Wisconsin museum

Alex Comb

Canoeist/Builder/Restorer
Does anyone have a contact person for the new museum being set up in northern Wisconsin featuring the Jill Dean collection? I have a person interested in donating a canoe.
 
Wisconsin Museum Contact

Alex,
For the time being, until a Board of Directors is formed and meets in January, potential donors can contact me for donation information. We are a non-profit, tax-exempt, 501 (C) 3 corporation, so any donations of items or money are tax-deductible for the full retail value of the item or money donated.

We have extensive renovation work to do on the building this spring to convert it into a display museum and workshop for restoring donated canoes, so cash donations are especially welcome.

Gary Peterson
2295 16-3/4 Avenue
Rice Lake, WI 54868
715-458-2998
garypeterson@chibardun.net
 
garypete said:
Alex,
a display museum and workshop for restoring donated canoes,

Hi Gary,

Will the new museum institute a policy for determining what canoes in its collection get restored? Usually, the less a museum boat has been worked on, the better...

Cheers,
Dan
 
Restoration Criteria and Other Policies

Dan,
The museum is in it's very beginning throes of life, and there will be many policy decisions like this to be made. The board of directors--when it gets formed in January of 2008--will be leaning heavily on you and other knowledgeable WCHA members for guidance on these types of questions.

We realize that the scope of this museum must be national in nature, so we're looking for people like yourself located anywhere in the US to provide ongoing guidance to the board of directors as we establish initial policies.

Can you suggest a mechanism by which the board of directors can have an ongoing dialogue on important issues with knowledgeable experts in the WCHA?

Feel free to reply to my personal email if you wish.

Gary Peterson
 
Canoe donation

Hi Gary,
I have not seen the canoe in question that someone wants to donate to a good cause, but my initial thought was this new museum. I want to find out more about the boat to determine if it really is museum quality.

I think, like Dan mentioned, repairs if done at all, would need to be of museum quality as well.

I will keep you posted on the canoe in question. Good luck on the museum!
 
Restoration Criteria

Hi Alex,
Thanks for thinking of the museum to your canoe owner and potential donor.

I pose the same question to you that I did to Dan:

Can you suggest a mechanism by which the museum's board of directors can have an ongoing dialogue on important issues like restoration criteria with knowledgeable experts in the WCHA?​

We're searching for some pretty special people with unique skills for our board of directors, and few of them will have actual canoe-building or restoration experience. It's therefore going to be really important that they can get ready input from canoe-savvy experts like you and Dan and Rollin and Jerry and Benson and all the rest.

For instance, if the Board writes a general policy of say Criteria for Restoration of Donated Canoes , or Types of Canoe Donations Accepted, and wants you guys to review the policies and sign off on them, how could we accomplish that? Do all interested and experienced restorers need to form a special voting subgroup on a WCHA forum and have directors send rough drafts of their policies to this subgroup for a decision?

Gary
 
garypete said:
Hi Alex,
For instance, if the Board writes a general policy of say Criteria for Restoration of Donated Canoes , or Types of Canoe Donations Accepted, and wants you guys to review the policies and sign off on them, how could we accomplish that? Do all interested and experienced restorers need to form a special voting subgroup on a WCHA forum and have directors send rough drafts of their policies to this subgroup for a decision?

Probably what your board will have to doshould they decide to go this route, is approach builders individually to act in an advisory capacity. You may be able to locate some that are willing to do it on a volunteer basis or as a donation, but you might also expect to pay a consulting fee for this service. Directly by email is probably your best means of communicating amongst this group.

If you are going to anything under the auspices of the WCHA, your board will have to submit a proposal to be considered by the WCHA Board of Directors.

You are of course welcome to continue posting questions directly to the forums here, I am sure you can get a variety of opinions...!

I've often thought the phrase "Museum Quality Restoration" to be a bit of an oxymoron...
 
Back
Top