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Printer-Friendly ModeMarshall M. Fredricks Museum's archives go digital
August 31, 2009 —
Tucked away in a warehouse-like room of the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, archivist Melissa Ford is hard at work on a groundbreaking project.
Museum employees are in the process of building an online digital library of its archives. The collection includes more than 200 linear feet of correspondence, illustrations, photographs and other personal effects of the late Fredericks.
A $33,325 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal agency, made the project possible.
“We’ve received other grants in the past, but this one is significant because it is our first federal grant,” Ford said. “It should make it easier to get more federal grants now that we have our foot in the door.”
The award is a matching grant, and SVSU is contributing an equal amount during the next year. Museum director Marilyn Wheaton explained, however, that the University’s contribution comes not just from cash, but from other goods and services, such as the archivist’s salary.
The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, located in the Arbury Fine Arts Center, is one of the most comprehensive museums devoted to a single artist in the world. More than 1,000 works are in the collection, including 200 on permanent display in the museum and 20 large bronzes in the outdoor sculpture garden.
Most of the plaster sculptures in the collection are the original models, from which the first bronzes were cast.
“What makes this museum special is that we have a large collection of works, and the complete archives,” said Ford. “It is very rare to find so much of a single artist’s work and archives under one roof.”
A Detroit-based sculptor of thousands of works, Fredericks was most famous for his large public sculptures. His most notable pieces include The Spirit of Detroit in downtown Detroit; the monumental Christ on the Cross for the Cross in the Woods shrine in Indian River, Mich; Star Dream Fountain in Royal Oak, and Leaping Gazelle, a fixture of the SVSU Quadrangle.
Fredericks was of Scandinavian heritage and established close ties with Denmark, Sweden and Norway, where many of his works reside. He was also a dedicated humanitarian who cofounded a Danish-American exchange program for disabled young people, anchored an art education television series, and helped introduce Leader Dogs for the Blind to Denmark. Awards and citations for his artistic and humanitarian work fill several shelves in the museum’s archives and include a number of honorary knighthoods from foreign governments.
Fredericks’ works came to SVSU through the efforts of Dorothy Arbury, a friend and former student who was also a founding Board of Control member of the University.
The original gallery opened in 1988 and was upgraded to museum status in 1999. In 2003, a $2.5 million expansion nearly doubled the museum’s size.
In addition to the new federal grant, the museum is continuing to grow in other ways. The Board of Control recently authorized the museum to start seeking accreditation from the American Association of
Museums, one of the highest national recognitions a museum can receive. The museum is currently hosting “The Softness of Iron,” an exhibit of sculptures by Israeli artist Orna Ben-Ami, the first exhibit by an international artist in the museum’s history.