| The Sam Houston
Sanders’ Corps of Cadets Center is the front door
to the largest and oldest student organization on the campus
of Texas A&M University. Striving to preserve the history,
flavor, and mystique of the university’s Corps of
Cadets, the museum depicts the corps from its beginning
in 1876 to the present day. The center exhibits the broad
sweep of Aggie life and traditions.
Year 1 | Year
2 | Year 3 | Year 4
Click image for slideshow!
Year
1:
This Contest is For
Real Hands: Rodeo Photographs of the 1930s
Goals:
The Sanders’ Corps of Cadets Center worked with Dr.
Deborah Kuster, using public programming as their focus
area of training. With this in mind, they established four
goals: use the traveling exhibition as a vehicle for increasing
awareness of and visitation to the museum; increase volunteerism
at the museum; develop interpretive materials to enhance
the traveling exhibition and provide a “local”
feel; and test community response to educational programming
in conjunction with the exhibition.
Accomplishments:
The museum, hosting their first traveling exhibition, achieved
much success. They experimented with having a specific reading
area, video-viewing space, family guide, and cowboy music
set up in the display area. They also placed special advertisements
in local and school newspapers and printed special flyers
that were placed in high-profile locations on campus and
at the College Station visitors’ bureau. A survey
card was provided for visitors, with a drawing for a door
prize, and a speaker from the Rodeo Club of Texas A&M
made the exhibition opening event educational and entertaining.
In the exhibition room, photographs from past yearbooks
of A&M Rodeo Club events were reproduced, enlarged,
and mounted with interpretive text.
Improvements:
-
Experimentation with public programming strategies
Established reading area in the permanent exhibition
space Gained experience in seeking community members
as volunteers -
Initiated collaboration with other community and school
centers for funding, promotion, volunteers, and new
audiences.
Goals for Year 2: Grand Ole
Opry
Alongside exhibition design consultant Kit Neumann, the
center hopes to provide a variety of interactive elements
to enhance the exhibition, employ new design elements in
the presentation of the exhibition, increase museum attendance,
and develop an oral history program relating to the exhibition’s
themes.
Year 2:
Grand Ole Opry
Goals:
In year two, the Sanders Corps of Cadets Center
worked with Kit Neumann in their second area of training,
exhibition design. They have a small meeting room where
they host temporary exhibitions, making effective design
and installation a challenge for them. The four goals they
focused on were: provide a variety of interactive elements
to enhance and supplement the exhibit; employ new exhibit
design elements into the presentation of the exhibition;
increase museum attendance; and develop an oral history
program.
Accomplishments:
The Cadets Center succeeded in turning a small
meeting room into an effective exhibition space. They used
their $500 HELP grant towards the purchase of flex-screen
panels for mounting temporary photography exhibitions. They
were also able to overcome other visual obstacles, such
as a dry erase board and a permanent display of photos of
former Commandants, by cleverly concealing them with large
images of the Ryman Auditorium. They made a concerted effort
to change the feel of the room to better compliment the
exhibition. While they did not achieve their goal of completing
the collection of oral histories, curator Lisa Kalmus Smith
felt that they made great progress on their research and
will be able to accomplish this in conjunction with their
next temporary exhibition.
Improvements:
Incorporated local element by researching Carl
T. Sprague, a country singer and A&M alum Researched oral histories Expanded temporary display space
Goals for Year 3: Keep ‘Em Flying: Everyday
Life in a WWII Fighter Squadron
The Cadets Center will work with Seth Davidson in the area
of marketing and PR in year three of HELP. Preliminary goals
include creating a new brochure for the Cadets Center, strengthening
relations with the Association of Alumni, updating the mission
statement, and creating new relationships with the community
and other local organizations.
Year
3:
Keep ‘em
Flying: Everyday Life in a WWII Fighter Squadron
Goals:
In year three the Corps of Cadets Center focused on PR and
marketing as their area of training, with consultant Seth
Davidson. The Corps Center established a list of goals
centered around publications and joining forces with other
campus organizations to publicize their mission. At the
top of the list was developing a press kit and a new brochure.
