Recognized as one of the nation’s premier museums, Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum features some of the finest and most-renowned collection of art, artifacts, and historical archives that document and depict the American experience. The Museum is a national treasure that generations of supporters have been proud to call their own.

I came on board the Gilcrease in July 2008 when the University of Tulsa and the City of Tulsa entered into an historic partnership to begin a new chapter in the life of the Gilcrease Museum.

In its new role as steward of the Museum and its collection, TU is leveraging its nationally recognized academic expertise in history of the American West, art history, anthropology and archaeology, law, management, and marketing to propel Gilcrease into a new era. Security and protection of the collection are important parts of our stewardship. Today, many museums are facing the challenges of maintaining current operations with a dwindling budget.

Protecting the collections includes not just the physical collection but also the intellectual property rights of that collection. The digital age has changed the rights and reproduction process making it much more complicated than it was in the ‘old’ days. Because of confusing, sometimes contradictory issues regarding intellectual property rights, many rights and repro staff are scrambling to keep up with the digital age. Registrars, curators, rights and reproduction coordinators, photographers, and collection’s managers have voiced a clear and growing need for reliable and understandable guidance on rights and reproduction issues.

The Gilcrease Museum is organizing a webcast that will feature two of the leading rights and reproduction attorneys from across the nation who will address some of these issues. This first webcast will be held in late February. If you are interested and would like more information, please contact me directly:

Michelle Maxwell, Rights & Reproduction

Gilcrease Museum

michelle-maxwell@utulsa.edu

(918) 596-2788 (918) 596-2770 fax