100 Years 100 Stories - meghantreasureportfolio.weebly.com...100 Years 100 Stories Exhibit Overview: The development of the “100 Years, 100 Stories” exhibit began in 2012 when

Jeremy Murray, Courtney Richenbacher, and Meghan Treasure

Exhibition Design

Pamela White and Rima Girnius

Due: May 8, 2014

100 Years 100 Stories

Exhibit Overview:

The development of the “100 Years, 100 Stories” exhibit began in 2012 when the Director of the

German American Heritage Center, Janet Brown-Lowe, approached the Quad City Symphony

Orchestra’s Board of Trustees with the idea of hosting an exhibit celebrating the 100 year history of

the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. The connection between the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and

the German American Heritage Center is that the original Tri-City Symphony Orchestra was founded

by and consisted of an overwhelming majority of musicians who were of German descent.

While the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and the German American Heritage Center were the main

partners on the exhibit, they were also assisted by our Western Illinois University Museum Studies

team and the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society. Funding for the exhibit was provided by the

following primary donors: Charles B. Preacher Foundation, Iowa Humanities Board, Quad City Times,

Riverboat Development Authority, Downtown Davenport Association, and Western Illinois University

Foundation. Numerous families and individuals also contributed financial donations to the exhibit.

The exhibit is set to run at the German American Heritage Center until July 20, 2014. After finishing its

showing at the German American Heritage Center, the artifacts on display will be returned to the

loaning institutions or individuals. Several of the text panels will be handed over to the Quad City

Symphony Orchestra as a means to further advertise for the 100th anniversary season. The Quad City

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Symphony Orchestra is planning to use the panels as smaller, individual displays to be exhibited at

Quad City Symphony Orchestra events and at the sites of Quad City Symphony Orchestra sponsors.

Exhibit Timetable:

February 21 Meeting @ GAHC; discuss profile assignments, exhibit design options, panel design options

February 28 Meeting @ GAHC; discuss panel designs, research progress; lay out rough production schedule for exhibit

March 3 First group of profiles due for editing

March 10 Second group of profiles due for editing

March 17 Research @ Davenport Public Library; Third group of profiles due for editing

March 22 Meeting @ GAHC; go over edits on submitted profiles; discuss progress on remaining profiles

March 28 Re-submissions of edited profiles due

April 1 Research @ Augustana Special Collections

April 2 All text submitted

April 6 Previous exhibit uninstalled

April 13-18 Initial installation days

April 16 Exhibit installation

April 17 Exhibit installation

April 18 Exhibit installation

April 21 Exhibit installation

April 22 Exhibit installation

April 23 Finish exhibit installation

April 24 Exhibit opening

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Exhibit Themes:

The overarching theme of the exhibit is “100 Years, 100 stories,” i.e. telling and celebrating the 100

year story of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra through 100 stories pertaining to important people,

places, events, and processes. Underneath the overarching theme are several sub-themes. These

sub-themes divide the narrative into sections, such as: Founding Musicians, Early Board of Directors,

Conductors, Guest Performers, Venues, Symphony Events, Symphony Organizations, and Symphony

Culture.

Exhibit Objects:

Objects and images for the exhibit were collected from various Quad City-area institutions, as well as

some that were in the collection of the German American Heritage Center. The objects used in the

exhibit and where they are on loan from are as follows:

● Putnam Museum, Davenport

○ Opera glasses from the Burtis Opera House

○ Opera glasses

○ Violin and bow of Harry Petersen

○ Violin, bow, and case of George Wallace

○ Tri-City/Quad City Symphony Orchestra programs

○ Margherita Roberti’s costume and adornments from the opera “Tosca”

○ Instrument strings

○ Dior dress worn by Betsy Bradahl during performances with QCSO and Augustana

Orchestra

● Rock Island County Historical Society, Rock Island

○ Tuxedo

● Quad City Symphony Orchestra

○ Quad City Symphony Orchestra programs

○ Poster of the first Symphony program

○ 75th Anniversary History of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra by Donald McDonald

○ Midori decorated violin from Second Fiddle Sale

○ Painted violin from Second Fiddle Sale.

○ DVDs of Quad City Symphony Orchestra performances

● Davenport Public Library

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○ Tri-City Symphony Orchestra programs

● Alice McDonald

○ commemorative medal presented to Elsie von Maur

● Gunda & Jim Davis

○ Batons of James Dixon

The images used in the exhibit are courtesy of the German American Heritage Center, Quad City

Symphony Orchestra, Carol (Schlueter) Long, Palmer Foundation of Chiropractic History, Davenport

Public Library Richardson-Sloan Special Collections, Putnam Museum, and Augustana College Special

Collections.

