It really is.
I know this because one of the items I measured this past Tuesday was a scale set on top of a hundred pound bottom. It was nice enough to have that information stamped onto it. I also discovered that I can indeed lift 25 pounds quite easily, and I should be able to manage fifty without too much trouble. A hundred though... would not budge a centimeter.
In case you can't figure it out, I spent a lot of this past Tuesday measuring weights and scales. Mostly Cotton Gin Scales. Which, I found out from the director and measuring them, come in all sorts of lengths. More research will be done on those at a later point. I have four things to talk about today. Quotas, Owl's Hollow, Jim, and designing exhibits.
So, if you all read my Manageable Monday post, you may have seen that I wrote the number of items I currently have in the system against god knows how many items I don't. Because I feel like I'm moving so slowly through these items I've assigned myself a quota. I want to have at least a 100 items measured a week. I figure out of those 100 items I can probably get about 20 of them into the system. If I don't do the research on them, I can possibly get 40 items into the system in a week.As I move through the system, and hopefully get a friend or two to help, I'll ideally be able to move faster. It depends on what I'm measuring that day.
Onto Owl's Hollow. Never heard of it? Don't be surprised. We came upon the Owl's Hollow name in a box full of Round Mountain Furnace slag
and whatnot, which existed - the ruins still do - in Cherokee county. There was a rather large piece of Iron Ore purchased, according to the slip, from Owl's Hollow Mine. I asked the director about it but he'd never heard of Owl's Hollow, neither had anyone else working in the museum that day.
Now I know, from past experience with researching a graveyard on a county line, that county lines love to change! Or thoroughly confuse you. Owl's Hollow was a mine, no longer used, that used to be in Cherokee county but is now in neighboring Etowah county. Probably, because I haven't done much research on it, the furnace would purchase the iron ore from Owl's Hollow mine and melt it down. My best guess is that nearby mines, like Owl's Hollow, were probably the draw for setting up numerous small furnaces in the area. Pretty cool right? Of course, also in the box, there was a fire brick which said it came from St. Louis, MO. So we still have another mystery to uncover, but at least we know what Owl's Hollow is.
Now the amazing thing is how we found out about Owl's Hollow. Jim, local historian and genius, was there the day I discovered the box. The director asked him about Owl's Hollow and when I got there on Tuesday Jim had a picture of the street that the mine used to be down and an article from 1971 mentioning a TAG railway excursion where you could visit all the stops along the line. Owl's Hollow was only mentioned once and with a list of names of various other places along the line. Now Jim is a genius because this man heard the director say Owl's Hollow and he thought a little and he said to himself; you know, I think I remember reading about Owl's Hollow in the paper in 71. Sure enough there was the article. Talk about a great memory! I definitely plan to borrow his brain later. I know what I wanna ask him about Friday if he stops in. There's this great Ice pick belonging to the James Ice Co. which I can only figure was local, since I poured through the Ice and Refrigeration volumes searching from Tennessee to Mississippi without a smidgeon of luck.
Last but not least. I've been offered a serious opportunity to design an exhibit for the museum. Friday, after I fill my quota, I'm going to read a little of the history of Cherokee county and see if I can't come up with anything for an exhibit. So far the only thoughts I have are to finish the jail cell exhibit downstairs, or to utilize one of the horrible cabinets to do an exhibit on farming. It'd be good to know how important farming was to the area. There's plenty of ranch equipment if I wanted to do something on ranching. Or maybe I can find some more stuff on those mines and can do something on those.
Till next time!
52/Thousands
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
A Little Bit Different History
Hello everyone!
I recently read an article about neighboring Georgia which said that they had possibly discovered Mayan ruins in a Native American mound. The article, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/22/1100-year-old-mayan-ruins-found-in-north-georgia/ , stated that archeologists had found Mayan ruins that were 1100 years old. The only evidence the article offered up was gathered from soil samples and pottery shards. No details were given as to how the pottery shards were of Mayan origin or design and so on.
I waited, because people will claim anything, until I read the original article that this article got its information from. The article, http://www.examiner.com/architecture-design-in-national/massive-1-100-year-old-maya-site-discovered-georgia-s-mountains, did list further evidence. First that the Cherokee have Mayan words in their language (which could be pure coincidence), that pottery shards were found (again no explanation of the shards), and that there was a rock wall suggesting a permanent structure. The importance of that last piece of evidence is because the Cherokee did not typically have permanent shelters.
