In October, the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking education curator Virginia Howell attended the Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) annual meeting in Savannah, Georgia. This gathering of over 500 museum professionals, students, and consultants from the southeast provided an opportunity to further develop professional practices and to establish relationships with other museums.  Howell says, “Attending the conference gave me great ideas to bring back to the museum.  Finding out how other organizations work with different audiences provides new perspectives on museum education.  I also was glad to find out more about methods of using technology to share our mission.”

The keynote speaker was Dr. Stan Deaton, senior historian at the Georgia Historical Society.  Dr. Deaton spoke about the role cultural institutions play in the larger community.  Howell attended conference sessions on digitizing collections, on museums governed by larger organizations, and on ways to reach unique education audiences.  She also attended a session on developing international partnerships for exhibitions.  Evening activities included visiting the Savannah College of Art and Design, the Georgia State Railroad Museum, and the Savannah History Museum.