Museums offer access to one of the most important parts of human history: art. However, not everyone has the time or ability to visit a particular museum in person. The Meadows Museum is located on the Centenary campus in Shreveport, and they are in the process of updating their online archive, as well as adding new contemporary pieces to it.
Kristin Sorensen has been a part of the database update, and she says it gives the museum a chance to show off the works they aren’t always able to.
“It’s making everything we have in the museum visible,” Sorensen says.
The Meadows Museum opened on Centenary’s campus in 1975 to display the Indochina Collection of French artist Jean Despujols.
Jean Despujols was hired by the French government in 1936 to travel to French Indochina and paint what he saw. Alissa Klaus, the director of the museum, explains how his works arrived in Shreveport.
“He, after his trip, was supposed to have an exhibition of his works in France, but that was the same time that World War II started,” Klaus says. “So, he ended up fleeing France and moving to the United States. And that’s how he ended up in Shreveport. He settled here. His works ended up being shipped from France to the United States and ended up in Shreveport.”
Algur H. Meadows was a student at Centenary, and he purchased the collection, then donated it to the museum. Now, these 360 works make up the museum’s Permanent Collection. Sorensen says the online database gives people easy access to this piece of Shreveport’s history.
"We can actually give them, like, the museum in their pocket,” Sorensen says. “Which is really cool if they have a history here in Shreveport. There’s so many opportunities.”
Klaus says that there are many ways for this database to be utilized.
“Another way that we can use this is for people who actually can’t come to the museum,” Klaus says. “Taking this software in the form of a presentation to a senior center or folks who just have a hard time coming to our museum in person is another way that we can take our museum out into the public.”
The Meadows Museum has now accumulated over 1,600 works, some dating centuries back. Sorensen says while they add new works, they will update the outdated images of the works on the database.
"So, over the years, our photographs have been scans. They have been really small pixels, really small, pixelated pictures. It’s just poorly done photos,” Sorensen says. “And, so, to do the public a service and not just give them, you know, the collection as it is, our next feat is to rephotograph all of the pieces. Which could take a long time because we have a lot of pieces.”
While the database will make viewing the pieces easier, both Klaus and Sorensen say that it will not take away the importance of coming into the museum. Klaus says that they work hard to put together their exhibitions and seeing them online will not be the same as in person.
"While there’s a lot of information that you can find online through this database about the pieces, the way that we combine pieces in exhibitions to tell a story or to teach people something will be a different experience than they would be able to get online,” says Klaus.
Sorensen says she does not think online access will deter people from coming in person. On the contrary, she says the website will hopefully pull people to the museum.
“It makes me want to come in! I feel like whenever I look at the National Gallery or the Smithsonian it makes me want to go there. It makes me want to see those pieces in person,” Sorensen says.
The Meadows Museum archive can be found on their website at MeadowsMuseum.com. With Red River Radio News, I am Alaina Atnip.