The evidence offered up by this article is clearly circumstantial. For one, the Indian mounds within Georgia and the surrounding area have already been identified as belonging to a Mississippian culture like those that constructed Moundville. Secondly, if there really had been a Mayan city in North America, there would be more evidence of it in the archeological data. Archeologists wouldn't have found possible pottery shards from the Mayans in only one area. There would have to be shards from the sites of other tribes or cultures, because trade would have been necessary for survival. This is the only site with possible "pottery shards" which in all reality are probably Mississippian culture.
Now I know that a lot of people, online, are saying this is a hoax. I don't think its a hoax. I think its a vague description of archeological evidence in order to get grant money. Imagine if it was a Mayan city, people would be dying to know what happened to the Mayans, grant money would pour in.
However, I ask you to draw your own conclusions. A good point is made in this counter article, http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2011/12/23/ancient-mayan-ruins-have-not-been-found-in-georgia-duh/, by the fact that the author of the original article, Richard Thornton, is claiming that his ancestors, the Cherokees, are descended from the Mayans and so is he. Considering that 2012 is supposed to be the end world because of the Mayan calendar, it would be a good time to advertise that Mayan ruins were found in North America. (Which my response to that is this picture by Dan Piraro.)
But I digress. My real point here is the grant issue. I've been hearing a lot about grants since I started volunteering for this museum. I'm not exactly sure what to think of them completely. The only thing I do think is that we should be giving more money to our Archeologists, our museums, our historians. That way they won't have to loosely translate evidence so that it borders hoax creation. That way they won't have to look for grants just so they can have air conditioning in order to protect valuable documents. Of course realizing that the economy is the way it is, that's impossible right now. But perhaps in the future we can try to provide for the halls and diggers of history. If we had learned from the past, if we had learned from the Great Depression and the progressive movement of the 1890s to the early 1900s we would probably be in a better financial situation than we are in now. But that's getting too political.
Till next time.
I recently read an article about neighboring Georgia which said that they had possibly discovered Mayan ruins in a Native American mound. The article, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/22/1100-year-old-mayan-ruins-found-in-north-georgia/ , stated that archeologists had found Mayan ruins that were 1100 years old. The only evidence the article offered up was gathered from soil samples and pottery shards. No details were given as to how the pottery shards were of Mayan origin or design and so on.
I waited, because people will claim anything, until I read the original article that this article got its information from. The article, http://www.examiner.com/architecture-design-in-national/massive-1-100-year-old-maya-site-discovered-georgia-s-mountains, did list further evidence. First that the Cherokee have Mayan words in their language (which could be pure coincidence), that pottery shards were found (again no explanation of the shards), and that there was a rock wall suggesting a permanent structure. The importance of that last piece of evidence is because the Cherokee did not typically have permanent shelters.
The evidence offered up by this article is clearly circumstantial. For one, the Indian mounds within Georgia and the surrounding area have already been identified as belonging to a Mississippian culture like those that constructed Moundville. Secondly, if there really had been a Mayan city in North America, there would be more evidence of it in the archeological data. Archeologists wouldn't have found possible pottery shards from the Mayans in only one area. There would have to be shards from the sites of other tribes or cultures, because trade would have been necessary for survival. This is the only site with possible "pottery shards" which in all reality are probably Mississippian culture.
Now I know that a lot of people, online, are saying this is a hoax. I don't think its a hoax. I think its a vague description of archeological evidence in order to get grant money. Imagine if it was a Mayan city, people would be dying to know what happened to the Mayans, grant money would pour in.
However, I ask you to draw your own conclusions. A good point is made in this counter article, http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2011/12/23/ancient-mayan-ruins-have-not-been-found-in-georgia-duh/, by the fact that the author of the original article, Richard Thornton, is claiming that his ancestors, the Cherokees, are descended from the Mayans and so is he. Considering that 2012 is supposed to be the end world because of the Mayan calendar, it would be a good time to advertise that Mayan ruins were found in North America. (Which my response to that is this picture by Dan Piraro.)
Till next time.
Manageble Monday
Hello nobodies!
Since nobody is reading this blog, yet. :D I actually have 22 pageviews, mostly from Russia. Funny enough, since I changed my blog name from Unemployment, I haven't had a single pageview. Oh well.
So. How was your Christmas? Mine was fantastic. I got just what I wanted, which was spending a wonderful day with my family playing games and dancing like an idiot. Overall it was an almost perfect Christmas.
