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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

G'Day from the sunny shores of Australia. Beach weather here, in contrast to many parts of the northern hemisphere experiencing bitterly cold conditions. Tucson in February will be a mecca for many reasons as well as the minerals and gems. It is an ideal place to catch up with friends, colleagues, and meet new people. Our SMMP meeting is on the Thursday of the main show, February 12th, 4 pm, a great opportunity to catch up with fellow curators. Last year we instigated a group photograph, included here courtesy of Katya Ralph, indicating how popular our meetings are becoming. Come along and join in.

At the Munich Show meeting in October, IMA Commission on Museums announced that, after a close vote between Japan and China, the next conference of Minerals and Museums (M&M8) will be held in conjunction with the Changsha Show in China, May 15-18, 2016. We hope that the first circular will be released before the Tucson Show as the Chinese delegates will be at our meeting to give information and answer questions.

Curators are the most essential element in a mineral museum. Even the best collection which is not properly curated will deteriorate. Personalities drive museum direction and increasingly the relationships between curator, donors, dealers, researchers and the general public are vital in keeping the collection relevant, improving them, displaying the material well, educating and entertaining the variety of people attracted to seeing the exhibits. Visiting shows like Tucson gives curators an ideal venue to observe the variety in lighting techniques, displays, new minerals, classics, values, labelling, latest trends, as well as a forum discuss to specific issues with fellow professionals. In keeping with our recognition of the importance of dynamic curators leading and driving collection management in a changing and challenging museum environment, Katherine Dunnell, our VP, has organised our public meeting to include a look at the future of Museums.  Will the focus of mineral museums change with the advent of technology and declining budgets?  Will digitization replace real specimens or has technology created an appetite to unplug and experience real objects?  How will the role of curation change? Several speakers will explore some of the overarching themes and how we as museum professionals navigate the new challenges ahead; from technology, to funding, to globalization of collections. I encourage colleagues to promote our 5 pm program to your general public.

Once again Jean DeMouthe is coordinating the SMMP Education case for the Tucson Show: Historic specimens from W. Europe.  Please contact her soon with your contribution as she needs to compose the case prior to leaving San Francisco. This year Jean will have assistants, Mike Pierce and Gail Spann, during setup and tear down as it is difficult to be getting and returning specimens and being with the case at the same time, If you are contributing, please work with Jean and team in a narrow time-frame so they are not standing around for hours.

Gail & Jim Spann, along with Jordi Fabre and the FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, are once again very generously hosting a Meet the curators social at Casa Vicente immediately following the SMMP Tucson meetings. RSVP to the email via the listserver.

See you in Tucson!

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MINUTES OF THE DENVER MEETING
September 2014

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BEST PRACTICES PROJECT

"Best practices" documents are posted on the SMMP website:

BEST PRACTICES REPORT NO. 1: Research Sampling of Collections

BEST PRACTICES REPORT NO. 2: Moving Specimens

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SMMP RESEARCH STUDY GRANTS

Awards are to support curatorial research and methodologies that address one or more of the Society of Mineral Museum Professionals (SMMP) mission statement goals: 1) foster recognition of mineral science collections as essential scientific, educational and cultural resources, 2) promote support for growth, maintenance and use of collections and exhibits and, 3) advance museum practice through cooperation in the development, review and dissemination of information. Amounts vary up to a maximum of $1000 per grant. Grant awards determined by SMMP Board of Directors. Grant applications and more details are posted on our website:
http://www.agiweb.org/smmp/support-SMMP.htm

Grant proposals are due: August 1, 2015

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Board of Directors election

Three board member terms will be expiring this year.
Please be prepared to nominate candidates and vote.
Board members whose terms expire this year are:

Alan Hart
Anna Domitrovic
Virgil Lueth

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The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County seeks an Assistant/Associate Curator for its mineral and gem collections, which are among the largest and finest in the United States. The successful candidate will have a Ph.D., a strong track record of published research, experience in generating funding through competitive grants and/or other external sources, and the ability to lead a dynamic and productive research program that increases both the scientific and public appeal of the museum's collections. The ability to communicate effectively and engage with a wide variety of audiences is paramount.

For the full job announcement, click on the link above or visit the museum's jobs page at:
http://www.nhm.org/site/about-our-museums/working-at-nhm/jobs-nhm

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SMMP AFFILIATIONS

American Geological Institute (AGI)

Natural Science Collections Alliance NSCA)

Although the Society of Mineral Museum Professionals maintains no official ties with the Commission on Museums (CM) of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA), the Commission resolved at its December, 2000, meeting in Melbourne, Australia, to support SMMP's efforts in uniting mineral museum professionals worldwide.

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SMMP LIST SERVER

You are encouraged to interact with your fellow SMMP members via our list server:

smmp@listserv.nhm.org

Please remember that when you reply to an email sent via our list server, you will be replying to the sender, although you have the option of copying the membership.

Tony Kampf processes additions to and deletions from the list server. That way we limit the list to our membership and if a member decides that they want to be dropped from the list, Tony will know whether to send them the SMMP Newsletter by snail mail. Note that you are only able to send via the list server from your email address that is on the list server. This should be the same one that is used in our on-line roster.

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PAYING DUES

SMMP dues are $10.00 U.S., payable to Anna Domitrovic, treasurer, 6118 W. Lazy Heart Street, Tucson, AZ 85713. Any directory changes or additions should be sent to Tony Kampf. In Europe, dues can be remitted to Peter Davidson, National Museums of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, SCOTLAND.

To make paying your dues easier (especially for non-US members), a PayPal account has been established and installed on our website. You can use your credit card or your own personal PayPal account. Just go to our Dues webpage.

Note that you can check your dues payment status on the SMMP on-line roster. The year shown in the last column indicates the last year for which you have paid. If you are delinquent, please remit your dues payment as soon as possible.

Remember to renew your membership. If you are planning to pay dues at the Tucson meeting, help Anna by giving her a business card with your dues payment. Do it beforehand and save time at the meeting!