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Successful museum career started in Alpena
Before starting his 25-year career at
the Dennos Museum in Traverse City,
Gene Jenneman worked at the Besser
Museum as the planetarium coordinator.
Hired in 1971 fresh out of the University of Wisconsin with a degree in
physics, chemistry and training in astronomy, Jenneman began working to
develop a broad range of programming
for both the general public and schools.
It would, however, be his passion for
the arts that would have a lasting impact
at the museum.
After a summer in 1972 of backpacking through Europe, Jenneman was inspired to bring world class art
exhibitions to Northeast Michigan. His
devotion to do so would help develop a
respectable fine arts collection and reputation for the museum.
“My entry into the museum world and
more importantly a museum of art, history and science would change everything related to my career plans,”
Jenneman said. “Despite my title and
job description, I decided that I needed
to go to Detroit and find some ‘professional’ art. So I told Bob Haltiner, who
was then the curator of exhibitions and
one of the most creative and inventive
people I have ever worked with, of my
intent and Peter Cook, the director, of
my plans, and set out to see what I could
find.”
Over time, Jenneman got to know
many of the art gallery dealers in Detroit and the suburbs. He discovered that
they had lots of inventory in their back
rooms.
“I naively asked if I could borrow
Congratulations
Besser Museum for an
exceptional 50 years!
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4 - Besser Museum 50th Anniversary ~ Wednesday, January 27, 2016
work from them to take back to the
the subject matter could be.
Besser Museum and curate art exhibi“Many times I saw couples debating
tions with the
whether to go into the
work,” he ͅ