Summer Update
What’s New at the Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry?
Clockwise from top left, Shannon O’Dell, museum assistant Meredith Counts, and Collections Coordinator Adam Johnson miss working in person but make it work with remote meetings.
I hope you are safe and healthy during this longer than expected public health crisis. Clearly, all of us are impacted in some way or another. The museum is closed and the staff continue to work remotely. However, the productivity at the museum continues. We are able to address researcher questions, find images if already in the collection, and address questions about donating to the museum. At this time, however, we are not conducting on-site tours nor is the museum open for visitors. Please feel free to email us (dentalmuseum@umich.edu) or call me by leaving a message on our museum phone line, 734-763-0767. I listen to those messages that pop into my email and will get back to you.
Please sit back and take a moment to learn more about what we’ve been up to during this time of COVID-19.
On March 20, 2020, the university announced all staff must prepare to work remotely at home if possible as a result of the global COVID-19 public health crisis. This was quite a slow motion scramble as I had to figure out how to continue our projects and care for the collection in spite of being at home. It is a big adjustment for us since, and like most history museum staff, we are used to having our fantastic historical collections and associated files at our fingertips.
Remote Desktop has been so helpful since it allows us to access every app and file we use on our work computers, including our PastPerfect museum database and research files. Last fall I created a few Google Shared Team Drives so we could work from the latest versions of exhibit script drafts, images, and selected artifact lists. Our team included our contracted exhibit developer/writer Nancy Bryk who shared revised text and images for the exhibit now tentatively titled “Teeth—Beauty and Status” with Adam, Meredith and me. The exhibit is on hold until visitors are allowed and the staff can work safely inside museum exhibit cases. Once those decisions are firm, we can then reestablish the final editing, design and installation exhibit schedules.
Although I do not have a furry pet to share my office, I do have a houseful. Our adult daughter also works full time from home. My husband Scott, already retired from U-M Medical School wonders where he can spread out to do his art projects now.
I’ve been able to attend Zoom meetings or webinars organized by those I’m associated with in some way at the museum. I’ve learned about history of pandemics and history of dentistry topics; where and how to find digital resources related to medical topics; health concerns related to museum collections during and after a pandemic; how to work remotely; diversity and racial justice concerns; new COVID payroll and employee policies; and staying abreast of the policy and schedule changes at the School of Dentistry and the University of Michigan.
Historical research is something I continue doing with our staff and as needed, for the exhibit, researchers and blog posts. I rely heavily upon a talented, dedicated team. We are thankful that we can continue our work for the museum.
Shannon O’Dell, Director & Curator
My last “normal” day at the office at the Sindecuse Museum before the shutdown was March 23rd, 2020, as Governor Whitmer made her announcement in the afternoon. Leaving work for the day, I knew that everything was about to change and the air felt very strange as I knew nothing was going to be the same. In the following months, my office has become my home and my daily co-worker interaction comes from my Bernedoodle, Oliver. Like many, I was unsure how the Coronavirus would affect my workflow and how I would be able to continue my role as collections coordinator remotely. However, I have been pleasantly surprised that, due to the technological advances of a Remote Desktop connection, Zoom calls, and Google Drive, I have been able to do nearly all of my regular roles. Spring and summer 2020 projects have included continued development of our upcoming, albeit delayed, exhibit, “Teeth: Beauty and Status,” for which development has been done nearly entirely virtually, working with planning events for both the Michigan Museum Association and Michigan Emerging Museum Professionals groups, welcoming some interesting new acquisitions to the collection including French & German tooth fairy boxes and original handwritten letter from our museum founder & benefactor, Gordon Sindecuse (DDS 1921), and adding new collections to our PastPerfectOnline database to increase our collection’s presence virtually for all researchers. In the next few months, look for a new “Sindecuse Spotlight” artifact in the M Dentistry School of Dentistry publication and new blog posts on our website!
Adam Johnson, Collections Coordinator
t
Since we’ve gone remote, I’ve been focused on research as well as editing. Some of this is about exhibit topics, some is in order to expand our institutional knowledge and address topics of frequent research requests. There have been plenty of mornings and afternoons when I’ve done dental history research on the couch or dining table in between my kids, as they play Animal Crossing, work on crafts, or watch the seemingly endless veterinary shows on the Nat Geo channel. The wealth of information that I've been able to find online, from the safety of my own home while juggling other obligations, has fortified my already deep appreciation of digital collections.
Meredith Counts, Museum Assistant