Anyway, in case you haven't noticed. Today is a Manageable Monday. Since this blog is mostly about the museum I volunteer at and history in general, I've decided that one or two Mondays out of a month will be dedicated to other stuff. I'll probably still sneak history into these posts but you never know.
Today's post is about Christmas. Especially about Christmas in other places than America. Since I don't know much, it may be a little short. Now, for those of you that don't know, I am an ARMY brat and I have lived six years (non-consecutively) in Germany. That's why I'm going to start with a few German traditions that I know about.
The first tradition is a very personal one for me, eating Lebkuchen. If you don't know what Lebkuchen is then you are missing out! Lebkuchen is a cookie, very much like gingerbread. Lebkuchen is not a hard cookie, like gingerbread can be, but is, instead, a delicious soft cookie. If you have ever eaten a domino, another yummy German treat, then those have Lebkuchen in them.
The second tradition is on the eve of the 6th of December. That's when all the children put out a shoe in hopes that St. Nickolaus will put small gifts in them. The third tradition is also involving children and that is the Adventskalendar. I know they do this in the states too. Its a little calendar that counts down the days till Christmas. each day the child or children will open the little door for that date and behind that door is chocolate. At least, there was always chocolate in ours.
I'm now going to move out of Germany, however the next tradition/myth, is still in Northern Europe. That is the Krampus. I'd never heard of the Krampus before until a friend warned me to watch out for him. The Krampus, really more of a myth, is a demon/monster that accompanies St. Nickolaus and takes away the naughty children's gifts, or the naughty children themselves. The Krampus is used to warn children into behaving, much like the idea of Santa leaving coal in our stockings. Only worse.
The last tradition I'm going to talk about is actually from the United Kingdom. This information comes from my brother, who has an online friend that lives in England. Apparently for Christmas dinner they eat Turkey in the UK. Of course this meant that my brother and his friend had an interesting conversation about eating Turkey for Christmas. Though, we in America, typically eat Turkey at Thanksgiving, it's more common to eat Ham for our Christmas dinner. Isn't that funny? Another funny thought I had was the fact that Turkey is not native to the UK at all, but it is native to North America. I would ask if pigs were only native to Europe but I know that they're not since Javelinas (or Peccaries) are native to the North, Central, and South American continents.
One last thing about Christmas before I go. The man I work with at the museum was so kind as to give me a 25 dollar gift card to Walmart this year for Christmas, especially since I'm doing all this work for free. Today I went to Walmart and I spent the whole 25 dollars. I bought a binder, dividers, and cloth diapers - which will need to be washed to remove chemicals - all so I can use them for the museum. With the 5 dollars left over I bought myself a book. Its the best 25 dollars I have ever spent.
48 items in the system. Thousands of more to go.
Since nobody is reading this blog, yet. :D I actually have 22 pageviews, mostly from Russia. Funny enough, since I changed my blog name from Unemployment, I haven't had a single pageview. Oh well.
So. How was your Christmas? Mine was fantastic. I got just what I wanted, which was spending a wonderful day with my family playing games and dancing like an idiot. Overall it was an almost perfect Christmas.
Anyway, in case you haven't noticed. Today is a Manageable Monday. Since this blog is mostly about the museum I volunteer at and history in general, I've decided that one or two Mondays out of a month will be dedicated to other stuff. I'll probably still sneak history into these posts but you never know.
Today's post is about Christmas. Especially about Christmas in other places than America. Since I don't know much, it may be a little short. Now, for those of you that don't know, I am an ARMY brat and I have lived six years (non-consecutively) in Germany. That's why I'm going to start with a few German traditions that I know about.
The first tradition is a very personal one for me, eating Lebkuchen. If you don't know what Lebkuchen is then you are missing out! Lebkuchen is a cookie, very much like gingerbread. Lebkuchen is not a hard cookie, like gingerbread can be, but is, instead, a delicious soft cookie. If you have ever eaten a domino, another yummy German treat, then those have Lebkuchen in them.
The second tradition is on the eve of the 6th of December. That's when all the children put out a shoe in hopes that St. Nickolaus will put small gifts in them. The third tradition is also involving children and that is the Adventskalendar. I know they do this in the states too. Its a little calendar that counts down the days till Christmas. each day the child or children will open the little door for that date and behind that door is chocolate. At least, there was always chocolate in ours.
