An educational resource produced by the Michigan State University Museum has received national honors from the American Folklore Society (AFS). The MSU Museum's "Folk Arts in Education: A Resource Handbook II" earned the 2009 Dorothy Howard Folklore and Education Prize, presented at the AFS annual meeting last month.

The Michigan State University Museum published the resource in 2008 for educators to bring young people in touch with their communities, their ethnic identities and the authentic cultural expressions of their own families. "Folk Arts in Education" uses community-based, traditional knowledge from a wide range of expressive arts forms.

Volume editors Marsha MacDowell and LuAnne G. Kozma, folklife curators and specialists at the MSU Museum, worked with a national team of advisors to identify sample curricula from over 50 exemplary programs and best practices for youth in educational settings in K-12 schools, youth-serving organizations, arts and humanities councils, museums, and cultural heritage and folk arts non-profit organizations. Programs use a variety of methods, such as photography, video, radio, audio recordings, exhibitions, festivals, and residencies with tradition-bearers. The MSU Museum, home of the Michigan Traditional Arts Program, is a national leader in collecting, documenting, preserving and sharing traditional cultural practices and expressions. A forerunner to "Folk Arts in Education" has been in use by educators in K-12 schools and community programs since the 1980s.University and K-12 educators around the country are now using "Folk Arts in Education: A Resource Handbook II." The 260+page book is available for sale in hard copy and in a CD version, and the MSU Museum has also made it available as a free download at http://www.folkartsineducation.org. "Folk Arts in Education" was funded by a grant to Michigan State University Museum from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

The Dorothy Howard Folklore and Education Prize honors the nation's best work that effectively encourages K-12 educators or students to use or study folklore and folkloristic approaches in all school environments. Howard was a pioneer educator who integrated folklore into her curriculum in early 1900s Texas, where students used the community around them to learn about cultural expressions, along with developing spelling and writing skills. Learn more at http://www.afsnet.org/

Michigan State University Museum Curator of History Val Roy Berryman is making a list and checking it twice for seven Santa-themed exhibits around the MSU campus and community this holiday season.

Berryman has been collecting Christmas-related artifacts for more than 25 years, including advertising and promotional items, illustrations, cards, packaging, figurines, decorations and other Kris Kringle collectibles. Over the years, he has shared his personal collections - showcasing Christmas traditions from around the world. The exhibits are slated to be installed by Monday, Nov. 30, with a special downtown Lansing exhibit up in time for Lansing's Silver Bells in the City on Friday, Nov. 20.

On the MSU campus:

• Crackers & Biscuits, An English Christmas -- MSU Museum

One of two traditional elements of an English Christmas celebration is the Christmas cracker or noisemaker inside which is a tissue paper party hat and a small prize. Nineteenth to early twentieth century boxes, unused crackers and their contents, as well as artfully designed box labels will be displayed. The second part of the exhibition will be the beautifully designed tin containers that held biscuits, the English name for cookies. Biscuit tins were often made in the form of miniature pieces of furniture, toy vehicles and other decorative objects that could be used as toys or trinket boxes after the cookies had been consumed. They were issued at Christmas time when they could be given as gifts with multiple uses.

• A Merry Dairy Christmas - Anthony Hall Dairy Store

This display consists of a group of Christmas themed ice cream molds, store signs and other advertising pieces that promote the use of dairy products for the holidays.

• Christmas Around the Globe -- MSU Student Union Building

A variety of Christmas characters and Santa substitutes from many countries will fill two display cases in the main lounge of the MSU Union. Figures and art will be used to introduce Pere Noel of France, Father Christmas of Great Britain, St. Nicolaas and Black Piet of Holland, Nikolaus of Germany, Krampus of Austria, Babbo Natale and La Befana of Italy, Nikolai and the Snow Maiden of Russia, and many others.

• Santa Takes a Break - Spartan Stadium Tower, 4th Floor (University Advancement)

The exhibit consists of unique antique chairs occupied by a Santa figures from around the world.

Around town:

• Where's Santa - MSU Federal Credit Union headquarters, 3777 West Road, East Lansing

An exhibit case in the main lobby of the West Road MSUFCU headquarters location will introduce and sample the other six locations of Christmas exhibits throughout the Greater Lansing area.

• Signs of Santa -- Knapp's Building, 300 S. Washington Square, Lansing

Installed in the main window of the Art-Deco Knapp's Building, especially for Silver Bells in the City on Friday Nov. 20, this exhibit features early die-cut store signs. Most of these highly elaborate signs used images of Santa Claus to attract customers to department stores, grocery stores, gas stations, drug stores and other locations in the first half of the 20th century.

• TAKAAN, Christmas From the Philippines -- Williamston Depot Museum, 369 W. Grand River Avenue, Williamston

A small village in the Philippines has supplied papier-mache Christmas display figures for various countries around the world for more than 60 years. Hand-carved molds (called takaan; pronounced "tah-kah-ahn") are made from the local mango wood to create the papier-mache decorations.