Roles of the Team Members:

The idea for this exhibit was created 2 years ago as a collaboration between the German American

Heritage Center and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. Jeremy was assigned to the project last fall

as part of his graduate assistantship. He spent the first semester researching the Symphony’s history

to determine what stories would be told. This required him to delve deep into the history to find the

most significant and interesting people and events. Jeremy was also responsible for locating potential

artifacts and images for use in the exhibit.

Courtney and Meghan were assigned to this project at the beginning of the spring semester. They

were mainly responsible for helping write the stories and help with the installation. Each group

member had roughly 30 stories to write that were due throughout the semester with the goal that

they would be completed by the end of March/beginning of April. Once they were complete, we

made edits to our stories and sent them in for printing.

Once the panels arrived, Kelly and Jeremy collected the objects and pictures that were to be used in

the exhibit. We then helped Kelly put together the exhibit by placing items in the display cases,

cutting out the pictures and labels on foamcore, and hanging the panels. All of this went fairly

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smoothly once the panels arrived. The Dior dress and tuxedo were the last things to be hung before

the exhibit was complete.

Exhibit Stages:

These are the stages that we went through in order to research, write, and install the exhibit at the

German American Heritage Center. Our main focus was the research and writing of the panels and

actively installing the exhibit. Some portions of the process we were not included in, such as priming

and painting of the walls and selecting the panels types for the stories.

Research:

There were three main sources that we used for research: the 75th Anniversary book began as

a guideline for almost all of the stories, the 100th Anniversary supplement to the 75th

Anniversary book provided key information on the more recent history, then the Davenport

Public Library had an abundance of information. The main sources of information at the

Davenport Public Library, Richardson-Sloan Special Collections were the microfilm collection

of the Davenport Daily Leader and Davenport Democrat newspapers, the bound programs of

the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and Bill Wundram’s A Time We Remember: Celebrating a

Century in our Quad Cities. Several other special collection texts were used specifically for the

research on the first musicians and early board of directors. Research for the history of the

Symphony venues was also conducted at the Rock Island County Historical Society and the

Rock Island Public Library for back issues of the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus. Alana

Callander of the Palmer Foundation of Chiropractic History was consulted for information on

the history of the Masonic Temple. We also went to the Special Collections at Augustana, who

have scrapbooks that were compiled by the Symphony over the years. The German American

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Heritage Center itself also had several books that added small pieces of information from local

writers. The Quad City Times provided articles about recent events and composers.

Example labels:

Story # 28 Donald Schleicher

Donald Schleicher began his career as a high school band director and has served as Professor of

Conducting and Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Illinois since 1995. He has extensive

conducting credentials and has conducted the National Philharmonic of the Ukraine, the Guiyang

(China) Symphony Orchestra, the Inchon (South Korea) Philharmonic, the Daegu (South Korea)

Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmonica de la UNAM of Mexico City, the South Dakota

Symphony, and the orchestras of Bridgeport, Tallahassee, and Lansing. In 1999 he served as the

Music Director and Conductor of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. He retired in 2008.  

Story #48 - Centennial Hall

Augustana College’s Centennial Hall is a product of the college’s 1960 centennial celebration. Funding

for the performance hall came from the centennial fundraising drive. Centennial Hall was the second

phase of the two-part construction of the Augustana fine arts complex. The concert hall was built

adjoining the Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts that was completed in 1955.

Construction on Centennial Hall was begun in 1958 and was finished during the summer of 1959. The

final construction and furnishing costs for the auditorium was around $1,125,000. The performance

hall was constructed with music in mind. The stage was constructed to hold up to 300 singers and a

full orchestra. This large stage was designed specifically to facilitate the needs for the Handel Oratorio

Society’s Messiah performances. The hall was also constructed with an organ and seating for 1,640.

Centennial replaced the Augustana College Gym as the main Illinois venue for the Quad City

Symphony Orchestra and continues to serve in that function.

Story #79 - 75th Anniversary (1989)

The 75th

Anniversary of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra was full of classical music, pops concerts,

commemorative events, and galas. It also served as the 25th

anniversary of music director and

conductor James Dixon, the orchestra’s longest-tenured conductor. The anniversary was also

celebrated by the publication of History of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra Association by Donald

F. McDonald, a long-term member of the board of trustees. It chronicles the history of the orchestra

from its founding in 1916 all the way to the 1989-90 concert seasons.

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Exhibit layout:

Beginning of Installation:

Day one of the installation process focused mainly on getting Margherita Roberti’s costume

situated. This was a difficult task that required three people to put together six pieces of her

costume on the mannequin. Because the material was very heavy and seams were coming

apart, we had to be very delicate when clipping the dress in place and making sure that the

weight was evenly distributed across the shoulders of the mannequin.