I'm now going to move out of Germany, however the next tradition/myth, is still in Northern Europe. That is the Krampus. I'd never heard of the Krampus before until a friend warned me to watch out for him. The Krampus, really more of a myth, is a demon/monster that accompanies St. Nickolaus and takes away the naughty children's gifts, or the naughty children themselves. The Krampus is used to warn children into behaving, much like the idea of Santa leaving coal in our stockings. Only worse.
The last tradition I'm going to talk about is actually from the United Kingdom. This information comes from my brother, who has an online friend that lives in England. Apparently for Christmas dinner they eat Turkey in the UK. Of course this meant that my brother and his friend had an interesting conversation about eating Turkey for Christmas. Though, we in America, typically eat Turkey at Thanksgiving, it's more common to eat Ham for our Christmas dinner. Isn't that funny? Another funny thought I had was the fact that Turkey is not native to the UK at all, but it is native to North America. I would ask if pigs were only native to Europe but I know that they're not since Javelinas (or Peccaries) are native to the North, Central, and South American continents.
One last thing about Christmas before I go. The man I work with at the museum was so kind as to give me a 25 dollar gift card to Walmart this year for Christmas, especially since I'm doing all this work for free. Today I went to Walmart and I spent the whole 25 dollars. I bought a binder, dividers, and cloth diapers - which will need to be washed to remove chemicals - all so I can use them for the museum. With the 5 dollars left over I bought myself a book. Its the best 25 dollars I have ever spent.
48 items in the system. Thousands of more to go.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The Problems with Inventorying.
Hello everybody!
So I actually only managed to look up one of the things on my list, but I did look up a few different things that I'll be writing about today. First though: The item I looked up was the Addressograph. Which, funny enough, does exactly what it's name implies. Who knew? The Addressograph, known by many other names such as the address machine, was used by advertising companies, and also the mail service, to put addresses on items! For example, if you had a large list of subscribers to your magazine you could just put the address on the machine and then stamp it onto labels. It made it easier for publishing companies to send their magazines to a large group of people. I'm not exactly sure what they would have used before the Addressograph. However, I do know that there were two types. A manual machine that was created in the far back in 1859, however the machine that the museum houses is probably from around 1892-1896. (I'll have to get a better look at it.) Later in the 1900s electric adressographs were created.
So right now I am doing the inventory for this museum and I'm putting everything into Past Perfect. I had a chance to go over the manual of this program and I discovered a few things. All of the items that had been entered into Past Perfect were entered off of index cards that the museum had used previously. There were no locations put down into the program! So that means I have to locate everything on my own. Well that opened up a bigger problem. Not only were there no locations put in, no one had drawn up/thought up a plan so that things could be assigned locations. So last Friday I spent the day walking around the museum and drawing a map, kinda, of where everything was located, assigning shelf numbers, and so on and so forth. I got the basement done and the 1st floor, but I messed up my count on the 2nd floor, because its a bit confusing and messy up there. So deciding to get started on the amazing number of artifacts that I had to inventory, I'm leaving the map for upstairs until I'm ready to tackle it.
Another thing I noticed, while reading the manual, was that nobody had measured any of the artifacts. And of course, there are no pictures of them either. So I have to take the pictures and measure the artifacts. So I went to the museum on Tuesday and I thought, okay, I'm gonna get right to work measuring these artifacts. Only problem, they're behind glass! So I asked the director of the museum how to get into a few of the cases. (I still have to ask him, about getting into the wall cases.) So we grabbed one of those suction cup holder things and a screwdriver and walked over to the case. These cases were donated by a local... gosh I can't remember the type of school it was but it's kinda like a trade school. They're not really museum friendly. The glass for the panes, is really thin. It's also really hard to get off. And if you're a small girl like me....
Well lets just say. I broke one of the panes of glass putting it back in the case. Luckily the director was trying to help me, and had just been telling me he wanted to put safety glass in the case. So that's one pane of glass they'll be replacing right away. These cases are so long and so tall and so difficult! I could only get about half of the artifacts measured on the second shelf. I didn't bother with the bottom shelf because some locally made flint points were down there and it would've taken all day to get done with those. I got about 5 artifacts measured on the top shelf but two of them were cloth and I just wasn't sure how I was going to measure them. The only way I could've gotten more artifacts measured from there was if I had climbed into the case myself. I'm not that sure it wouldn't have come crashing down, so I didn't do that.
