The Fellowship of Museum Professionals

 

While working on the collection policy for the Glenn L. Martin Aviation Museum (GLMMAM), I have discovered that although museums may have a common theme, they   operate differently. In my examination of best practices, I visited two other Maryland aviation museums, the College Park Aviation Museum and the Patuxent Naval Air Museum. From my contacts with these museums, I have found that each museum’s procedures are tailored to fit their own circumstances. However, they have a common denominator: they both strive to ensure their collections conform to their missions and to maintain professional standards. In these interactions, I also discovered a comradeship among museum professionals.

College Park Aviation Museum (CPAM)

CPAM is at the historic College Park Airport, which is the world’s oldest airport in continuous operation. The site, which was first used by Wilbur Wright to train the first three Army pilots, has been in service since October 1909. From 1918 to 1921, the airport also served as the Washinton terminus for the country’s first airmail route between Washington, Philadelphia, and New York City.

While the airport is CPAM’s primary focus, the museum’s scope encompasses the aviation history of Prince Georges County in general. CPAM preserves the legacy of the county’s long-forgotten airports, particularly Columbia Air Center in Croom, which was the first African American-owned and operated airport in Maryland. In addition, the museum’s scope includes former Maryland aircraft manufacturer Engineering Research Corporation (ERCO), whose Ercoupe was tested at the airport, and Maryland members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS). CPAM in fact houses the open-cockpit biplane that the GLMMAM executive director flew over the North Pole.

A public museum, CPAM operates under the auspices of the Prince Georges County Department of Parks and Recreation. It has a small professional staff, augmented by a sizable volunteer cadre to assist with admissions, the gift shop, and museum programs. Its collection policy provides a general framework for acquisitions, loans, and deaccessions; but its documentation process is laid out in a more detailed procedural manual. The curator has primacy in regard to collections but consults with the collection committee on major acquisitions.

My visit to CPAM, where I volunteered for twelve years, felt like a trip home. It was my first return there since 2018. On a personal tour guided by curator Luke Perez, I noticed familiar objects displayed in new ways. For example, the museum’s centerpiece, a Curtiss JN-4 mail plane, was placed in a new setting that included a display on Daisy Miller, the wife of one of the original civilian airmail pilots, Max Miller. Hired by the Post Office in 1918, Max was killed in a fiery plane accident after two years, which equaled the life expectancy of these early airmail pilots. To me, the display of Daisy’s personal items, including letters to Max, humanized these pilots’ sacrifice. 

The museum also had a new display on a pioneering woman pilot who was previously unknown to me, Bernetta Miller. The fifth American woman to earn a pilot’s license, Miller was licensed to fly a monoplane in 1912, at a time when biplanes were considered safer and simpler to fly. As a woman, she was chosen to demonstrate the ease of piloting a monoplane at College Park. This practice reoccurred throughout American aviation history. Using the social construct that women were not as capable as men, aircraft manufacturers often hired highly skilled women pilots to demonstrate planes considered too dangerous or difficult to fly, supposedly proving that “if a woman can fly it, anybody can.”

 

 

Patuxent River Naval Air Museum (PRNAM)

PRNAM is located in Lexington Park, Maryland, adjacent to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, where the Navy tests U.S. and foreign warplanes. The museum’s focus is naval aviation research and testing. Established in 1978, it was once an official U.S. Navy museum but has been private since 2016. Largely an all-volunteer organization, PRNAM often draws from personnel formerly assigned to the base.

The museum’s collection team especially benefits from ongoing ties with the base, where it receives objects and technical assistance. Like GLMMAM, the PRANM team is composed of part-time volunteers, although their number is larger. The team follows a rather comprehensive collection policy and a detailed procedural manual. Whereas the CPAM curator largely makes acquisition decisions, the PRANM team decides collectively.

My trip to PRNAM happened to coincide with a visit by the GLMMAM executive and assistant directors, curator, and board members. Having completed my meeting with the collection team in the morning, I was able to join my comrades for their afternoon activities. We received a tour from PRNAM board president and participated in discussions with its leaders.

 

Similarities

Regardless of differences in their processes, both museums follow strict criteria on what to accept into their collections, guided by their collection policies. Furthermore, their staff members who are responsible for collection management—paid or unpaid—are committed  to the standards of our profession. This dedication was obvious in their assistance to me to establish these standards at GLMMAM. My contacts at both museums freely shared their experience and collection documents. Their most important contribution, however, was their time. CPAM curator Luke Perez spent well over an hour discussing collections and showing me his museum. PRNAM collection team leader Pam Bone and team member Jane Macone met with me on their day off. Their cooperation indicates to me a fellowship among museum professionals.