In late November of last year, the San Francisco Bay Region and Silicon Valley Chapters of SLA hosted a joint chapter tour of the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.  This was a special behind-the-scenes tour, showcasing the museum’s archives, collection storage, and other areas seldom seen by the public.

Our tour guide, Patience Young, presented us with a thorough history of the museum along with an overview of its operations day to day.  We got to see where future exhibits are designed and put together, where Japanese swords and Mediterranean pottery are stored and kept safe from earthquakes and the elements, and where the entire collection is being digitally photographed, one piece at a time.   As a participant on the tour, I was struck by the commonalities between museums and archives.   The techniques used to store and preserve items, and the use of digital tools to document them brought me back my days as an intern at the Society of California Pioneers’ archive and research library.

The Cantor Center has been an integral part of Stanford University since its founding.  Its original purpose was to make the Stanford family’s art collection available to students and the general public.  The Stanford family, including Leland Jr., collected art as they traveled around the world, and this formed the basis for what was to become the Cantor Center.  The museum now boasts a collection spanning more than 5,000 years of art history and including the largest collection of Auguste Rodin sculptures outside of the Musée Rodin in Paris.

After the tour, many of us gathered in the museum’s Kool Café for dinner and networking.  It was wonderful to see that the tour was attended by members based throughout the Bay Area, from Danville to the San Jose area.  Some of us also took some time to wander about the museum, taking in some of the exhibits after getting a sense of the work involved in creating them.  This was a very memorable tour, and I think everyone who attended was thankful to the Cantor Center for giving us such an in-depth look behind the scenes.

By Kim Ewart

Thursday, November 29th, 4:00 – 7:00 PM

Behind the Scenes Joint Chapter Tour of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center
for Visual Arts at Stanford University

museum.stanford.edu

Please join us for a special joint tour bringing together the San Francisco and Silicon Valley chapters. This tour will be a behind-the-scenes look at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.

Formerly known as the Stanford University Museum of Art, the Cantor Arts Center has a collection spanning 5,000 years of art history and encompassing antiquity, ethnographic art, modern art, contemporary art, and sculpture gardens. The Cantor Center holds the largest collection of Auguste Rodin sculptures outside of the Musee Rodin in Paris.

**This tour is limited to 15 attendees, so please register early!**

*Please note that the attendance limit had to be revised from 25 to 15 due to safety and security concerns. Because of this, space is very limited. There has already been a lot of interest, so please register as soon as possible in order to secure a space.

SLA Tour Tentative Schedule
4:00 – 4:15 pm. Gather in the staff entrance on the left side of the building, directly behind Rodin’s “Gates of Hell”
4:15 – 6:00 pm. Tour will begin promptly at 4:15 – please be on time!
6:00 – 7:00 pm. Networking and refreshment available for purchase in the museum’s Cool Cafe

SLA Tour Cost: $5 flat registration for everyone

Location

The Cantor Arts Center is located at the intersection of Museum Way and Lomita Drive on the Stanford campus, northwest of The Oval and the Main Quad. Parking along Museum Way is by permit only until 4 pm on weekdays; parking is free after 4 pm and on weekends. A parking structure with both metered and permit parking is located on Roth Way near the Center. This parking is free after 4 pm weekdays and all day on weekends.

Stanford University is accessible by several public transportation agencies. More information can be found here: http://transportation.stanford.edu/alt_transportation/BayAreaTransit.shtml

A map and directions to the museum can be found here: http://museum.stanford.edu/visit/visit_MapDirections.html

Registration

Mail-In Registration

Event Refund Policy: After careful review, the Executive Board of the SF Bay Region Chapter of SLA has decided that we cannot accommodate refunds or “rain checks” for our events (this includes programs, tours, professional development workshops, etc.).

Some reasons why:

• Our chapter does not make a profit on our events. We subsidize our events because it is important to us to be able to keep our attendance fees low.

• We are required to pay in advance for food and venues, and these costs are frequently based on head count. Therefore, we’ve already paid for your attendance.

• As a volunteer organization we are just not staffed to be able to keep track of refunds or attendance for future events.