Finally frustrated with these cases I turned to the walls and looked at the glass and I think I know how to get one off, but I'll have to ask the director before I damage something else. : d So instead I turned to underneath the wall shelves. Underneath these wall shelves are a bunch of artifacts that aren't really easy to see, because of how low it is. It might be worth it to make a small exhibit for little kids so that they can see some of the stuff. But other than that, the director and I are thinking that it would be best to put some doors of curtain there, in order to create a storage space. But before that I have to measure everything under those. I got about one done, before finally, all the dust had gotten to me. (I'm trying to dust off the artifacts as I go, and the shelves they're on, because its a pretty thick layer.)
After writing down the measurements for those artifacts, I spent 2 hours putting about half of them into the system. I did my best to track down any maker's marks of anything definitive so I could put some information and history down in the description and note fields. So here is some of what I found:
The best artifact I saw Tuesday was a Brush blade, also known as a Bank blade, with WPA inscribed on the handle. This dates the artifact to around the 1930s. It was most likely used by the Works Progress Administration to cut down brush, or to give out of work surveyors a job. (The bank blade is a surveying tool. Information found on this site: http://www.americantrails.org/resources/info/tools3.html)
The second coolest object I found was a hide stretcher. I can't find anything on the company that made it. But its a tool used by trappers to stretch the hide of animals they kill so that it can be made into something. I thought that was pretty awesome.
That's all for today. Tomorrow I head back to the museum.
(Information on the Addressograph found here: http://www.earlyofficemuseum.com/mail_machines.htm)
So I actually only managed to look up one of the things on my list, but I did look up a few different things that I'll be writing about today. First though: The item I looked up was the Addressograph. Which, funny enough, does exactly what it's name implies. Who knew? The Addressograph, known by many other names such as the address machine, was used by advertising companies, and also the mail service, to put addresses on items! For example, if you had a large list of subscribers to your magazine you could just put the address on the machine and then stamp it onto labels. It made it easier for publishing companies to send their magazines to a large group of people. I'm not exactly sure what they would have used before the Addressograph. However, I do know that there were two types. A manual machine that was created in the far back in 1859, however the machine that the museum houses is probably from around 1892-1896. (I'll have to get a better look at it.) Later in the 1900s electric adressographs were created.
So right now I am doing the inventory for this museum and I'm putting everything into Past Perfect. I had a chance to go over the manual of this program and I discovered a few things. All of the items that had been entered into Past Perfect were entered off of index cards that the museum had used previously. There were no locations put down into the program! So that means I have to locate everything on my own. Well that opened up a bigger problem. Not only were there no locations put in, no one had drawn up/thought up a plan so that things could be assigned locations. So last Friday I spent the day walking around the museum and drawing a map, kinda, of where everything was located, assigning shelf numbers, and so on and so forth. I got the basement done and the 1st floor, but I messed up my count on the 2nd floor, because its a bit confusing and messy up there. So deciding to get started on the amazing number of artifacts that I had to inventory, I'm leaving the map for upstairs until I'm ready to tackle it.
Another thing I noticed, while reading the manual, was that nobody had measured any of the artifacts. And of course, there are no pictures of them either. So I have to take the pictures and measure the artifacts. So I went to the museum on Tuesday and I thought, okay, I'm gonna get right to work measuring these artifacts. Only problem, they're behind glass! So I asked the director of the museum how to get into a few of the cases. (I still have to ask him, about getting into the wall cases.) So we grabbed one of those suction cup holder things and a screwdriver and walked over to the case. These cases were donated by a local... gosh I can't remember the type of school it was but it's kinda like a trade school. They're not really museum friendly. The glass for the panes, is really thin. It's also really hard to get off. And if you're a small girl like me....
Well lets just say. I broke one of the panes of glass putting it back in the case. Luckily the director was trying to help me, and had just been telling me he wanted to put safety glass in the case. So that's one pane of glass they'll be replacing right away. These cases are so long and so tall and so difficult! I could only get about half of the artifacts measured on the second shelf. I didn't bother with the bottom shelf because some locally made flint points were down there and it would've taken all day to get done with those. I got about 5 artifacts measured on the top shelf but two of them were cloth and I just wasn't sure how I was going to measure them. The only way I could've gotten more artifacts measured from there was if I had climbed into the case myself. I'm not that sure it wouldn't have come crashing down, so I didn't do that.
