UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM

Interview #952
MAGNONI, CORINNE

MAGNONI, Corinne (1940-)
Assistant Director, Chazen Museum of Art
At UW: 1988-present

Interviewed: 	2008 (1 sessions)
Interviewer: 	Robert Lange
Index by: 	Stephen A. Pierce
Length: 	1 hours, 28 minutes

Abstract: In her March 2008 interview with Bob Lange, Corinne Magnoni recounts her work at the Chazen Museum of Art from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. Magnoni discusses various influence on her dual passions of business administration and the arts, including her education, previous work experience, and private life.  She also offers insight into the daily operations of the Chazen Museum, its acquisitions of new artwork, and plans for expansion of the physical plant due to be completed in 2011. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the UW-Madison Oral History Program.

Key Words: Parkers Prairie MN; Lewis University; St. Xavier University; Chicago Association for Retarded Children (now Envision); Chicago State University; WI Education Association Council (WEAC); WEA Trust strike; Chazen (formerly Elvehjem) Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Russell Panczenko; Donna Shalala; James Watrous; acquisitions; the Art History department; Alvin Lane collection.

First Interview Session (March 4, 2008): Digital File

Time	Keywords
00:00:00	Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction

00:00:28	Question: Talk about your birthplace and family. Answer: Magnoni was born February 26, 1940 in Parkers Prairie MN to Francis and Walter Brockopp. She talked about attending a small consolidated school in the town (instead of a country school), which she described as having excellent teachers. Follow up: Did you work on the farm? Answer: Because her sister developed a distaste for the farm from having to do farmwork, her father was “bound and determined” that Corinne not develop the same dislike, though she actually wanted to participate. She quipped about driving the tractor and her love for her childhood on the farm.

00:03:32	Question: Were you identified early on as a smart child? Answer: She always got good grades, which she attributed to her mother’s interest in learning. Her father didn’t see much use in educating girls, but her mother expected her to finish HS and college. Question: Were you early interested in math? Answer: No, theology and music—in fact she taught in parochial school for 3 years, and only later got involved in business. She mused about the relationship between music and math.

00:07:04	Question: How did you choose Concordia College after graduation (1958)? Answer: It was close to home. While it was about 3 hours from her parents’ farm, there were many students from her area who went there. She got an AA in elementary education, which allowed her to teach in the Lutheran schools. She then taught 4th grade at Mt Calvary Lutheran School in Richfield MN, where she quipped her first class were amazed that she wasn’t old enough to vote. She recalled organizing a band program at the school.

00:11:41	Question: Was it becoming clear that you didn’t want a career in teaching? Answer: Yes, though she didn’t know what she wanted to do, and wasn’t aware of more than limited options for women’s careers. After a failed first marriage, she got a job as a secretary for the VP for finance at Lewis University to make a new start, where one of the benefits was to take free classes. She began taking up to 3 classes a semester and graduated as one of the first women to graduate from the school. Follow up: Did they treat you well? Answer: Extremely—they worked to accommodate her schedule.

00:14:39	Question: Why business? Answer: She enjoyed knowing when you’d completed the task. She liked the order to that, but also the departure from what she’d been doing was very exciting. Follow up: Were computers around? Answer: No; she quipped about typing doctoral theses with carbon paper.

00:16:48	Question: Then St. Xavier? Answer: Yes; it was her first job as comptroller. Follow up: And why did you go to Chicago State Univ.? Answer: She met her second husband at St. Xavier’s, and when he moved to Chicago State, she went with him. She talked about her husband’s involvement in CARC in Chicago and subsequent involvement in Dane County’s Board for the developmentally disabled. 

00:20:09	Question: Was Chicago State a bigger job? Answer: Yes; it was challenging because CSU was a minority school and they were the last white administrators at the school during the tumultuous late 1960s. She speculated that if she could work there, she could work anywhere, and talked about a political science course that opened her eyes to the failures of the political system in Chicago. Follow up: And from there to Blue Island School District? Answer: Yes, because of new nepotism rules at CSU. She talked about the transition, smoothed by her knowledge of elementary schools.