Nelson Mandela Museum/MSU Museum Graduate Curatorial Fellow Rachel Laws is profiled on the MSU News web site this week.

See a video interview here:

http://news.msu.edu/staff-faculty/topic/20/

Learn more about the new curatorial fellowship program here:

http://museum.msu.edu/ProgramsandPartnerships/International/CuratoriaFellowshipProgram.html

MSU Museum Research Associate Gene Dillenberg profiled research being conducted at Michigan State University in the Science Buzz blog. See "Evolution: Caught in the Act!" See: http://www.sciencebuzz.org/blog/evolution-caught-act

Science Buzz focuses on science in the news, emerging research, and seasonal science. It's also a suite of exhibit components produced by the Science Museum of Minnesota. What's the buzz? Well, science is all around us: new science stories break every day, building on old topics and introducing new ones. Science Buzz uses a mix of traditional museum components (video microscopes, lightboxes, panels, objects) and new technologies to bring up-to-date science content to visitors.

The MSU Museum Store is open extended hours to 7 p.m., on Wednesdays, Nov. 4 and 11. A special MSU Museum Store holiday benefit sale includes gifts, books and toys that celebrate world cultures and natural history. Visitors and shoppers can discover exotic jewelry, fair trade crafts and fun accessories. A new line-up of educational toys encourages social interaction, creative growth and reflection. All proceeds benefit the MSU Museum.

Check out more here: http://museum.msu.edu/GeneralInformation/MuseumStore/
see "holiday shopping"

More Museum Store:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/msumstore

Twitter: http://twitter.com/MSUMstore

The MSU Museum Store is located on the main floor of the MSU Museum, on West Circle Drive next to the Beaumont Tower on the MSU campus. For more information, call: (517) 355-2373. Limited visitor parking is available in front of the MSU Museum building or in the Grand River Ave. ramp, at the corner of Grand River Ave. and Charles St., just one block away.

A Day of the Dead Celebration drop-in activity on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2-4 p.m., features creating decorative sugar skulls, a common symbol of the holiday.

El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is an ancient Mexican celebration in which families reconnect with departed ancestors. The day provides a special opportunity to remember and celebrate the lives and legacy of those who are deceased. Sugar skulls are a traditional display to celebrate the Day of the Dead -- colorfully decorated with icing, and pieces of bright foil. The colorful skulls are often placed on tombs or used to decorate altars made to honor the lives of departed loved ones.

A $1 donation is encouraged for this activity to cover the cost of materials.

Currently on exhibit through Nov. 12 in the MSUM Community Gallery is a Day of the Dead exhibition created by MSU faculty member Juan Javier Pescador. The MSU Museum features three floors of special collections and changing exhibits and is open seven days a week free of charge (donations are encouraged). Located on West Circle Drive next to Beaumont Tower on the MSU campus in East Lansing, the MSU Museum is accessible to persons with disabilities. Hours are Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. -5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Visitor parking is available in front of the building and at metered spaces at the Grand River Ramp, one block away at the corner of Grand River Avenue and Charles Street. For more information, call (517) 355-2370 or see http://museum.msu.edu .

Each November, Michigan State University joins institutions across the country in celebrating International Education Week. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, International Education Week was established "to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences in the United States."

MSU considers international education and engagement to be cornerstones of its institutional mission. The wide range of MSU International Education Week activities

• foster a greater sense of global community on campus;
• encourage a greater awareness of other peoples, other countries, world affairs, and their influence on our lives, among the University's various constituencies;
• inform the MSU family and surrounding community of the various ways the university is engaged in international teaching, scholarship, and engagement; and
• inspire an even stronger commitment among students, faculty, and staff to becoming more globally educated.

MSU Museum Curator of History will install an exhibit in the International Center, "The World in Miniature," with selection of dolls in national costumes from all over the world, which comes from a recent collection from donor Doris Neilson.

Learn more about International Education Week events here: http://www.iew.msu.edu/

Tanzania in Deep Time -- A View from the Rift Valley (West Gallery)

http://museum.msu.edu/Exhibitions/current/tanzaniaInDeepTime.html

Threads of Change--The Transformation of West African Textiles (Main Gallery)

http://museum.msu.edu/Exhibitions/current/the_transformation_of_west_african_textiles.html

In case you missed the live broadcast, you can hear MSU Museum assistant curator of mammalogy and ornithology Pamela C. Rasmussen as a featured guest on an Oct. 31 presentation of the national "Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?" broadcast from the MSU Concert Auditorium.

Rasmussen, an ornithologist and assistant professor of zoology at MSU, specializes in birds of South Asia and recently helped in the rediscovery of a rare Banggai crow thought to be extinct.

Go here, http://www.notmuch.com/Show/ , and each show segment is highlighted.

Michigan Radio and the Wharton Center brought the broadcast of "Michael Feldman's Whad'ya Know?" to East Lansing. The program is a fast-paced two hour comedy/quiz/interview show, currently broadcast on nearly 300 public radio stations across the United States.