Wow! It's already Thursday! Yikes!
Lots of storms blowing through SD these days, but they're nothing like Illinois storms....just tons of wind and a little rain. Seriously guys, a storm is not a storm without a decent lightening and thunder show to go with it. :) Last night the gusts were up to 60 mph and I'm on the end of my apartment building, so my night was pretty much all noise and no sleep.
I mention smoke because all the blueprints I'm working with at the Hatchery are the special project that they are because they were exposed to an extreme amount of smoke and heat during a Hatchery fire. Each one is very soot and smoke-stained so it needs special attention for cataloguing and rehousing. Hence, my job. :)
And sweet tooth, well I finished up my first week here, so I'm ending the day with Oreo's, peanut butter, and a Monster! Man, I feel good! Tonight I plan on packing for my flight home tomorrow and cleaning out my fridge of highly-perishable foods so they don't green up my kitchen while I'm gone.
Sorry, you're not gonna get a short post tonight. Hahahaha. Thought you could get away with a short read...come on guys, this is MY blog you're reading. *wink!*
I've been thinking a lot about the implications of this mentorship and a lot of the people I've met here (and talked to back home) are asking...What do I plan to do with the information I learn here? What's the next step after South Dakota museums?
And the big answer is: I don't know yet.
Hey, you asked, so I'm being honest.
The big tie-up is in a strange mix of hobbies....no, passions. That's a better word. I've heard several wise people say "Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." Ok...so....I ask myself....how does locking myself in a basement glorify God? Still trying to figure that out...but I want to share a bit of my thoughts here..
Mamma lent me this amazing book by Max Lucado called "You Can Be Anything God Wants You To Be". Great read! And short. I highly recommend it whether you like reading or not, or even whether you like God or not. Anywho, after reading that book, I’m getting used to the idea that God made me the way I am on purpose. That even though I don’t know why I feel the way I do or why I enjoy the things I enjoy, He does. And He made me feel them and enjoy them for a reason. I step back from this mentorship experience and I'm reminded of the $50 question when I started: “Ok God, I’m currently torn between entering the ministry and working in a museum. Now what?"
Being here in South Dakota has opened my eyes to some kind of strange inner fascination I have with historic items and documents and the inner workings of the Department of the Interior.
Question No. 1: Where did that COME from?
Question No. 2: What in the WORLD am I supposed to do with it?
Seriously, how many people in the world are torn between these two kinds of careers? I’ve got this aching, longing, almost crawling, desperate need to read the Word of God and understand it. It’s somewhere so deep inside me that even though it’s a loud, blaring, symphonic orchestra in my soul, my head can only hear a faint, whispering melody. And then when I open my heart to God’s Word and the message it has to share and the ridiculous love He has for me, I want more! Kind of like that song, Your Love is My Drug. Only literally. I can’t shake it. I need to be in the Word.
And then there’s this crazy obsession with white cotton gloves, dark basements full of very old things that nobody wants anymore, and mountains of paperwork that some guy behind a desk in D.C. wants me to fill out.
Again, where did these fascinations come from and what do I do with them?
I think I’ve found the answer to the first question...and it’s God.
Do I get it? Not even close. I stopped trying to understand His deep, dark complexities somewhere in the middle of Christian Thought with Dr. Wright. But I think even more important than understanding that they came from God, is accepting that He had a reason for giving them to me.
I haven’t the faintest idea what’s going to happen or where my life is going to lead me that my love for God’s Word and museum work happen to collide, but I know that eventually they will, because God wouldn’t put these feelings inside me if they weren’t going to help me glorify Him...somehow. God gave me these passions, which means eventually they’re going to come in handy.
And that, folks, is my justification for being here. Sitting in the basement of the Hatchery, I’m starting to consider where I want to go next. The Smithsonian or the British museum sounds AMAZING! I think I want to give that a try.
But I also wanted to go to seminary in Australia my senior year. So which do I go for?
At this point, both. And maybe somewhere between here and Australia, God will show me how I’m supposed to combine His Word and museum work. And if He doesn’t...well...then...I just keep doing what I love...because if I didn’t do what I love...I wouldn’t be accepting the passions God gave me...and I wouldn’t be glorifying His awesome power and control in my life.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Day Two...Getting started
So I just realized this is my second day two. Hmmm. :)
Got down to business right away this morning. My big project is, in fact, going to be cataloguing and rehousing the blueprints that Randi lovingly calls The 42's. At my last guestimation, I believe there's 82 different hatcheries with anywhere from 1-30 blueprints each for me to catalogue and rehouse. I'm gonna be at this a couple of weeks...but I have to admit, it's a BLAST! Each one is different, and I'm surrounded by reference books to 'expand my knowledge-base' (quote by Randi, every 10 minutes) in the processes of blueprint-making. So many different kinds! I honestly thought all blueprints were blue. Apparently not. There is also white, and off-white, and linen, and plastic with lines colors ranging from black and light brown to blue and purple. It's kind of a maze trying to cross-reference and figure out exactly what kind of blueprint each one is, but hey, that's what makes it an ADVENTURE! :)
Finished about 16 blueprints before the day ended at 5:00. The Hatchery put on a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at 6:00, so that gave me a lovely hour to walk around the city park, toss a penny into Spearfish Creek, and explore a couple of the trails behind the Hatchery Museum. Too bad the camera card was too full for pictures.
I had a nice talk with one of the volunteers about the differences between government-funded and on-profit museums. Each has it's pros and cons, and I'm really glad I have the opportunity to work at both this summer!
