HOUGHTON--A firm that has designed museum exhibits for the Smithsonian Institution and a variety of National Park visitors centers has been hired by the Seaman Mineral Museum at Michigan Technological University.

Gallagher & Associates will design the exhibit space concept for the new museum planned for the former blackshop and machine shop buildings at the Quincy Mine site north of Hancock.

The firm will develop renderings of exhibits, plan the major exhibits and main attractions and establish the cost of building the exhibits.

"Gallagher designed the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals, at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC," said Stan Dyl, director of the Seaman Museum. "They will provide a 'whiff of the Smithsonian' for our project."

The company will work with museum officials in planning the 22,000 square-feet of exhibit space in the new facility. Currently, the Seaman Museum has just 5,000 square-feet of space available.

Funding for hiring the design firm came from a federal appropriation through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal agency that fosters leadership and innovation in the nation's museums and libraries.

Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) and U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan) were instrumental in securing the funds.

The firm is expected to complete their work by the end of December 2002. The Seaman Museum plans to complete a $16 million fundraising campaign for the restoration, building and moving costs by 2005.

7/17/02