00:23:44	[no question] Magnoni discussed her first exposure to computers at Blue Island School District. Follow up: How difficult was that? Answer: She noted that it was essentially a “mammoth” database for fee billing and she worked with a data processing specialist to create the system. Follow up: Could you see computers were the wave of the future? Answer: Oh, yes. She didn’t see Blue Island as cutting edge, since this sort of thing was happening everywhere. She and Lange discussed where the family was living at the time, quipping how happy they were that Madison didn’t have many railroad tracks.

00:27:04	Question: How did you get to WI? Answer: Noting that while her husband’s family was in IL (and hers was in MN), they didn’t see Chicago as a good long-term place to raise a family—though it was very culturally rich. So they began interviewing in university towns between Chicago and Minneapolis—her husband landed a job at a consulting firm on the west side and she with WI Family Planning Coordinating Council (until it disbanded). She then worked for the insurance company for WEAC. She talked about the role and locations of the corporation and her role there (comptroller, personnel, etc.) While she enjoyed working there, there were some labor issues within the insurance company itself.

00:34:12	Question: What was your perspective on the strike at the WEA trust? Answer: Magnoni contextualized that the bargaining unit (clerical staff) was 100% female and when the company moved to a new location, the layout of the building led to a “teacher-child” relationship between the male (and quite chauvinistic) directors and the employees. She was the “token” woman in management, but sided with the women on the issue of the need for respect.  While she felt close to many of the strikers, she had to cross the picket lines and was the go-to person in the contract negotiations. But she appreciated the new skills and experience the contract negotiations gave her, which she attributed to her constant curiosity and enjoyment of new challenges.

00:40:14	Question: From this incident, you decided to get out of WEAC? Answer: Yes; while she liked the director, she felt the deputy director was responsible for the strike—but both were fired, and she and Al Jacobs became responsible for the transition. She talked about people’s gratitude to her for providing continuity at a tumultuous time. She stayed until 1988, having in the meantime developed psoriatic arthritis which kept her in a lot of pain and prompted her to find something different. After toying with the idea of teaching again (and taking classes at Edgewood), she realized that the cultural changes since she’d gotten out of teaching would be a shock. So she responded to an ad from Chazen.

00:44:02	Question: Were you interested in Chazen? Answer: She remembered thinking “This looks like my dream job!” with her background in university administration, finance, and the arts. Follow up: What did you find when you came (1988)? Answer: She said she’d notice that the staff was fractured between Panczenko and those who’d been there prior to him. She talked about subtle ways in which Panczenko (and therefore her) was undermined by the clerical staff. She noted that the first 10 months was spent catching up on clerical issues that hadn’t been dealt with by the incompetence of some staff. She also talked about the mutual respect between herself and Panczenko, discussing her adminis-trative role and why she’d been hired (to free him up to curate some exhibitions).

00:49:35	Question: What were the financial challenges? Answer: She felt they had good people, planning, organization, and support from the deans’ offices, so she never felt undue pressure for finding money, other than during budget cut times. She commented positively on how UW was set up to support the departments.

00:51:43	Question: Did Shalala have a relationship with Chazen? Answer: Not really—she came to major openings. Follow up: Did you know Jim Watrous? Answer: Only through is work with Drew Stevens and Frank Horlbeck. She thought he was “an incredible man.”

00:53:45	Question: Relationship between Chazen and Art History? Answer: She felt that in the early years there was more tension, with museum staff feeling the collections should be used more in educating students; but she felt tensions had subsided with greater collaboration between museum and Art History personnel.

00:55:37	Question: Chazen is the 2nd largest museum in WI? Answer: Yes; she thought many people didn’t realize how extensive the collection was and how cutting-edge the exhibitions were (citing Judy Pfaff’s, Peter Gourfain’s, John Steuart Curry’s and Gronk’s exhibits and Panczenko’s acquisition of Alvin Lane’s collection). Follow up: Is the Lane collection going to be a permanent display? Answer: She thought so, and that it was one rationale for the expansion of the building.