Other than that, I got a free meal (score!) and had a chance to Skype with my Grandma in southern IL and cousin in TN. Feels good to be back online. I know this sounds like I'm totally dependent on the internet, but I'm not going to lie, it helps when my apartment gets quiet at night :)
Got down to business right away this morning. My big project is, in fact, going to be cataloguing and rehousing the blueprints that Randi lovingly calls The 42's. At my last guestimation, I believe there's 82 different hatcheries with anywhere from 1-30 blueprints each for me to catalogue and rehouse. I'm gonna be at this a couple of weeks...but I have to admit, it's a BLAST! Each one is different, and I'm surrounded by reference books to 'expand my knowledge-base' (quote by Randi, every 10 minutes) in the processes of blueprint-making. So many different kinds! I honestly thought all blueprints were blue. Apparently not. There is also white, and off-white, and linen, and plastic with lines colors ranging from black and light brown to blue and purple. It's kind of a maze trying to cross-reference and figure out exactly what kind of blueprint each one is, but hey, that's what makes it an ADVENTURE! :)
Finished about 16 blueprints before the day ended at 5:00. The Hatchery put on a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at 6:00, so that gave me a lovely hour to walk around the city park, toss a penny into Spearfish Creek, and explore a couple of the trails behind the Hatchery Museum. Too bad the camera card was too full for pictures.
I had a nice talk with one of the volunteers about the differences between government-funded and on-profit museums. Each has it's pros and cons, and I'm really glad I have the opportunity to work at both this summer!
Other than that, I got a free meal (score!) and had a chance to Skype with my Grandma in southern IL and cousin in TN. Feels good to be back online. I know this sounds like I'm totally dependent on the internet, but I'm not going to lie, it helps when my apartment gets quiet at night :)
Monday, June 27, 2011
Operation Spearfish Hatchery!!!
So my amazing Aunt Kay and cousins Molly and Jackson met up with me in Mitchell on Saturday! :) We visited the Archeodome and watched the diggers for awhile, then I showed them around DD. After dinner at Whiskey Creek we did some dancing at an open-house/wedding reception downtown and then saw a drive-in movie. Great times! It was really good to see them. I'll see them again when I fly home next weekend and then the following weekend they'll be driving back through Spearfish on their way home to Montana. Now I'll have something great to look forward to on the weekends. Also, for my last weekend in Spearfish, Mom found some great deals on plane tickets, so Austin is flying out to Rapid City on my last day of work and we'll make the drive back to Illinois together. Hoping to stretch it out over a couple of days so we can hit up Mitchell's rodeo weekend. :)
On Sunday I packed up my stuff, said goodbye to Clay and Cindy...they'll always be my home in South Dakota. Then me and the cuzins hit up the Corn Palace for all of 10 minutes before heading to Cabela's. Molly and Jax both got pistols last summer and Molly bought a holster for hers so when they go shooting she's got a holster.
A long drive to Spearfish, and really gloomy. I've never seen thunderheads like that...not even in Illinois. I pulled off the interstate to get a bite to eat just in time for nickel-sized hail to cover my car like snow! In 10 minutes, it turned to rain, and by the time I was done eating, the sun was out. But sadly it didn't last long. Arrived at my apartment, moved in, and made a grocery run all in the rain.
But today was SUNNY! AND WARM! My first day at the Spearfish Historic Fish Hatchery. The museum is near the city park, so they get lots of visitors. The Hatchery is very different from DD…Renee is in charge of community events and the volunteer schedule, John does the archival research, Randi (my mentor) is in charge of collections, cataloguing, and Rehousing, Carlos and Delores run the administrative and business side of the museum, and Caitlyn does the media and advertising. There’s also a historic house on the same property as the museum, but Rachel works with the Booth Society and they’re completely separate from the museum itself. And when they’d all introduced themselves, I thought, “Wow. Lori does ALL of that.” I don’t respect the Hatchery staff any less, but I sure respect Lori even more than I did before.
I spent most of the day reading up on museum safety and collections policies. It all looked pretty familiar, but different because the Hatchery is run by the Fish and Wildlife Service, which is neither nonprofit (like DD) nor does it really fall under the same category as the National Park Service. It’s a government-run museum and it uses a lot of the same guidelines and software as museums under the National Park Service, but the FWS really is a separate department when you get to Washington. Carlos is head of the whole operation and he reports directly to the office in Washington.
After lunch I went to the basement of the office building with Randi, and it looks like I’m going to be spending most of my time down there over the next 3 weeks. The basement is not nearly as fun as the DD basement because most of their artifacts are properly housed in file cabinets. Since the Hatchery is funded by the government, it can afford all that expensive storage equipment. Compared to DD, it’s pretty small as far as artifacts go, only 7,000, but in the archives department, the Hatchery is much bigger, with over 167,000 prints, photos, and blueprints that increase by about 500 linear feet each year. Not quite as fun as the DD basement, since it's all properly stored in hanging folders and cabinets.
I'm hoping to find some way to enjoy the lovely scenery here. Not going to see much of it if I'm spending all my days in the basement, but on a positive note, I get to handle some pretty old blueprints! :)
Now that I have a permanent internet source in my apartment, I'm hoping to keep in touch with people more as well, which will make staying here a little less lonely. Enjoy the pics! :)
My AMAZING host family...Clay and Cindy Gregg
Jax, Molly, and Me at the Archeodome...golly they're getting tall...did I mention that Molly was DRIVING when I met them in Mitchell??