Another issue we ran into were the panels. They were not printed correctly so we had to stall

the installation of the panels until they could be reprinted. Instead of being a lighter blue

background, the panels were printed with a lilac colored background. Even though the

coloring looked fine with the display case backgrounds, we were trying to match the new logo

for the Symphony, which is blue. Below are photographs during and after the first day of

installation.

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(Left: Jeremy helping take out Margherita Roberti’s costume for photographing and display. Right:

Completed Margherita Roberti’s mounted costume.)

During Installation:

Putting together the exhibit was difficult without the panels. The next few days were spent

putting together the exhibit cases. The first display is paired with the symphony founders and

board members. It holds several theater glasses, a violin, and bow strings. A larger display in

the corner focuses on the Symphony’s conductors and has another violin, an original

performance poster, and James Dixon’s batons.

Margherita Roberti’s costume stands by itself with a display case showing the costume jewelry

she wore during her performances. Pieces included her tiara, shoes, earrings and necklaces.

The last display case holds two finals from the Symphony’s Second Fiddle Sale and a pendant

given to Elsie Von Maur.

Once the panels arrived we were really able to put the exhibit together and add any final

touches. We placed and leveled all of the panels as well as pictures associated with the

stories. We used velcro and glue dots to adhere the panels and pictures to the walls and the

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inside of the display cases. Small picture and object labels were also added as this stage. After

everything was placed in the display cases the lids were put on and wiped clean. The last piece

to be completed was the Dior dress and tuxedo that were to be hung in a small inlet display.

Below are photographs of the installation and completed exhibition.

(Top left: During installation. Object placement is complete. Decision for panel location is being

determined. Top right: Tentative panel placement. Bottom left: closer look at the far back wall with

tentative panel and object placement. Bottom right: final panel and picture placement with

completed display cases.)

Exhibit Opening:

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The exhibit opening took place on April 24, 2014. There was a total of 67 people in

attendance, including the German American Heritage Center’s board, members of the Quad

City Symphony Orchestra’s Board of Trustees, and members of both the Quad City Symphony

Orchestra and the German American Heritage Center. Everyone seems to enjoy the exhibit

and appreciate the work that was put into creating it. Below are photographs of the exhibition

before and during the opening.

(Top left: Dior dress and tuxedo.Top right: completed conductors case and famous performers.

Bottom left: Margherita Roberti’s costume. Bottom right: completed display case #3 (see Exhibit

Layout) featuring Second Fiddle Sale violins.)

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Programming:

There are many kinds of programming that can be paired with this exhibit. For adults who know how

to play instruments, they could hold bi-weekly rehearsals and hold an informal performances. This

would be put on with the help of the current Symphony conductor and members of the orchestra.

Other programming ideas include lectures and presentations held by the current conductor,

well-known performers, and those active within the Symphony community such as volunteers and

board members.

Children and families can also benefit from the exhibit by learning about musical instruments and

composition. Children could build instruments out of simple materials , such as a set of drums from

empty containers of varying sizes and string instruments from cardboard boxes and string. Family

bands could be formed and they could work together to make music. There would also be coloring

sheets of musical instruments and composers for kids as well as storybooks based on music.

Programming for teenagers would include learning how to play various instruments, learning to

conduct, and how to create a short 5-bar composition. The focus would be on the basics with the

hope that they would maybe be interested in pursuing music in high school and beyond or at least

have a greater appreciation for music. For those who already know how to play an instrument they

could try new instruments as well as create a longer composition and practice conducting more

difficult pieces.

Exhibit narrative/interpretation:

Reflections:

While working on this project we learned that communication is a key-factor in the planning,

organization and creation of an exhibition. Not only communication but the collaboration of a

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project can truly bring a project together. We also learned that things do not always go as

planned and that you have to make do with what you have.

Label writing is an extensive and labor intensive process with a lot of revision and

collaboration. Because the labels submitted had a lot of text, they created large wall mounts,

thus proving difficult to arrange on limited wall space. This could have been planned better

perhaps by using wall dimensions with the cases factored in. One way this could have been

done would be through a computer program such as Google Sketchup.

One thing that might have helped before the opening of the exhibition would have been to go

through Beverly Serrell’s Framework so that we could have fixed some of the problems that

are discussed later in this paper.

Teamwork and Collaboration:

Working with the German American Heritage Center and other exhibit affiliates has been an

interesting experience. The German American Heritage Center was great to work with

because they took care of anything that we would need regarding communications with the

Symphony and other organizations. The Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society (SCIGS) was

another organization that we have the privilege of working with. They were tasked with

researching the individuals who are showcased as the Founding Musicians and Early Board of

Directors. All together SCIGS was charged with researching thirty-four profiles.

