visitor a broader range of media than perhaps previously seen from Christenberry. Only a few photographs are included, as painting, drawing and sculpture dominate the exhibition.
This is a very large show, and at least three of our galleries will be used. Take this rare opportunity to come and explore Christenberry on the other side of a camera.
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Museum Education
Too Cool After School
Spring 2008
Kindergarten through 6th grade
Field trips, crafts, take-home projects and more! We meet monthly (Wednesdays) 3:15-4:30 p.m. at the University Museum and Historic Houses, University Avenue at 5th Street on the Ole Miss campus. Participation is free. Class size is limited to 20 and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Please contact Holly Bethune in the Education Division at 662-915-7205 to register your child or if special assistance is required.
April 16—Tibetan Mandalas
May 14—TBA
Kudzu Nature Kamp
Summer 2008
Where adventures begin and the memories never end!
Ages 6-7 years old
July 7-11, 9 a.m.-noon
Ages 8-9 years old
July 14-18, 9 a.m.-noon
Ages 10-11 years old
July 21-25, 9 a.m.Ðnoon
25 students per session; additional dates will be added if
necessary
Join us on our discovery of the natural world as we explore Bailey’s Woods. Nature journals, natural material papermaking, birding, ecology and botany will introduce your child to the natural wonders of Oxford and Mississippi.
The cost is $65 per session for Friends of the Museum members; $75 per session for nonmembers. All supplies and refreshments are provided.
Pre-registration is required! Registration for Friends of the Museum will begin on April 21. Registration for nonmembers will begin on April 28. Payment must accompany registration and must be made in person at the University Museum. There will be no refunds after
May 30.
The Museum is located at University Ave. and 5th St. For more information, call 662-915-7205
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Exhibition:
Magical Land of Spiritual Wonders—April 15-May 11, 2008
 An exciting campus-wide event featuring “The Mystical Arts of Tibet” will have three venues. First, the University Museum is hosting an exhibition of photographs from The Roof Top of the World. Included in the 21 photographs are Potala Palace, home of the Dalai Lama; Jokhang, Tibet’s first temple; and Samy e, Tibet’s first monastery.
Other scenes from Tibet also are included.
Second, the Ford Center for the Performing Arts will be hosting a performance at 8 p.m. May 1. “The Mystical Arts of Tibet” tours, featuring the famed multiphonic singers of Drepung Loseling monastery, have taken the world by storm. Endorsed by the Dalai Lama as a means of promoting world peace and healing through sacred performing art, the famed monks have performed in many of America’s greatest theaters and music halls. A masterpiece of Drepung Loseling and Richard Gere Productions, “The Mystical Arts of Tibet” is a sacred, beautiful and powerful performance. Tickets may be purchased at the Ford Center box office.
In conjunction with the performance, the Ole Miss Student Union will be the site of a sand mandala creation.
Several monks will spend April 28-May 1 creating the mandala, and on May 2 it will be ritually dismantled. Visitors are invited to watch as the colorful 4-foot-diameter work slowly reveals symbols and patterns.
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