Hello Black Hills. <3
On Sunday I packed up my stuff, said goodbye to Clay and Cindy...they'll always be my home in South Dakota. Then me and the cuzins hit up the Corn Palace for all of 10 minutes before heading to Cabela's. Molly and Jax both got pistols last summer and Molly bought a holster for hers so when they go shooting she's got a holster.
A long drive to Spearfish, and really gloomy. I've never seen thunderheads like that...not even in Illinois. I pulled off the interstate to get a bite to eat just in time for nickel-sized hail to cover my car like snow! In 10 minutes, it turned to rain, and by the time I was done eating, the sun was out. But sadly it didn't last long. Arrived at my apartment, moved in, and made a grocery run all in the rain.
But today was SUNNY! AND WARM! My first day at the Spearfish Historic Fish Hatchery. The museum is near the city park, so they get lots of visitors. The Hatchery is very different from DD…Renee is in charge of community events and the volunteer schedule, John does the archival research, Randi (my mentor) is in charge of collections, cataloguing, and Rehousing, Carlos and Delores run the administrative and business side of the museum, and Caitlyn does the media and advertising. There’s also a historic house on the same property as the museum, but Rachel works with the Booth Society and they’re completely separate from the museum itself. And when they’d all introduced themselves, I thought, “Wow. Lori does ALL of that.” I don’t respect the Hatchery staff any less, but I sure respect Lori even more than I did before.
I spent most of the day reading up on museum safety and collections policies. It all looked pretty familiar, but different because the Hatchery is run by the Fish and Wildlife Service, which is neither nonprofit (like DD) nor does it really fall under the same category as the National Park Service. It’s a government-run museum and it uses a lot of the same guidelines and software as museums under the National Park Service, but the FWS really is a separate department when you get to Washington. Carlos is head of the whole operation and he reports directly to the office in Washington.
After lunch I went to the basement of the office building with Randi, and it looks like I’m going to be spending most of my time down there over the next 3 weeks. The basement is not nearly as fun as the DD basement because most of their artifacts are properly housed in file cabinets. Since the Hatchery is funded by the government, it can afford all that expensive storage equipment. Compared to DD, it’s pretty small as far as artifacts go, only 7,000, but in the archives department, the Hatchery is much bigger, with over 167,000 prints, photos, and blueprints that increase by about 500 linear feet each year. Not quite as fun as the DD basement, since it's all properly stored in hanging folders and cabinets.
I'm hoping to find some way to enjoy the lovely scenery here. Not going to see much of it if I'm spending all my days in the basement, but on a positive note, I get to handle some pretty old blueprints! :)
Now that I have a permanent internet source in my apartment, I'm hoping to keep in touch with people more as well, which will make staying here a little less lonely. Enjoy the pics! :)
My AMAZING host family...Clay and Cindy Gregg
Jax, Molly, and Me at the Archeodome...golly they're getting tall...did I mention that Molly was DRIVING when I met them in Mitchell??
Hello Black Hills. <3
Friday, June 24, 2011
Bittersweet
Finished up my last two days at DD on a pretty positive note. The sun finally came out after a 2 week vacation, and it's been a great couple of days!
Yesterday I worked with Pat and Jane for the last time in the basement. Finished work on the map as far as we could, but we can’t fully remount it because it needs a new mat that we need to order. Pat also pulled a few Charles Hargens pieces out for me to see. She knows I like cowboys. J
When I went back upstairs, they had bought 2 boxes of cupcakes for my last day with some of them! We had a cupcake break and they were SO kind!
After 2 cupcakes, an errand, and lunch, I went back to the basement and finished the last 5 hatboxes. After that, I went back up to find Lori gone home with a bad headache. I took the liberty of putting the dress form I carved yesterday on one of the poles we let settle in concrete last night. It worked GREAT!
Cindy and Clay took me out to Whiskey Creek for dinner. I split a full rack of ribs with Clay and had the HUGEST baked potato loaded with bacon, cheese, sour cream, and pulled pork. Needless to say, I was still full when I woke up this morning for breakfast.
Today was a pretty quiet day, not a whole lot of people, even for a Friday. Lori and I got another dress mounted on our styrofoam/wood/concrete dress forms. I really like our design for the forms: they're easy to fit, easy to make, and best of all, easy to carry around the exhibit and rearrange!
I took a long lunch break and went over to the Archeodome at the Indian Village. The archaeology students from the University of Exeter in England arrived yesterday so I got a chance to watch them do some digging. I had to leave after 20 minutes though, because I was about to grab a trowel and start digging. :)
Not a whole lot of plans for the evening. Getting psyched to see my cousins Molly and Jackson and Aunt Kay tomorrow. I think I'm going to give them a personalized tour of DD, then go to my friend Jane's wedding reception (it's literally an open house party at the Moose Lodge downtown...swing dance taboot!) then we're gonna go to the drive in! Haven't seen them since New Year's and CAN'T WAIT!
So here's my shout-out to Lori Holmberg! Thanks so much for everything you've taught me over the last four weeks! It's been a crazy ride and I have LOVED every single minute of it! I'll never forget our time together...
On an even more exciting note....BRACE YOURSELF, SPEARFISH!!! I'LL SEE YOU ON SUNDAAY!!! :D
Making our dress forms :)
My last wedding dress...