Difficulties:

One of the biggest difficulties of working on this project was the lack of communication. Often

meetings were scheduled when not all could attend or not enough notice was given for

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everyone to rearrange their schedules. Installation communication was also an issue because

we did not know we were installing until the night before. It made it difficult for us to move

around our schedules to accommodate working on the exhibit and not be disrespectful to our

bosses and coworkers.

Reliable communication and cooperation from the Quad City Symphony was also difficult to

come by. The difficulty was compounded by the fact that we had no direct contact with the

Quad City Symphony Orchestra. Instead we had to make requests for information through

Janet.

Another difficulty arose out of the failure of SCIGS to complete the research they had been

brought on to assist with. Only ten of the thirty-four research packets SCIGS was to provide

were received and when inquiries were made about the remaining research SCIGS said they

had no further research in progress. Therefore, the remaining research had to be picked up by

our team, which resulted in delays in finishing the text for editing and printing.

Improvements/suggestions:

If we were to redo the exhibit we would still use 100 stories. However, a larger exhibit space would be

better for holding such a large exhibit. Having artifacts and images from the current Quad City

Symphony Orchestra and its members. Having more recordings and video of the Quad City Symphony

Orchestra performances would also be ideal to make more of a showcase of the exhibits topics. Also,

a redone exhibit would have less text. One way of creating less text on the walls would be to put the

smaller stories onto the iPad stations, leaving the bigger and more well-known/popular stories on the

walls.

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We would also rewrite the labels to reach a broader audience such as children and young adults. Not

only that, we would create kid’s activities to accompany the exhibit such as coloring sheets (see

Programming). If there was more money to invest in the exhibit and its space, we would rid the walls

of carpeting and move the storage to another area so we could cover the doors and use that space

another way. Also, given more time we could have created a musical staff that would flow over the

walls, creating a visual line connecting the stories.

One thing that is a simple fix would be to add seating, such as small gallery stools or chairs so that

visitors would be able to sit down and read the text. This is particularly important because of the

general audience of the GAHC and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra is older.

Exhibit evaluation tools:

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the exhibit we will use a visitor survey that will be given to

the GAHC’s members and board, and any new visitors who visited the exhibit. Some example

questions are as follows:

1. Have you visited the GAHC before?

2. How far did you travel to visit today?

3. Did you enjoy the exhibit?

4. Did you read all the stories?

5. What was your favorite part?

6. Will you return to the Center for future exhibits?

7. What would you change about the exhibit?

8. How did you hear about the exhibit?

9. How did the exhibit make you feel?

10. How old are you?

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We will also use Beverley Serrell’s Judging Exhibitions: A Framework for Assessing Excellence. Her

framework asks: “Is it comfortable? Engaging? Reinforcing? Meaningful?” By coming together as a 1

team and answering these questions, we are able to understand our exhibit and understand it from a

visitor’s point of view. For example, “Is it comfortable?” We already answered that there are no chairs

in our exhibit and thus our exhibit would have gotten a low score in this category.

Conclusion:

Overall this project taught each of us the value of communication, the benefits of working with other

organizations, and what it is like to research and put on an exhibit. Even though not all of us were part

of the beginning planning phases, we were given an opportunity to work hands-on and get valuable

exhibit experience. Though none of us are actively pursuing a career in exhibitions this project open

our eyes to the possibility that this may be something to look for in the future. It allowed us to be

creative and show our talents in a different way. We all value the experience we had and look forward

to future collaborative endeavors.

References:

1. Davenport Daily Times

2. Davenport Democrat

3. Rock Island Argus

4. Moline Dispatch

5. Quad City Times

6. Loftin, Dennis. The Quad City Symphony Orchestra: A Celebration of One Hundred Years

(Davenport, IA: Quad City Symphony Orchestra Association, 2014).

1 Beverly Serrell, “Framework: Assessing Excellence in Exhibitions from a Visitor­Centered Perspective” handout in Judging Exhibitions: A Framework for Assessing Excellence (LeftCoast Press: 2006). 

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7. McDonald, Donald. A History of the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra: Celebrating the Art of

Sound for Seventy-Five Years (Davenport, IA: Quad City Symphony Orchestra Association,

1989).

8. Serrell, Beverly. “Framework: Assessing Excellence in Exhibitions from a Visitor-Centered

Perspective” handout in Judging Exhibitions: A Framework for Assessing Excellence. LeftCoast

Press: 2006.

9. Wundrum, Bill. A Time We Remember: Celebrating a Century in Our Quad Cities (Davenport,

IA: Quad City Times, 1999).

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