Open Forum

What a fascinating topic/concept for a panel. We work with 40+ docents at the Bruce Museum and not just death, but the whole process of aging is something we talk about a lot in my department. Please keep me in the loop as you move forward with planning. Being a docent is often a source of immense pleasure and social interaction for our volunteers and so even as our docents age out of active teaching we work hard to keep them involved in the program. I am currently managing our docents while their full time manager is on leave. I think she will be just as interested as I am in participating in some way 


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Corinne Flax
Manager of School and Community Partnerships
Bruce Museum
Greenwich CT
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This is an important topic - thank you, Sean, for getting this started. I would be interested in discussing this and thinking about what a panel on this topic might explore. At the Autry Museum, we have 180 docents and 20 additional onsite volunteers.

Be well,
Sarah S. Wilson

Sarah S. Wilson
Director of Education
Autry Museum of the American West
Direct: 323.495.4309 | swilson@theautry.org

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Sarah Wilson
Director of Education
Autry Museum of the American West
Los Angeles CA
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Hi Sean,

Thanks for bringing up this difficult topic.  After we saw your post, a few of us on the board of the American Association for Museum Volunteers were discussing how much this conversation is needed in our field. Please count AAMV in to help, however we can.

Best,

Jenny Woods
President, AAMV
jgwoodster@gmail.com

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Jenny Woods
Seattle, WA
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Original Message:
Sent: 4/9/2021 5:25:00 PM
From: Jenny Woods
Subject: RE: Call For Panelists: Docents and Death

Hi Sean,

Thanks for bringing up this difficult topic.  After we saw your post, a few of us on the board of the American Association for Museum Volunteers were discussing how much this conversation is needed in our field. Please count AAMV in to help, however we can.

Best,

Jenny Woods
President, AAMV
jgwoodster@gmail.com

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Jenny Woods
Seattle, WA
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Hi Sean,

At The Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL, we currently have 430 volunteers and 120 of them serve as docents.  When I first joined the staff of the museum 17 years ago, I was completely unprepared to manage circumstances related to volunteer aging and death as I had no personal or professional experiences to draw from.  It's a part of the job that no one wants to discuss - certainly not up front - and yet it's something we deal with on a regular basis.

Having conversations around this difficult topic is so important, and I would welcome the opportunity to be a part of this. 

Best,
Hollie


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Hollie Corbitt
Volunteer Program Coordinator
John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art
Sarasota FL
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I happened on your post and I know of a museum that has dealt with this topic in a consistently upfront and honest manner: the WW2 Museum in New Orleans. I volunteered there for 5 years, and in that time many of the (500+) volunteers have died--some WW2 vets; a death is always recognized and made public in a personal yet organizational manner that gives other volunteers a way to mark the passing. The WW2 has a dynamite volunteer staff who would probably be willing to share their thoughts and experiences on this topic.

Elizabeth

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Elizabeth Schexnyder MLS
Curator
National Hansen's Disease Museum
Baton Rouge LA
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Thank you all for continuing the conversation and your interest. It's clear there's a lot of great work we can do here.

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Sean Mobley
Volunteer Coordinator/Podcast Host
Museum of Flight
Seattle WA
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-14-2021 03:51 PM
From: Elizabeth Schexnyder
Subject: Call For Panelists: Docents and Death

I happened on your post and I know of a museum that has dealt with this topic in a consistently upfront and honest manner: the WW2 Museum in New Orleans. I volunteered there for 5 years, and in that time many of the (500+) volunteers have died--some WW2 vets; a death is always recognized and made public in a personal yet organizational manner that gives other volunteers a way to mark the passing. The WW2 has a dynamite volunteer staff who would probably be willing to share their thoughts and experiences on this topic.

Elizabeth

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Elizabeth Schexnyder MLS
Curator
National Hansen's Disease Museum
Baton Rouge LA
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Thank you Sean - I am definitely interested in this topic Sean. Our Docent Program is over 50 years old and we have certainly experienced a lot of loss of many of our volunteers over the years. Being a docent has been so important in the lives of these people and it is also felt by their families. 
Especially during this Covid time when docents have not been gathering as a group and giving many real tours in the Museum so many of expressed the loss of connection with others and the art that they love SO much. The sharing and caring that is so evident . We have quite a large group of retired docents who still participate in programs( via zoom) and study groups.
Please keep me informed on information on this topic.
thank you - take good care.
Mary Ann Monley
Administrator of Volunteer Services and Tours
Memorial Art Gallery
Rochester, NY 14607


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Mary Ann Monley
Administrator of Volunteer Services and Tours
Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester
Rochester NY
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Mr. Mobley,

Thank you for putting the call out. Here at the National Naval Aviation Museum, we have a civilian volunteer corps (many of whom are retired veterans) of more than 300 members. I directly supervise 35 in the library, and during my 6 years here, I've lost 7 volunteers in addition to those from other departments.

This is an important topic, and I'm willing to help or provide input from our experiences as well.

Kind regards,
Marc

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Marc Levitt MLS
Archivist
National Naval Aviation Museum
NAS Pensacola FL
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