Exeter students in the Archeodome
Yesterday I worked with Pat and Jane for the last time in the basement. Finished work on the map as far as we could, but we can’t fully remount it because it needs a new mat that we need to order. Pat also pulled a few Charles Hargens pieces out for me to see. She knows I like cowboys. J
When I went back upstairs, they had bought 2 boxes of cupcakes for my last day with some of them! We had a cupcake break and they were SO kind!
After 2 cupcakes, an errand, and lunch, I went back to the basement and finished the last 5 hatboxes. After that, I went back up to find Lori gone home with a bad headache. I took the liberty of putting the dress form I carved yesterday on one of the poles we let settle in concrete last night. It worked GREAT!
Cindy and Clay took me out to Whiskey Creek for dinner. I split a full rack of ribs with Clay and had the HUGEST baked potato loaded with bacon, cheese, sour cream, and pulled pork. Needless to say, I was still full when I woke up this morning for breakfast.
Today was a pretty quiet day, not a whole lot of people, even for a Friday. Lori and I got another dress mounted on our styrofoam/wood/concrete dress forms. I really like our design for the forms: they're easy to fit, easy to make, and best of all, easy to carry around the exhibit and rearrange!
I took a long lunch break and went over to the Archeodome at the Indian Village. The archaeology students from the University of Exeter in England arrived yesterday so I got a chance to watch them do some digging. I had to leave after 20 minutes though, because I was about to grab a trowel and start digging. :)
Not a whole lot of plans for the evening. Getting psyched to see my cousins Molly and Jackson and Aunt Kay tomorrow. I think I'm going to give them a personalized tour of DD, then go to my friend Jane's wedding reception (it's literally an open house party at the Moose Lodge downtown...swing dance taboot!) then we're gonna go to the drive in! Haven't seen them since New Year's and CAN'T WAIT!
So here's my shout-out to Lori Holmberg! Thanks so much for everything you've taught me over the last four weeks! It's been a crazy ride and I have LOVED every single minute of it! I'll never forget our time together...
On an even more exciting note....BRACE YOURSELF, SPEARFISH!!! I'LL SEE YOU ON SUNDAAY!!! :D
Making our dress forms :)
My last wedding dress...
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
RIP, BB, HB, NT, and CP
Wow, it's been awhile since I got in a post! By the time I'm finished here, you'll see why. It's been a very busy week...lots of major events that I'll go through chronologically for ya'll. :)
RIP:
On Friday I went to Sioux Falls with Clay and Cindy because Clay had a check up at the Veteran's Affairs Hospital. Of course, we got in some shopping and a sushi run, but the day was most memorable for the sad news Cindy received when we got home. One of her full-time co-workers had passed away that afternoon of a heart attack. Of course that put a huge wrench into the weekend, since he had been very key in planning the Beach Boys concert. I was glad I could be there for her, she didn’t hardly sleep that night and neither did I. I had only met Kent on Wednesday, but that’s all the time I needed to know he was a really great guy. That was definitely a part of this mentorship I hadn’t planned on dealing with.
BB:
BEACH BOYS!!! Cindy and I arrived at the Indian Village at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday to begin set-up. Without Kent, our workload was much greater, and the girls who usually run the front desk had just found out about his passing that morning. So…being the girl that didn’t know him so well, I covered the front desk and managed the costumers and gift shop while they got through the morning preparing for the concert away from the public eye. It was a difficult morning for everyone, but the evening was SOOO worth it!
The gates opened at 6:00 and the VIP reception began at 6:30. Me and two local high school girls ran the merchandise table, so we were very busy right up to concert time at 8:30. We were so busy, I almost missed my chance to meet Mike Love, but I made it just in time! Got some amazing pictures as well! We had a crowd of over 2,000 people and did GREAT at the merchandise table.
HB:
Hat boxes. Sunday was a hard day because we spent our day off cleaning up from the concert. The property got vandalized after the stage crew left, so we had a great gift of destruction waiting when we arrived. Cindy also began the difficult and painful process of looking for someone to replace Kent. Planning and running the concert was difficult enough, but dealing with the death of a great employee and close friend only adds to the difficulty. She needs a vacation. Monday was not much easier, even though it felt good to be back at DD after being away for 3 days. I was very thankful when Lori let me hide in the basement all day make plastic hat boxes. We have TONS of hats in the DD basement, most of which are not properly stored. We had 2 volunteers last year that spent all winter making acid-free plastic boxes to keep them in. Unfortunately, making the boxes is much harder for 70 and 80 year old ladies, and personally, I didn’t feel comfortable giving them a dimly-lit room, a huge ruler, and a utility knife. So, I gladly achieved 5 hours of alone time and made 15 hat boxes. That was my Monday, and I was thankful for a chance to be alone in the basement to clear my head from the weekend, and brace myself for my last week at DD.
NT:
National Treasure….yup, there’s a map that’s right at 200 years old in the DD basement. No, it’s not on the back of a document, but yes, I do think it’s pretty amazing and I definitely felt like Ben Gates and the Declaration of Independence as I carefully removed it from its frame and began examining it on Tuesday.
We had a living history event Tuesday night. A few actors arrived around 11. After a tour of the museum, I took them out to lunch and then we all went to Einstein’s, the local costume shop. Quite a menagerie of costumes! I could spend HOURS in there! I was lucky enough to be able to dress up and play a historic character with them, which was very exciting. Lori let me portray one of the women whose wedding dress was in my wedding dress exhibit, which was very cool! We didn’t have a lot of visitors, but we sure had a good time, and I personally enjoyed getting to split my Tuesday between time in the basement with a 1722 map of the U.S. and upstairs with a 1904 wedding dress.
