Students from Kristin Szylvian's Fall, Museum Studies class developed recommendations for the use of funds designated by the Frederick S. Upton Foundation to prepare a series of two dimensional interpretive exhibits for the MMM's Padnos Boat Shed (PBS). The PBS is a new facility of the MMM designed to preserve boatbuilding traditions and other maritime skills and knowledge through hands-on instruction and training. The exhibits are designed to help the visitor understand the relationship between the PBS and the economic and social significance of boatbuilding in Michigan today and in the past. Summary reports were presented to MMM staff by Szylvian and student participants.

Graduate student Jennifer Wohlberg developed some of the recommendations for Padnos Boat Shed exhibits made in the Fall of 1998 by Kristin Szylvian's Museum Studies class. Working with the MMM Curator, she refined exhibit subjects and initiated the process of preparing interpretive labels and selecting related graphics.