They also set out to refurbish their Web site and place
the museum under its own domain name. Plans were made to
add a calendar of events and a link to the Corps Center
Guard site. Other goals for the year included regional
marketing, researching new publicity outlets, and developing
a strong institutional message to incorporate in all pr
materials.
Accomplishments:
The Cadets Center achieved most of its major goals in year
three. Consultant Seth Davidson was very impressed with
their efforts and reported: “the museum used its
Texas HELP grant as an impetus for doing things they would
not have done otherwise.” Curator Lisa Kalmus collaborated
with three other university museums to purchase an advertisement
in the Aggieland Visitor Planning Guide. The combined resources
of the four museums decreased the cost of the ad and 250,000
copies were printed and distributed to 11 statewide visitors
centers. This is the widest distribution of any Corps Center
ad so far. Since their HELP exhibition related to military
history it was an especially good fit for the museum. Lisa
had no problem supplementing the exhibition with items
from their own collection. She was even able to identify
a photograph of a pilot in a book that accompanied the
exhibition as a former “Aggie”.
Improvements:
Received donations of WWII photographs from Alumni, scanned
them and added them to the archives Utilized new
media outlets Refurbished their Web site Created
a new visitor sign-in book
Goals for Year 4:
Apron Strings: Ties to the Past
In the final year of Texas HELP, the Sanders Corps of Cadets
Center will focus on the last area of training, fundraising
and development, with consultant Scott Cooksey. The museum
has already established an ambitious list of goals for the
year. Their primary focus will be determining which former
Aggies are on foundation boards that might be interested
in supporting the museum. They plan to develop a brochure
of planned giving ideas to distribute to their development
officers. Since the Cadets Center is in the unique position
of being an entity of a larger University organization they
would like to develop an advisory board to consult regarding
fundraising issues.
Year 4
Apron Strings: Ties to the Past
Goals:
The Sanders Corps
of Cadets Center experienced new challenges in their fourth
year area of training, fundraising. Because the majority
of their operating budget comes from the university, they
had little previous experience in raising money for the Center.
Their ambitious goals for the year were to first identify
foundations to approach, and then try to submit one grant
proposal per month. Other goals included a brochure to document
the Corps Center’s needs. This brochure would be a
valuable tool with the aim of educating the Corps Development
Officer and TAMU Foundation. The Center also intended to
heighten awareness of their alumni brick program in hopes
of increasing funds from this source. Money received from
the sale of the engraved bricks is placed into an endowment
which supports the operation of the Corps Center and helps
provide scholarships for cadets.
Accomplishments:
The Corps Center had a difficult challenge in tying their
Year 4 exhibition into their mission and ensuring that it
appealed
to their regular audience.
They hosted Apron Strings: Ties to the Past, certainly
not a typical exhibition for a military history museum.
They
succeeded, however, by hosting the A&M Mother’s
Club, which spoke to prospective students’ parents.
They were also able to supplement the exhibition with
photographs from their permanent collection that depicted
students and clubs at the University that used aprons.
As for their fundraising efforts, they succeeded in marketing
the brick plaza program to a wider audience by adding a
page
to their website which provides more information on how
to purchase a brick. This lead to a 15% increase in brick
sales.
Curator Lisa Kalmus also diligently researched and cataloged
information on various local foundations, and tried to
match the museum’s needs with institutions that may
be able to help fund specific projects. She reconsidered
the idea
of applying for one grant per month in order to approach
these foundations later for an ambitious future project:
the renovation of the Corps Center permanent exhibits.
Improvements
Secured funding from the class of 1944 for collection
storage units
Used the $500 Texas HELP grant to produce a full-color brochure
of funding opportunities at the Corps Center
Hosted special events (including dinners with the commandant)
at the museum to raise awareness with new groups of visitors
and expand pool of contributors
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