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N E W S
"Children from the Park View School in Newport News hear about St. Michael
from the Chairman of the Junior League. Docents, Mrs. Thomas Bond, Jr.
Some 12 docents offer three different tours to children from 3rd-6th grades.
During the past year, 7,718 school children were taken on guided tours."
Norfolk Museum Bullitin/Annual Report V. XIII, N.1, February, 1963
12
THE DOCENTS
TURN 50!
This fall, the Chrysler Museum welcomes
18 new Docents to its corps of more
than 80 volunteer guides. These volunteers
join the Docents in an auspicious year as
2008 marks the 50th anniversary of the
Docent Program at the Chrysler. The
Museum will formally honor its Docents in
May of 2009 at their annual end-of-year
luncheon, but the celebration starts in
September 2008 when active Docents return
for school tours.
In 1958, when the Chrysler Museum was
the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences,
the Junior League of Norfolk established a
volunteer docent program to lead school
tours at the Museum. The League’s
president at that time was Mrs. Sabine
Andrews, and these volunteers set the
docent program at the National Gallery of Art as their model.
The program began with six volunteers, and by the spring of
1959 they gave their first tours.
These founding volunteers recognized the importance of the
arts and the Museum to the quality of education offered in the
region’s schools. As the demand for school tours grew, so did
the number of volunteers. Consequently, the Junior League
pledged $20,000 in 1966 towards the salary of the Museum’s
first education director, Mr. Richard Carroll. His primary
responsibility was to train the Museum’s docents. During this
time, women from the Service Clubs
of Virginia Beach and Portsmouth also
participated in the Museum’s
education programs, including taking
works of art into schools.
In the 1970s, the collection of
Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. transformed
the Norfolk Museum of Arts and
Sciences, but the role of Docents in
the Museum’s mission remained
essential. Over the last 50 years,
these volunteers have reached
hundreds of thousands of children
and adults, and their combined
volunteer hours easily exceeds one
million! The fact that so many
Preparing meal for event
former Docents
continue to play
important roles in
the life of the
Museum after
years of service,
speaks to their
deep personal
relationships with
Chrysler’s
collection.
The Museum
hopes that
current Docents
and those from
years past will
join together on
May 19, 2009,
to share their
decades of
unforgettable
experiences and
to celebrate this milestone in the Museum’s history.
The Education Department welcomes Members’
recollections of the program’s first decades, including names
of those who should be remembered as founding volunteers.
Please contact Scott Howe, Director of Education and
Public Programs at 757-965-2046 or email
showe@chrysler.org for submissions.
BON APPÉTIT!
Many thanks to everyone who
participated in the inaugural Art Feast
dining series this past spring! Art Feast
featured the talents of three exceptional
Hampton Roads Chefs: Todd Jurich from
Todd Jurich’s Bistro, Willie Moats from
Byrd & Baldwin Bros. Steakhouse, and
Phillip Craig Thomason from Vintage
Kitchen. A delightful selection of wines,
provided by The Wine Cellar at Farm
Fresh, accompanied each of the dinners.
The Chrysler was pleased to have the
generous support and assistance of
Distinctive Event Rentals, and Norfolk
Wholesale Floral.