00:59:04	Question: Were Panczenko and the board always looking for more money to acquire art? Answer: She “never had to deal with it.” The endowment was good, so she simply needed to manage the process. Question: Did you have a good relationship with UW Foundation’s accounting people? Answer: Very cooperative. 

01:00:21	Question: Were you here when Panczenko received the $1 million gift? Answer: Yes; she related Panczenko’s story about how the donors (Petersons) expressed the amount they were willing to donate and his identification of 2 appropriate pieces—a C. Hassam piece and a B. Strazzi piece that became a centerpiece of the museum’s reputation. Follow up: Did Panczenko need to go through the dean or the Elvehjem council to acquire these pieces. Answer: No, it goes through the museum’s acquisitions committee.

01:03:41	Question: Issues in the mid-1990s? Answer: She talked about the need to move things around—published catalogs, office space, etc.—because of issues of space.  Privacy, key access, and sharing the space with art history were also issues. Follow up: Did you have oversight responsibilities in the Kohler Library? Answer: No. Follow up: How big was the staff during your time? Answer: 15. Question: What dealings did you have with the Elvehjem Council? Answer: Very little—only when she had to present financial reports.

01:07:26	Question: How soon was there talk of an expansion? Answer: Ever since she started, and especially during operational planning sessions. She thought it was during the mid-1990s that Panczenko began presenting the issue to the deans. Follow up: Has enough money been raised? Answer: She didn’t know, though she thought it was close.

01:08:50	Question: Why retire in 2002? Answer: Health issues—she still loved what she was doing, but experienced an episode during which she was hospitalized in 2001. She felt that most of the time hers was a low-stress job.

01:10:49	Question: Has the museum become more visible? Answer: She thought so, relating that some people had even likened the Chazen to the Phillips Collection in DC. But she felt that the grounds were not kept up appropriately, due not to the neglect of the Museum, but the University. Follow up: Is that a recent phenomenon? Answer: No. She talked about always having to bargain to get Physical Plant to respond since the museum had no regular custodian. She praised former custodian Mike Skinner (now retired) and other support staff, who took personal pride in their service to the museum. Follow up: Did you ever have security/vandalism problems? Answer: She said it was mostly accidents. 

01:15:16	Question: Talk about Sunday Afternoon Live. Answer: She said she inherited the program, but didn’t start it, and detailed coordinating with WPR, intermission segments, and interviews with Panczenko. 

01:17:39	Question: What did you think of the name change (from Elvehjem to Chazen)? Answer: While she had “great gratitude” to the Chazen family, she recalled “feeling orphaned” by it. Follow up: Did you get criticism? Answer: Not much; she noted people were satisfied with the explanation that the building would always be called the Elvehjem building. 

01:19:57	Question: What do you see for the future? Answer: She thought planning for the expansion and its operational needs would consume a lot of energy. She talked about a new Asst. Director for Administration, Brian Thompson, who would direct operations and would be a great help with the expansion. Follow up: When’s the new building supposed to open? Answer: 2010-2011, she thought. She discussed the architectural integration of the two buildings.

01:22:38	Question: What are your final observations about the Chazen? Answer: She thought that it was “the jewel of the University.” She said she continued to work as a docent, which allowed her to see people appreciate the incredible collection it had. She praised the staff, including Ann Lambert, who she described as “still fresh” though she’d come soon after the museum open; Drew Stevens, who curated the print collection; and Panczenko. She thought the collection was only going to get better with the addition of the Lane collection. She and Lange talked about the dinner Panczenko threw for the Lane family upon the donation of their collection.

01:25:56	Question: Do you have a favorite section? Answer: She said it depended on the age group—while she didn’t prefer the contemporary collection, she said younger children could find things she didn’t see. Her favorite galleries were 3, 4, and 5.

01:27:42	End of First Interview Session

End of Oral History #952