PC:
Pouring concrete! We still have lots of wedding dresses we need to get on frames before we can open up the entire exhibit, so since it was Wednesday (our office day) Lori and I ran some errands then set to work making dress forms out of Styrofoam. Back to what I was doing on my first day….that was kinda interesting. We decided to mount them we’re going to try sticking them on wooden poles we have cemented in ice cream buckets. Pretty neat strategy, and most people don’t realize how creative and hand-crafty you need to be to do this job. We cut the wooden poles with a hand saw, then mixed the concrete in a gallon bucket before pouring it into the ice cream buckets. Again, I’m constantly amazed at the huge variety of skills you can use while being a museum director.
I know this has been a long post, but hey, it’s what I get for having a semi-lame laptop and being so busy. It hasn’t stopped raining since the Beach Boy’s concert. We had perfect weather that night, but every day since then has been downright depressing. Hoping for some sunshine later this week. Still,, I’m very happy with how the concert went and what I’ve been able to do at DD…always something new, right up to the bitter end, let me tell you. Enjoy the pictures!
Me with Beach Boys founder and lead singer MIKE LOVE!!! :)
John Stamos posed for a picture backstage....still gorgeous Uncle Jesse to me! :)
Cutting out hat boxes in the basement...
My first living history character! :)
RIP:
On Friday I went to Sioux Falls with Clay and Cindy because Clay had a check up at the Veteran's Affairs Hospital. Of course, we got in some shopping and a sushi run, but the day was most memorable for the sad news Cindy received when we got home. One of her full-time co-workers had passed away that afternoon of a heart attack. Of course that put a huge wrench into the weekend, since he had been very key in planning the Beach Boys concert. I was glad I could be there for her, she didn’t hardly sleep that night and neither did I. I had only met Kent on Wednesday, but that’s all the time I needed to know he was a really great guy. That was definitely a part of this mentorship I hadn’t planned on dealing with.
BB:
BEACH BOYS!!! Cindy and I arrived at the Indian Village at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday to begin set-up. Without Kent, our workload was much greater, and the girls who usually run the front desk had just found out about his passing that morning. So…being the girl that didn’t know him so well, I covered the front desk and managed the costumers and gift shop while they got through the morning preparing for the concert away from the public eye. It was a difficult morning for everyone, but the evening was SOOO worth it!
The gates opened at 6:00 and the VIP reception began at 6:30. Me and two local high school girls ran the merchandise table, so we were very busy right up to concert time at 8:30. We were so busy, I almost missed my chance to meet Mike Love, but I made it just in time! Got some amazing pictures as well! We had a crowd of over 2,000 people and did GREAT at the merchandise table.
HB:
Hat boxes. Sunday was a hard day because we spent our day off cleaning up from the concert. The property got vandalized after the stage crew left, so we had a great gift of destruction waiting when we arrived. Cindy also began the difficult and painful process of looking for someone to replace Kent. Planning and running the concert was difficult enough, but dealing with the death of a great employee and close friend only adds to the difficulty. She needs a vacation. Monday was not much easier, even though it felt good to be back at DD after being away for 3 days. I was very thankful when Lori let me hide in the basement all day make plastic hat boxes. We have TONS of hats in the DD basement, most of which are not properly stored. We had 2 volunteers last year that spent all winter making acid-free plastic boxes to keep them in. Unfortunately, making the boxes is much harder for 70 and 80 year old ladies, and personally, I didn’t feel comfortable giving them a dimly-lit room, a huge ruler, and a utility knife. So, I gladly achieved 5 hours of alone time and made 15 hat boxes. That was my Monday, and I was thankful for a chance to be alone in the basement to clear my head from the weekend, and brace myself for my last week at DD.
NT:
National Treasure….yup, there’s a map that’s right at 200 years old in the DD basement. No, it’s not on the back of a document, but yes, I do think it’s pretty amazing and I definitely felt like Ben Gates and the Declaration of Independence as I carefully removed it from its frame and began examining it on Tuesday.
We had a living history event Tuesday night. A few actors arrived around 11. After a tour of the museum, I took them out to lunch and then we all went to Einstein’s, the local costume shop. Quite a menagerie of costumes! I could spend HOURS in there! I was lucky enough to be able to dress up and play a historic character with them, which was very exciting. Lori let me portray one of the women whose wedding dress was in my wedding dress exhibit, which was very cool! We didn’t have a lot of visitors, but we sure had a good time, and I personally enjoyed getting to split my Tuesday between time in the basement with a 1722 map of the U.S. and upstairs with a 1904 wedding dress.
PC:
Pouring concrete! We still have lots of wedding dresses we need to get on frames before we can open up the entire exhibit, so since it was Wednesday (our office day) Lori and I ran some errands then set to work making dress forms out of Styrofoam. Back to what I was doing on my first day….that was kinda interesting. We decided to mount them we’re going to try sticking them on wooden poles we have cemented in ice cream buckets. Pretty neat strategy, and most people don’t realize how creative and hand-crafty you need to be to do this job. We cut the wooden poles with a hand saw, then mixed the concrete in a gallon bucket before pouring it into the ice cream buckets. Again, I’m constantly amazed at the huge variety of skills you can use while being a museum director.
I know this has been a long post, but hey, it’s what I get for having a semi-lame laptop and being so busy. It hasn’t stopped raining since the Beach Boy’s concert. We had perfect weather that night, but every day since then has been downright depressing. Hoping for some sunshine later this week. Still,, I’m very happy with how the concert went and what I’ve been able to do at DD…always something new, right up to the bitter end, let me tell you. Enjoy the pictures!
