CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2020 TAM AWARD WINNERS!!

PAST PRESIDENTS AWARD

During the judging process, the committee made notes about nominations we felt were outstanding for various reasons, including creativity, impact and reach, mission related, and resources used. And as you will see, not all of our choices were from Class 5 or Class 6 museums.  After all entries were judged, the committee looked at those nominations and their overall average score. We then presented our top choices to our past presidents – Dan Pomeroy, Bill Hickerson, Myers Brown, Adam Alfrey and Ken Mayes – who were then given the task to determine which one would be the recipient of this year’s Past Presidents Award.  Because there were so many outstanding award nominations this year, the committee had a difficult time narrowing it down. All of these contenders presented unique and inspiring exhibits and programs, again showing inclusiveness, diversity and pushing boundaries. They were all moving and exceptional, and most of them presented something definitely outside of the typical museum box. They all should be very, very proud.  I present to you the 6 contenders, in alphabetical order:

·       Davies Manor Plantation, Memphis

o   Permanent Exhibit - Omitted in Mass: Rediscovering Lost Narratives of Enslavement, Migration and Memory Through the Davies Family’s Papers

·       East Tennessee Historical Society, Knoxville

o   Educational Programming – East Tennessee’s Place in History Artifact Cards

·       Heritage Alliance, Jonesborough

o   Special Event – Voices of the Chester

·       Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga

o   Temporary Exhibit – Noel Anderson: Blak Origin Movement

·       Pink Palace Museum, Memphis

o   Temporary Exhibit – Making Memphis: 200 Years of Community

o   Traveling Exhibit – Memphis’ Bicentennial Goes to Poland!

 

Due to the fact that the East TN Historical Society had a nomination in consideration for the Past President’s recognition, Adam Alfrey, curator at ETHS, chose to sit out of the decision process. Ken Mayes also saw a conflict of interest with one of the nominees so also sat out of the decision process. So this year’s winner was chosen by Dan, Myers and Bill. And that winner is…..

Davies Manor Plantation!

Some comments from the presidents:

“As in the past, it is a very difficult challenge to pick one, since the categories are so different, as are the institutions, e.g., ranging from the Pink Palace to Davies Manor.  Which is something of a long-winded way of saying, they are all exemplary, and I can see why each of them was forwarded to us.  Each of them exhibit amazing creativity and imagination, in addition to hard and diligent work, in successful efforts to engage new audiences in new ways.  They are all worthy of commendation.”

 

“My first place choice is Davies Manor.  I cannot help but be impressed by what they have done with such a small staff and budget, and with a site that is relatively remote and rarely accessed, though near an urban area.  They accomplished a notable degree of research (starting from their own archives), brought in an impressive array of scholars, and interviewed twenty-nine living descendants of the enslaved people who inhabited the property.  And the results exist now as a permanent exhibit, an important and enduring resource for visitors. As their creation of and inclusion in subsequent programs demonstrates, this has brought Davies Manor from the backwater to the forefront of public outreach and contemporary interpretation.”

 

“The staff and volunteers have created an outstanding model for other historic house museums/plantations to emulate. Certainly they’re not the first to undertake incorporating stories/roles of members of the enslaved population, but many others, including organizations with far greater resources, still lag behind.”

 

“They are the definition of a small museum and made herculean efforts to pull off a visually appealing exhibit that explored a heretofore ignored part of their story. This does what an exhibit is supposed to do: pull the story from the primary sources to enlighten the visitor. The fact that their staff is very small and their budget is a fraction of the other projects make it even more impressive.”

 

Comments from the Presidents on other contenders:

 

“East Tennessee Historical Society’s “Artifact Cards” covers a number of bases in innovative outreach and historical interpretation.  I am not aware of anything like it anywhere else.  The “Artifact Cards,” among other things, offer a lifeline to fifth grade teachers trying to deal with new social studies standards requiring them to teach Tennessee History.  The ETHS has once again demonstrated that, when it comes to history, they are a go-to nexus.”

 

“In trying to devote relatively equal time and attention to each submission, I struggled to stop reading each of the wonderful ETHS “Artifact Cards.” The concept is brilliant. How exciting it is to know Tennessee history is again … finally … being taught in schools! The Cards are an invaluable resource.”

“The Pink Palace’s first traveling exhibit is notable in itself as a first, but then to develop it in consultation with Polish advocates in Memphis and officials/consultants in Poland before traveling it to the Sopot Festival in Poland is almost breathtaking.  It is a model for never aiming too low.

 

The “Making Memphis” exhibit at the Pink Palace, which was the basis for the traveling display to Poland, is impressive in its scale (6,000 square feet), and the innovative and thoughtful techniques they employed to tell an interwoven and complex story spanning two hundred years are examples of achievement for us all.

                                                      

The “Voices of Chester” at the Chester Inn offered an innovative and obviously popular interpretive strategy to bring a long-standing and sometimes taken-for-granted historic structure to renewed life.  The structure represents the stories of the diverse and different people who lived there, and “Voices of Chester” brings the building to new life.

 

The Hunter Museum’s “Noel Anderson: Blak Origins Moment” shows an amazing degree of thoughtfulness and effort to make the museum inviting to the African American community, and to address some of the difficult issues wrapped around race, identity, and culture.”

 

Congratulations to all of you on your outstanding achievements!