Finally frustrated with these cases I turned to the walls and looked at the glass and I think I know how to get one off, but I'll have to ask the director before I damage something else. : d So instead I turned to underneath the wall shelves. Underneath these wall shelves are a bunch of artifacts that aren't really easy to see, because of how low it is. It might be worth it to make a small exhibit for little kids so that they can see some of the stuff. But other than that, the director and I are thinking that it would be best to put some doors of curtain there, in order to create a storage space. But before that I have to measure everything under those. I got about one done, before finally, all the dust had gotten to me. (I'm trying to dust off the artifacts as I go, and the shelves they're on, because its a pretty thick layer.)
After writing down the measurements for those artifacts, I spent 2 hours putting about half of them into the system. I did my best to track down any maker's marks of anything definitive so I could put some information and history down in the description and note fields. So here is some of what I found:
The best artifact I saw Tuesday was a Brush blade, also known as a Bank blade, with WPA inscribed on the handle. This dates the artifact to around the 1930s. It was most likely used by the Works Progress Administration to cut down brush, or to give out of work surveyors a job. (The bank blade is a surveying tool. Information found on this site: http://www.americantrails.org/resources/info/tools3.html)
The second coolest object I found was a hide stretcher. I can't find anything on the company that made it. But its a tool used by trappers to stretch the hide of animals they kill so that it can be made into something. I thought that was pretty awesome.
That's all for today. Tomorrow I head back to the museum.
(Information on the Addressograph found here: http://www.earlyofficemuseum.com/mail_machines.htm)
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Volunteering
So Tuesday I went to the Cherokee County Historical Museum in Centre, AL and talked with someone about volunteering there. It turns out that the museum has only 1 employee, a few kinda employees that are from state programs (such as a senior citizen program which reintroduces retirees back into the working environment.), and now 1 volunteer - me.
That's right! I'm the only volunteer at this museum so far. Now the lovely man that I talked to told me all about the museum and his successful attempts to revitalize it. (Lets just say that 3 years ago the museum was only getting about 200 visitors a year and now this year they're expecting 4,000 visitors. Pretty awesome, right?) Now he's not really involved with history at all, he is only there temporarily to try and turn the museum around so that its not a drain on the county. I was pretty much told that I could do whatever I wanted as long as it fit into his plan.
First let me describe this museum. It is housed within a 3 story building that used to be the main branch of a general store company. (I can't remember exactly which company.) The building is clearly early 1900s. The main floor is rather spacious and at this moment holds 6 or 7 exhibits, including an exhibit in process on the U.S. Mail system. The building is not in good shape. The lighting is a bit shabby, but they've been working on it. There's no air conditioner, there was no hot water until recently, and you can see where there has been some foundation damage along the walls. The ceiling is super cool because it has these wonderful plaster tiles that have a lovely design on them. (I can't really say what time period since I don't really know my architecture very well.)
The main exhibits are local oriented. They are about the surrounding community and the impacts placed on them. Downstairs in the basement its fairly clean, there are signs saying its off limits to visitors but I think they're allowed in there anyway. I'm not too sure on that point. There is a wonderful exhibit of a Blacksmith's shop which was put in by the family of the deceased blacksmith themselves. There's the beginning of a jail cell exhibit which has the door of the county jail, which is in the process of being torn down next door. The rest of the basement houses a ton of farming equipment and various other artifacts.
Upstairs is a mess. Upstairs is where the county records are. The records are not in any semblance of order. I really shudder to think of tackling upstairs. Of course, on the other hand it excites me too. All that stuff needing protecting and organized. Ahh.... Sadly I have no clue how to handle it. So I'm planning on doing some extensive research so that I can figure out a way to keep those records safe, even if its just placing them in acid free containers.
I can't even begin to describe how fantastic this is! I'm going to take it slow though. Tomorrow I will be driving the 2 hours back to Centre and will start working on a program, used in most museums, called Past Perfect. I got a pretty look at it on Tuesday and I noticed that its kinda like the Field Management Software System that the National Park Service uses only not as strict, because they don't have to go through a federal audit. (As far as I know?) Either way because this program is so well used, it'll be great to get some experience with it and put it on my resume for later. I may even get hired thanks to this place!
Tonight I will be looking up a couple of terms that Past Perfect used, which I wasn't familiar with. I'll also be looking up a few of the artifacts that I was able to write down. This is what you can look forward to hearing about in my next post.