Me with Beach Boys founder and lead singer MIKE LOVE!!! :)
John Stamos posed for a picture backstage....still gorgeous Uncle Jesse to me! :)
Cutting out hat boxes in the basement...
My first living history character! :)
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Ending the Week On a Great Note...and Early
Yesterday was pretty long and had some strange quirks, so I decided to cool off and wait til I had more exciting and interesting things to share. I spent most of the day up to my nose in grant reports and grant updates. After a few hours, I got so confused and finally asked Lori to explain each individual project to me. There are projects for the village, projects for improving collections security, projects for improving collections storage and accessibility, projects for improving the general museum maintenance. YIKES! Some involve grants, some are simply internal documents. Telling the difference is hard though, because all include information from reports from local architects (Jeff Oertel and Rebecca Ellis) and are kept in huge thick binders. I totally appreciate what Lori does even more now because there is so much to her job. I’m gonna have a list a mile long about all the different software programs, grant application databases, and local/state/federal organizations I got to work with during my stay, and that’s only the business side! The rest is implementing all the goals in each of these reports. WOW!
Around noon, three guys came into DD speaking Italian. When I asked where they were from they answered, “We are from the city of Romeo and Juliet!” When I shrieked, “Verona?!” they were really impressed I knew where that was. Yay Shakespeare!
In other news, there’s a church theater group coming from Minneapolis next week to do some living history stuff. I suggested a girl could be one of the ladies whose wedding dress we have on display, because one of them has like 3 pages of info about the girl. I off-handedly said, “I would do that one.” and Lori was like, “Great, it’s yours.”
AHHH!!
So next week, I get to play dress up and do some living history for one of the girls in my own exhibit! This is gonna be so awesome!
Today I realized how much I LOVE MY JOB! :)
Worked with Jane and Pat in the basement again. We rehoused one picture then took down all the framed pieces hanging in the Changing Gallery by the balcony. A new artist came in yesterday and gave us a bunch of new pieces for us to put up there. Once we got the stuff taken down and put back into archives where it belonged, I ate lunch and started entering all the Hobo’s into Lori’s computer. Somewhere around 2:00 I took a break to take my recently-finished promotion kiosk and flyers to the Corn Palace, where two very nice guys from the front desk help me haul it from Jan’s truck into the front lobby. Once I got back from the Palace I finished the Hobo readings (got to get into the glass cases again…SCORE!). Then I set to redesigning the flyers I had just hung up in the Corn Palace. Lori and I discovered some design changes we needed to make that we hadn’t considered before, so I spent a couple hours changing them. Laurie Yeo’s going to take them back to the Palace and change them out tomorrow. My oops, but technically, this is her project and I’m following orders, so it’s not a huge deal for me to redesign them.
Gave at least 3 tours through the Beckwith House today and I LOVED it! I’m beginning to realize how much I love explaining that history to people. It’s the same thing when I give tours of the academic side of campus at EC…hmmm. I’m sensing a pattern here. I love what I’m doing here, and I’m kinda bummed I won’t be back to DD until Monday.
Clay has a doctor’s appointment in Sioux Falls tomorrow so I got the day off to go with Cindy and Clay. Cindy is going to show me around the Falls, take me shopping, and we’re going to get sushi. She was thrilled when she discovered I liked sushi because then Clay becomes the minority against those of us who have a strange fascination with raw fish. I tell you what, sushi is becoming that one thing that I try everywhere. Wherever I go in the U.S. or abroad, there is always SOMEplace selling sushi. Gotta love it!
So that’s tomorrow. Then Saturday is the Beach Boy’s concert at the Indian Village and Cindy has recruited me to work at the VIP reception, which includes a personal meeting and picture with John Stamos! *shriek and happy dance!* I’m headed out to the Indian Village now to buy my T-shirt. Should be an exciting weekend! Can’t wait to share pictures!!! Let’s just hope the weather holds and we don’t get rained out….
Around noon, three guys came into DD speaking Italian. When I asked where they were from they answered, “We are from the city of Romeo and Juliet!” When I shrieked, “Verona?!” they were really impressed I knew where that was. Yay Shakespeare!
In other news, there’s a church theater group coming from Minneapolis next week to do some living history stuff. I suggested a girl could be one of the ladies whose wedding dress we have on display, because one of them has like 3 pages of info about the girl. I off-handedly said, “I would do that one.” and Lori was like, “Great, it’s yours.”
AHHH!!
So next week, I get to play dress up and do some living history for one of the girls in my own exhibit! This is gonna be so awesome!
Today I realized how much I LOVE MY JOB! :)
Worked with Jane and Pat in the basement again. We rehoused one picture then took down all the framed pieces hanging in the Changing Gallery by the balcony. A new artist came in yesterday and gave us a bunch of new pieces for us to put up there. Once we got the stuff taken down and put back into archives where it belonged, I ate lunch and started entering all the Hobo’s into Lori’s computer. Somewhere around 2:00 I took a break to take my recently-finished promotion kiosk and flyers to the Corn Palace, where two very nice guys from the front desk help me haul it from Jan’s truck into the front lobby. Once I got back from the Palace I finished the Hobo readings (got to get into the glass cases again…SCORE!). Then I set to redesigning the flyers I had just hung up in the Corn Palace. Lori and I discovered some design changes we needed to make that we hadn’t considered before, so I spent a couple hours changing them. Laurie Yeo’s going to take them back to the Palace and change them out tomorrow. My oops, but technically, this is her project and I’m following orders, so it’s not a huge deal for me to redesign them.
