They Came, They Saw, They Edited

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Sarah Osborne Bender

Volunteers working in the library. Photo: Sarah Osborne Bender

On Sunday, about fifteen volunteers came to the Phillips Library to help create and expand Wikipedia articles related to American artists both in our Made in the U.S.A. exhibition and the rest of our permanent collection. It was a great day of work; many articles were improved and others created from scratch. The spirit behind Wikipedia aligns with our museum’s mission statement—a dynamic environment for collaboration, innovation, engagement with the world, scholarship, and new forms of public participation—and this was all evident here on Sunday in abundance. Many thanks to Wikimedia DC members for being so generous with their experience and enthusiasm.

Happy Birthday Duncan Phillips, from Korea

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Sarah Osborne Bender

In the spring and summer of 1910, Duncan Phillips traveled with his family to Korea as part of a long journey to Asia and the northwestern United States. Phillips’s father, Major Duncan Clinch Phillips, said in his journal that the family stayed at the Sontag Hotel, a hotel catering to Western visitors.

Sontag Hotel in Seoul, Korea, in 1910, the year the Phillipses stayed there.

On this 128th anniversary of Phillips’s birth, some of the most impressive examples of his art collecting are going on display at the Daejeon Museum of Art in central Korea. A team of curators (Sue Frank and Renée Maurer), registrars (Joe Holbach and Trish Waters), and one of our preparators (Bill Koberg) flew around the globe last week to oversee the effort of installing this large traveling show.

Banners featuring our Degas and Ingres, among others and the exterior of the Daejon Museum of Art. Photos: Renee Maurer

Banners featuring our Daumier, Degas and Ingres line the museum grounds and the exterior of the Daejon Museum of Art features a mural of familiar faces. Photos: Renée Maurer

Renée , Bill, and Joe went to Seoul in the days before installation started. They visited the summer palace with its ornately carved and painted structures and throne (left) and watched the changing of the guard (far right). Their interpreter took them for an eel dinner (center right). Photos: Bill Koberg, Renée Maurer

During their down time, assistant curator Renée Maurer, chief registrar and director of special initiatives Joe Holbach, and installations manager Bill Koberg have done some sightseeing around Daejeon and north in the capital Seoul.

Getting GLAM with American Art

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Sarah Osborne Bender

In recent years, Wikipedia GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) Edit-a-thons have taken place at prestigious institutions such as the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian, the British Library, and numerous presidential and university libraries. At these edit-a-thons, volunteers new and experienced come together (often in service of a theme such as Art+Feminism) to create or expand Wikipedia articles. They have the opportunity to draw on some of the highest quality library and archives collections in the world.

This Sunday, June 29, from 11 to 5, the Phillips, in partnership with Wikimedia DC, is hosting a Made in the USA-themed edit-a-thon to create and expand Wikipedia articles on artists in the exhibition and American artists in our permanent collection. What better way to celebrate the upcoming Independence Day holiday than by jumping into the largest democratic experiment on the Internet? Follow this link for more information and to rsvp to attend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/DC/Phillips_Collection