Registration is now open for our pre-conference offsite tours. We have organized three fabulous guided tours on Sunday, March 12th:
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park (10:00am-11:30am)
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park invites 25 guests to attend a private tour of the MLK, Jr. Birth Home where we will discuss an upcoming rehabilitation of the building. Led by Ash Phillips, National Park Service Historical Architect, the tour will highlight how the NPS intends to manage complex and overlapping concerns about historic preservation, care of museum objects, and visitor services. If time allows, the tour will include a walk around the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park highlighting the importance of preserving the site in the shadow of encroaching development.
Tour discussion will include:
- Relocating the museum collection housed in the Birth Home.
- Managing visitor expectations before, during, and after the rehabilitation project.
- Balancing Preservation and Operational needs.
Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University (1:00pm-2:30pm)
Join Katie Ericson, Ingram Director of Education, on an in-depth tour focused on the museum’s dynamic collections and insight into the opportunities and obstacles of their thirty-year-old Michael Graves designed building. Emory University’s collections date back to 1876 when a museum was formed on the original campus in Oxford, Georgia. At this stage in its development, the museum’s collection resembled the Renaissance wunderkammer, or “wonder room;” here, an assortment of objects such as artifacts collected by Methodist missionaries and Emory faculty working in Asia were displayed for the enjoyment of the public.
In 1993, an expanded museum and a new conservation laboratory–supported by Michael C. Carlos and designed by Michael Graves–opened as the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Twenty-six years later, in 2019, the museum celebrated 100 years of inspiring generations of Emory faculty and students as well as visitors from Atlanta and beyond who have sought to enrich their lives through the study of and experiences with art.
Atlanta History Center: Cyclorama Expansion (1:00pm-2:30pm)
The Atlanta History Center recently completed a $21.1 million multi-year expansion, which is now home to one of only two cycloramas still in existence in the United States. In 2014, the Atlanta History Center was entrusted with both the Civil War cyclorama painting “The Battle of Atlanta” and the 1856 steam engine Texas. Due to the scale of the two objects–the painting stands 49 feet tall, is longer than a football field, and weighs 10,000 pounds–this acquisition came with the immediate need for expansion. This tour provides the chance to hear directly from Jackson McQuigg, Vice President of Properties, and Dr. Gordon L. Jones, Senior Military Historian and Curator, two key members of the team who thoughtfully carried out planning, construction, and interpretation of this ambitious expansion.
Transportation not provided for any tours.
Please note, tours are only available to those registered for the Symposium. To register for more than one one tour please email info@midatlanticmuseums.org.
Kindly cancel registration if you are unable to attend to allow for someone else to take your place.
