Doll News Fall 2017 - 165

Director of ReAL Services
2017 Annual Report

eAL Services is the responsibility of the 1st VicePresident and is divided into six departments:
Media, Audio Visual, Education, Conservation,
Publications and Collections. The Director of ReAL
Services is responsible for the efﬁcient operation of
the following: museum, library and all ReAL Services
programs and activities.
This past year has been a productive and active period
of development and implementation focusing on the goals
of our mission to educate, preserve and conserve.
The UFDC Museum helps UFDC fulﬁll its mission by
preserving the history of dolls. The Collections Oversight
Committee under the direction of Chairman Bradley
Justice has been actively working on developing our
museum collection. UFDC continues to accept donations
of great signiﬁcance to our collection. We are proud to
welcome "Ethel Newcome," the famous Sanitary Fair
doll from the Civil War to our collection. Julie Blewis
recognizing the signiﬁcance of this American treasure
worked with Ethel's former caretakers and owners Andy
and Becky Ourant to bring her to UFDC. Donors including
Julie were Sandy Kralovitz, Susan Foreman and Beckie
Decker. Ethel will be on display at the Orlando convention
before going to her permanent home at the UFDC
Museum. Susanna Lewis donated additional Sasha dolls
from the Sasha family to move toward UFDC developing
an historical timeline of the dolls of Sasha Morgenthaler.
UFDC's most recent addition was an extensive collection
of Mel Odom's "Gene" dolls with original molds and
archival items.
The Collections Oversight Committee voted last year
to deaccession 200 items, which was approved by the
Executive Committee and the Board in October. All items
that have clear legal title have been sent to Pence Auctions.
The Committee has completed their review of two
documents: donation procedures and archival research
procedures. The donation procedure document will be
distributed to attendees at convention and posted on the
website. The archival procedures continues to be a work in
progress.
The ReAL Services department will continue
to organize symposiums as well as workshops in
conjunction with the Collections Oversight Committee
and the Fundraising Committee. In the fall of 2016 a
symposium on Dewees Cochran dolls was held. We
thank the presenters, Bill Zito, Ann Leis and Ursula

Mertz and the attendees for making this a success. The
Director especially wishes to thank Bradley Justice for
spearheading this project with the committee. Upcoming
events include a symposium on "Madeleine de Baine"
scheduled for October 26 thru 27. Guest speakers are
Rosalie Whyel, Dorothy McGonagle, and Alice Leverett.
Alice Leverett will hold her workshop following the
symposium.
In the spring of 2017 the UFDC Collection Oversight
Committee joined the National Antique Doll Dealers
Association (NADDA) to sponsor an open house in
conjunction with the NADDA show. Rachel Hoffman
working with Ruby Lane produced a live video of the
activities at the Sunday Open House with interviews
with President Janet Gula and Collection Oversight
Committee Chair, Bradley Justice. Bradley's "Barbie"
segment went viral producing over 6000 visits. The
power of social media is evident and UFDC plans for the
future include making better use of this medium.
The UFDC Audio-Visual DVD program library
continues to grow. New updated software and burner
were purchased to provide our own in-house production
of DVDs. Conversion of slide programs to DVDs is a
time consuming and costly project. Cindy Bailey donated
to this project and as a result we were able to convert "As
If They Might Speak" an in-depth program on Dewees
Cochran to DVD. The production of DVDs on a variety
of doll topics is sorely needed to update our library. Judy
Dusek, Audio-Visual Chair, reported that this year we
have three entries for the annual contest.
UFDC has contracted KC Specialists to develop a
new modern website. The Director has been working
directly with the web designers. Our new website will
be interactive, easy to navigate with access to online
forms and registrations. We are in the ﬁnal stages of
development. Matt Haynes, System Coordinator, has
also met with the web designer to help build a new
ecommerce store to replace the present online shop.
In addition to a new website, the Director has
recommended to the Executive Committee the hiring of
professional services to meet our social media and public
relation needs.
The Director has received approval for the purchasing
of OnCell, an app that works on all smart phones
and tablets. This app will enable members to tour the
museum virtually on their phones, tablets or computers.
It will highlight the collection and events. It also has
multi-language capabilities.

DOLL NEWS * UFDC.ORG

165

http://www.UFDC.ORG

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Fall 2017