Gave at least 3 tours through the Beckwith House today and I LOVED it! I’m beginning to realize how much I love explaining that history to people. It’s the same thing when I give tours of the academic side of campus at EC…hmmm. I’m sensing a pattern here. I love what I’m doing here, and I’m kinda bummed I won’t be back to DD until Monday.
Clay has a doctor’s appointment in Sioux Falls tomorrow so I got the day off to go with Cindy and Clay. Cindy is going to show me around the Falls, take me shopping, and we’re going to get sushi. She was thrilled when she discovered I liked sushi because then Clay becomes the minority against those of us who have a strange fascination with raw fish. I tell you what, sushi is becoming that one thing that I try everywhere. Wherever I go in the U.S. or abroad, there is always SOMEplace selling sushi. Gotta love it!
So that’s tomorrow. Then Saturday is the Beach Boy’s concert at the Indian Village and Cindy has recruited me to work at the VIP reception, which includes a personal meeting and picture with John Stamos! *shriek and happy dance!* I’m headed out to the Indian Village now to buy my T-shirt. Should be an exciting weekend! Can’t wait to share pictures!!! Let’s just hope the weather holds and we don’t get rained out….
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
*Insert Wacky Cool Title Here*
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CLAY AND CINDY!
My amazing host family is celebrating 11 years of marriage at a loverly pub in Huron tonight, so it’s just me, myself, and I for the evening. Probably gonna get some shopping done.
By comparison to yesterday, a very well-rounded day for a Tuesday. I arrived early and helped Jane and Pat rehouse a couple of art pieces. The art we see never fails to impress me. Last week we had a photograph that turned out to be charcoal and today we worked on this amazing piece that turned out to be a piece of burnt linen. Oh yes, there’s a story here. :)
Back in 1913, the Alexander Mitchell hotel burned to the ground. No one was injured, but one of the fireman on a ladder entered one of the burning rooms and spotted a dresser with some expensive-looking valuables on it. Rather than grab the valuables themselves, he simply picked up the entire dresser cover (an embroidered sheet of cream-colored linen) and tossed the whole bundle out the window. After a couple of days, the linen started to change colors. It had been exposed to the heat just long enough to slightly burn the areas not covered by the valuables, but not enough to actually blacken and dry out the material. What was left was a perfectly useful linen now recolored chocolate brown by the fire, but the valuables sitting on the linen left their shape in the original cream color because they protected that part of the linen from the heat. So now, almost 100 years later, I pull a frame out of a box and see brown colored cloth with very obvious cream-colored shapes that a quiet obviously a scissors, two brushes, some matches, a crumpled tie, and a mirror stand. It was SO cool! It looked like one of those X-rays of a person who swallowed a quarter or a toothpick…everything is black, but the white shape of the toothpick is very visible.
After that adventure, I went to the Corn Palace with Laurie Yeo (one of our volunteers) to check out promotion possibilities. I ended up getting handed the project, so now I’m designing some flyers and a kiosk to build in the Palace lobby. Not what I expected to start the with, but I’m all for building something to get Palace visitors attention and out to DD!
From there, I headed back to DD where Lori and I met with Brad Ciavarella, an architect here in Mitchell, and his intern Rob. It was kinda neat to have two professionals and their student interns crowded around a small table for a business meeting. A few weeks ago, DD received some big grant money to do a restoration and construction project on the Beckwith House, primarily the 4 rooms upstairs that are not available or open for showing. She let me read through the grant application she sent in, and wow was it impressive! I think 80% of the difficulty behind getting a grant is collecting all the information they require and submitting it in exactly the write format, number of envelopes, and size font they want! I had no idea there was so much work behind applying for grants!
Anyway, Brad, Rob, Lori and I spent 2 hours walking around the Beckwith House, checking out all the windows, corners, ceilings, closets, and every other possible nook and cranny we could find to get an idea of how much it would cost and how much time it would take to make the upstairs rooms suitable for public viewing as well as fix up the rooms that are currently open for a higher quality museum atmosphere. Wow! This might have been the coolest part of my mentorship so far. To walk around a historic building with a historic architect and a museum director is quite the experience! I got to hear all about really making history come to life and what kind of changes we can and should or shouldn’t make to the house. An exciting twist is that the house has been changed/modified by different organizations who have owned it over the years. After Louis Beckwith died, his daughter Grace turned it into a duplex, so there is a huge wall dividing the house in half that will have to come out if we want to return it to its original glory. Also, it was used by the DWU campus for student housing for a few years, so Mrs. Beckwith’s dressing room is now a fully furnished bathroom, which will also have to come out. We discussed all kinds of exciting changes from removing walls to replacing carpet and wallpaper. It was a lot of fun and very educational!
After Brad left, I worked on the flyers for the Corn Palace promotion kiosk, and entered a few things into PastPerfect before calling it a day. Before I left, Lori gave me a big binder of Grant application information. Since we’re closed tomorrow, we’re going to be writing up an application for another grant. This one’s about twice as thick as the binder I looked through earlier, though, so I think I know what I’m doing with my night. Lori mentioned this is one of her favorite parts of her job. She likes to write, which I can totally relate with. Plus, it’s a more rewarding aspect of her job. Between all the planning she does for events, the book keeping, the exhibit design and construction, the gift shop sales, and inventory, and the research, this is one thing that she can spend a ton of time on and have someone tell her “Good job, here’s a boat-load of money for your work.” Granted, the money is used for museum stuff, but it’s a direct result of all her hard work. I think I’m gonna like digging into this facet of the museum business.
