The Marietta Museum of History - A Winner

December, 2007

The Marietta Museum of History is a winner this year among the members of the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries (GAMG). This statewide organization serves over 200 members with a goal to make Georgia 's museum community strong, effective and proactive. Each year GAMG recognizes outstanding achievements among Georgia museums and honors them at a luncheon.

This year the Marietta Museum of History will be honored at that luncheon for the Museum Education Program of the Year and for Museum Volunteer of the Year.

 

The Education Program award is being given for the new Museum Mice Tours. Designed and led by Curator Amy Reed, the tours are based on programs by the Smithsonian Institute's Early Enrichment Center. The tours cover different topics each month for toddlers from age 3 to 5 and their parents. This nontraditional history museum audience has increased with the introduction of the tours, and a new awareness of the museum has been created as a result.

 

 

 

The Museum Volunteer of the Year will honor Marietta resident Amanda Canup for devoting countless hours and unbounded creativity in overhauling the museum's website and for energizing the Military Gallery through touch screen technology. Canup, a Computer Services Specialist at Southern Polytechnic University began her volunteer work at the museum in 2004 when she created the museum's website. In 2007, she gave the website a complete overhaul which garnered a website award from the Southeastern Museum Conference.

But her crowning achievement was still to come in the form of a computer touchscreen program. The campaign to complete the Military Gallery of the museum included plans to provide some interactive technology. A call to Amanda for a recommendation resulted in a Senior Capstone project. Computer Science students developed a plan and a program for touchscreen computers to be used in the new Military Gallery. The project provided all the challenges of a real-world experience. The students enthusiasm and hard work then inspired the University's Alumni group to provide two touchscreen computers for use with this project. Amanda has led the students and has acted as liaison between school faculty, administration and museum staff. The touchscreen exhibits in their final format are scheduled to be in the museum in 2008.