Southeast Iowa is gifted with a number of small museums and historic homes. I am here to make these treasures be the best they can be, reach as many people as possible, and maintain their impact for years to come.
What I can offer:
Collection Care
Almost every museum, big or small, has a backlog of items in their collection to be accessed into their collection or to be given a regular condition report. Registration, artifact care, and catalog management are my bread and butter. Let’s find the best solution for your collection and budget and ensure the longevity of your collection.
Event Planning and Marketing
For better or for worse, having an active and pervasive marketing presence is essential to bringing in new people to your museum and maintaining long term supporters. The good news is that it has never been easier or less expensive to market your mission, collection, or events to your target audience. I will guide you in optimizing your organization’s website, explore SCO opportunities, and find ways to branch out with social media tools to get more views on all of the great work you and your team do to preserve the stories of the past.
Exhibit Design
Have you had a theme or topic for a new temporary display? Do you want to modernize your permanent exhibit? Let me guide you in finding innovative and efficient ways of making your exhibits communicate with your audience on their terms and in ways which make them feel engaged with the stories of the past.
Visitor Studies
Do you ever feel like you’re missing something? Do you think you really know what people spend the most time in your museum engaging with, or is it just a best guess? It is essential to understand the characteristics and habits of your current patrons if you want to reach out to future ones. Let’s develop effective analysis techniques that make sense to everyone. Even statistics were never your strongest discipline, I’ll walk you through the process of data collection, analysis , and reporting.
My Background
Education
I graduated from Wartburg College, where I studied history and chemistry.
I graduated from Western Illinois University with a Masters Degree in Museum Studies.
I love to use my interests in software development, photography, audio, and digital technology to aid museums as they continue grow.
Experience
I have done work at a number of museums, including:
- The Harlan-Lincoln House
- The German American Heritage Center
- The Bix Beiderbecke Museum and World Archive
- The Henry County Heritage Trust Museum
- The Theatre Museum of Repertoire Americana
In the News
Iowa Wesleyan Archives Moved to Henry County Museum
Southeast Iowa Union
Archivist Shares His Pride for Iowa Wesleyan University’s History
Burlington Hawk Eye
Henry County Heritage Trust Holds Ribbon Cutting words words
Southeast Iowa Union
The Iowa Wesleyan Archives
Work In Progress: A Monumental Move
Following the closure of Iowa Wesleyan University, the Henry County Heritage Trust stepped up to take as much of the University Archives collection as they could. This ensured the collection remained in Mount Pleasant. Working alongside their staff, I have created the broad strokes, and some fine details, of a database for the some 20,000+ items in this collection.
A Showcase and Memorial: 181 Years in the Making
In addition to aiding in the preservation and organization of the Iowa Wesleyan Archives, I was able to design an exhibition within this space, creating what is called a Showcase Archive: a combination of exhibit and repository which is able to highlight the spirit and character of the collection while still focusing on the maintaining of a research and discovery based institution. The archive had an open house on May 10, 2024, less than a year after I began my work here.
Keeping Up With the Harlan-Lincolns
I had the fortune of working as the director of the Harlan-Lincoln House on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan University. This is an incredible historic home turned museum, once belonging to former Iowa Senator and Secretary of the Interior, James Harlan, as well as the home which the grandchildren of Abraham Lincoln vacationed at to visit their Iowan grandparents. In my short time there, I was able to reopen the house after it had been closed for half a year, organize its collections into a database, preform much needed care on a number of artifacts, develop modern policies for the museum, created new tours for education groups, hosted a series of guest lectures, and much more.
Digitizing A Hometown Superstar
Without question, one of Davenport’s most famous residents is Bix Beiderbecke. At the Bix Beiderbecke Museum and World Archive in downtown Davenport, the full story of his life and musical career is on display for everyone to see. I had the privilege to work with the director of the museum to set the foundation for a cataloging system for this densely packed collection of historic instruments, music scores, and memorabilia. By taking pictures of 2/3rds of the collection and creating condition reports of each item, the museum was set up for a database when the time was right.
Updating and Uploading
Among the many unique museums in southeast Iowa, a truly one-of-a-kind location is the The Theatre Museum of Repertoire Americana, located on the grounds of Old Threshers in Mount Pleasant. They have an unrivaled collection of scripts, props, costumes, and images concerning the tent shows of the 19th and 20th centuries.
I was tasked with taking their incredibly detailed database for their collection and getting it online for anyone with a broadband connection to see. This was also an opportunity for me to guide their staff in database management and collections best practices, all in the interest of making them a more successful institution.
Spencer A. Barton 