I’m gonna trying to post some pictures of the Summer Festival, my trip to Palisades with my parents, and some of the work I’ve been doing at DD. It’s a lot, but enjoy! :)
Lunch with my mentor Lori (next to me) and my host Cindy.
My two dear friends, Ada and Ida.
Corn Palace...sorry, it's over-rated. Hahahaha.
Palisades State Park with Mom and Dad.
The Dam at Jesse James Falls.
The burnt dresser linen I worked on today.
My amazing host family is celebrating 11 years of marriage at a loverly pub in Huron tonight, so it’s just me, myself, and I for the evening. Probably gonna get some shopping done.
By comparison to yesterday, a very well-rounded day for a Tuesday. I arrived early and helped Jane and Pat rehouse a couple of art pieces. The art we see never fails to impress me. Last week we had a photograph that turned out to be charcoal and today we worked on this amazing piece that turned out to be a piece of burnt linen. Oh yes, there’s a story here. :)
Back in 1913, the Alexander Mitchell hotel burned to the ground. No one was injured, but one of the fireman on a ladder entered one of the burning rooms and spotted a dresser with some expensive-looking valuables on it. Rather than grab the valuables themselves, he simply picked up the entire dresser cover (an embroidered sheet of cream-colored linen) and tossed the whole bundle out the window. After a couple of days, the linen started to change colors. It had been exposed to the heat just long enough to slightly burn the areas not covered by the valuables, but not enough to actually blacken and dry out the material. What was left was a perfectly useful linen now recolored chocolate brown by the fire, but the valuables sitting on the linen left their shape in the original cream color because they protected that part of the linen from the heat. So now, almost 100 years later, I pull a frame out of a box and see brown colored cloth with very obvious cream-colored shapes that a quiet obviously a scissors, two brushes, some matches, a crumpled tie, and a mirror stand. It was SO cool! It looked like one of those X-rays of a person who swallowed a quarter or a toothpick…everything is black, but the white shape of the toothpick is very visible.
After that adventure, I went to the Corn Palace with Laurie Yeo (one of our volunteers) to check out promotion possibilities. I ended up getting handed the project, so now I’m designing some flyers and a kiosk to build in the Palace lobby. Not what I expected to start the with, but I’m all for building something to get Palace visitors attention and out to DD!
From there, I headed back to DD where Lori and I met with Brad Ciavarella, an architect here in Mitchell, and his intern Rob. It was kinda neat to have two professionals and their student interns crowded around a small table for a business meeting. A few weeks ago, DD received some big grant money to do a restoration and construction project on the Beckwith House, primarily the 4 rooms upstairs that are not available or open for showing. She let me read through the grant application she sent in, and wow was it impressive! I think 80% of the difficulty behind getting a grant is collecting all the information they require and submitting it in exactly the write format, number of envelopes, and size font they want! I had no idea there was so much work behind applying for grants!
Anyway, Brad, Rob, Lori and I spent 2 hours walking around the Beckwith House, checking out all the windows, corners, ceilings, closets, and every other possible nook and cranny we could find to get an idea of how much it would cost and how much time it would take to make the upstairs rooms suitable for public viewing as well as fix up the rooms that are currently open for a higher quality museum atmosphere. Wow! This might have been the coolest part of my mentorship so far. To walk around a historic building with a historic architect and a museum director is quite the experience! I got to hear all about really making history come to life and what kind of changes we can and should or shouldn’t make to the house. An exciting twist is that the house has been changed/modified by different organizations who have owned it over the years. After Louis Beckwith died, his daughter Grace turned it into a duplex, so there is a huge wall dividing the house in half that will have to come out if we want to return it to its original glory. Also, it was used by the DWU campus for student housing for a few years, so Mrs. Beckwith’s dressing room is now a fully furnished bathroom, which will also have to come out. We discussed all kinds of exciting changes from removing walls to replacing carpet and wallpaper. It was a lot of fun and very educational!
After Brad left, I worked on the flyers for the Corn Palace promotion kiosk, and entered a few things into PastPerfect before calling it a day. Before I left, Lori gave me a big binder of Grant application information. Since we’re closed tomorrow, we’re going to be writing up an application for another grant. This one’s about twice as thick as the binder I looked through earlier, though, so I think I know what I’m doing with my night. Lori mentioned this is one of her favorite parts of her job. She likes to write, which I can totally relate with. Plus, it’s a more rewarding aspect of her job. Between all the planning she does for events, the book keeping, the exhibit design and construction, the gift shop sales, and inventory, and the research, this is one thing that she can spend a ton of time on and have someone tell her “Good job, here’s a boat-load of money for your work.” Granted, the money is used for museum stuff, but it’s a direct result of all her hard work. I think I’m gonna like digging into this facet of the museum business.
I’m gonna trying to post some pictures of the Summer Festival, my trip to Palisades with my parents, and some of the work I’ve been doing at DD. It’s a lot, but enjoy! :)
Lunch with my mentor Lori (next to me) and my host Cindy.
My two dear friends, Ada and Ida.
Corn Palace...sorry, it's over-rated. Hahahaha.
Palisades State Park with Mom and Dad.
The Dam at Jesse James Falls.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)