So if you’ve paid for an event you find you cannot attend, please consider the following:
• Post a notice on our discussion board inviting a member to take your place

• Think of it a tax‐free donation to our organization.

Save the Date!

Thursday, November 29th, 4:00 – 7:00 PM

Behind the Scenes Joint Chapter Tour of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center
for Visual Arts at Stanford University

museum.stanford.edu

Please join us for a special joint tour bringing together the San Francisco and Silicon Valley chapters. This tour will be a behind-the-scenes look at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.

Formerly known as the Stanford University Museum of Art, the Cantor Arts Center has a collection spanning 5,000 years of art history and encompassing antiquity, ethnographic art, modern art, contemporary art, and sculpture gardens. The sculpture gardens include the largest collection of Auguste Rodin sculptures outside of the Musee Rodin in Paris.

**This tour is limited to 25 attendees, so please register early!**

SLA Tour Tentative Schedule
4:00 – 4:15 Gather in the Main Lobby
4:15 – 6:00 pm. Tour will begin promptly at 4:15 – please be on time!
6:00 – 7:00 pm. Networking and refreshment available for purchase in the museum’s Cool Cafe

SLA Tour Cost: $5 flat registration for everyone

Location

The Cantor Arts Center is located at the intersection of Museum Way and Lomita Drive on the Stanford campus, northwest of The Oval and the Main Quad. Parking along Museum Way is by permit only until 4 pm on weekdays; parking is free after 4 pm and on weekends. A parking structure with both metered and permit parking is located on Roth Way near the Center. This parking is free after 4 pm weekdays and all day on weekends.

Stanford University is accessible by several public transportation agencies. More information can be found here: http://transportation.stanford.edu/alt_transportation/BayAreaTransit.shtml

A map and directions to the museum can be found here: http://museum.stanford.edu/visit/visit_MapDirections.html

A Tour of The Asian Art Museum’s C. Laan Chun Library Center

Thursday, June 21st, 2012 6:00 – 7:30 PM

Asian Art Museum

San Francisco

Please join us for a tour of one of the most comprehensive research libraries on Asian art and culture in the United States.

With over 40,000 titles and more than 230 active serial subscriptions, as well as auction catalogs, microforms, and photograph collections the C. Laan Chun Library Center has many materials, both rare and scholarly, not available in many of the local university and college libraries.

Subject areas cover not only art but archaeology, architecture, landscape architecture, history, philosophy, religion, folk culture, festivals and folklore, literature, the performing arts, and music, as well as some specialized materials on Asian science and medicine.

Museum Librarian John Stucky will be our guide to the C. Laan Chun Library Center. He will show us some of the collections, and discuss the library’s role as a museum library with an in-depth collection of material on the culture and cultural history of Asia.

http://www.asianart.org/library.htm

When: Thursday, June 21st, 2012 6:00 – 7:30 PM

Agenda:

6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Check-in, networking, and refreshments in the Fisher Room at Cafe Asia

6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Tour of the C. Laan Chun Library Center

SLA Tour Cost: $10 for everyone

Where: Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St • San Francisco, CA 94102

Getting There: The Asian Art Museum is located in the building that formerly housed the San Francisco Public Library, at 200 Larkin St, between McAllister and Fulton. The Civic Center BART Station is only about a block away. Parking is very limited in this part of San Francisco, so use of public transportation is advised. http://www.asianart.org/gettingthere.htm

Registration: CLOSED **This tour is limited to 25 attendees, so please register early!**

Registration Form: Mail-in Registration

Chapter Tour of The Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley

Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 4:30 – 6:15 pm

http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/

Please join us for a special tour of one of the largest libraries of manuscripts, rare books, and unique materials in the United States!

University Archivist David Farrell will be our guide to the Bancroft.  He will talk about the library’s history, show us some of the collections, and describe the renovation that was completed in 2008. 

**This tour is limited to 25 attendees.  Register early!**

DEADLINE: Online registrations and mailed checks need to be received by September 16. Registration may be closed early if the 25 person limit is reached prior to the registration deadline.

Online registration: Registration for Chapter Tour of The Bancroft Library

Note: You do not need a PayPal account to register through this PayPal-administered site.

Registration Form: Registration for Chapter Tour of The Bancroft Library