1. The Addressograph
2. Bicycle mail carts
3. Proof machine? Or Farmers and Merchants Bank
4. King Midget car
Of course if any of you viewing this know anything about one of those 4 things I will be ecstatic to have you tell me about them. Don't be afraid to comment!
That's right! I'm the only volunteer at this museum so far. Now the lovely man that I talked to told me all about the museum and his successful attempts to revitalize it. (Lets just say that 3 years ago the museum was only getting about 200 visitors a year and now this year they're expecting 4,000 visitors. Pretty awesome, right?) Now he's not really involved with history at all, he is only there temporarily to try and turn the museum around so that its not a drain on the county. I was pretty much told that I could do whatever I wanted as long as it fit into his plan.
First let me describe this museum. It is housed within a 3 story building that used to be the main branch of a general store company. (I can't remember exactly which company.) The building is clearly early 1900s. The main floor is rather spacious and at this moment holds 6 or 7 exhibits, including an exhibit in process on the U.S. Mail system. The building is not in good shape. The lighting is a bit shabby, but they've been working on it. There's no air conditioner, there was no hot water until recently, and you can see where there has been some foundation damage along the walls. The ceiling is super cool because it has these wonderful plaster tiles that have a lovely design on them. (I can't really say what time period since I don't really know my architecture very well.)
The main exhibits are local oriented. They are about the surrounding community and the impacts placed on them. Downstairs in the basement its fairly clean, there are signs saying its off limits to visitors but I think they're allowed in there anyway. I'm not too sure on that point. There is a wonderful exhibit of a Blacksmith's shop which was put in by the family of the deceased blacksmith themselves. There's the beginning of a jail cell exhibit which has the door of the county jail, which is in the process of being torn down next door. The rest of the basement houses a ton of farming equipment and various other artifacts.
Upstairs is a mess. Upstairs is where the county records are. The records are not in any semblance of order. I really shudder to think of tackling upstairs. Of course, on the other hand it excites me too. All that stuff needing protecting and organized. Ahh.... Sadly I have no clue how to handle it. So I'm planning on doing some extensive research so that I can figure out a way to keep those records safe, even if its just placing them in acid free containers.
I can't even begin to describe how fantastic this is! I'm going to take it slow though. Tomorrow I will be driving the 2 hours back to Centre and will start working on a program, used in most museums, called Past Perfect. I got a pretty look at it on Tuesday and I noticed that its kinda like the Field Management Software System that the National Park Service uses only not as strict, because they don't have to go through a federal audit. (As far as I know?) Either way because this program is so well used, it'll be great to get some experience with it and put it on my resume for later. I may even get hired thanks to this place!
Tonight I will be looking up a couple of terms that Past Perfect used, which I wasn't familiar with. I'll also be looking up a few of the artifacts that I was able to write down. This is what you can look forward to hearing about in my next post.
1. The Addressograph
2. Bicycle mail carts
3. Proof machine? Or Farmers and Merchants Bank
4. King Midget car
Of course if any of you viewing this know anything about one of those 4 things I will be ecstatic to have you tell me about them. Don't be afraid to comment!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Starting this blog
So I've decided to start a blog because I read on a website that blogging is something you should do when you're unemployed. So, since I'm unemployed, I thought I would go ahead and do this. (Oh yeah, this is the website by the way, http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/03/06/5-things-to-do-when-youre-unemployed-hint-its-not-job-hunting/) I don't really know what this blog will be about yet. It might be about trying to find a job in the history field. Or it might be about history. Or it might just be about trying to find any job in general. Since, I really can't.
I doubt anyone will read this. So I'm going to say it. I am trying to do this so I'm a. not bored out of my mind, b. not getting fatter, and c. not driving my very stressed mother crazy. Now, even if I do find a job later this week - I have an interview for an accessory store later this week, I'll still post.
This is why. I am a college graduate with a bachelors of arts. I'm currently looking to go into history. But not teaching! I am a history graduate with a focus in public history. If I can find a job in my field it'll most likely be in archival work, or library work, or research, or even archeological. In fact, right now I'm looking for any job so that I can save up and go to field school and have even a chance of working in cultural resource management, which is what I really really want to do. If I'm lucky I'll save up enough money and find a school near where I live that teaches architectural history courses, then I can have some architecture under my belt and straddle both sides of the fence of cultural resource management.
Really honestly, though, I'm hoping this blog will keep me from getting depressed, so depressed I'll stop looking for work. However, even if I struggle against the world and nothing comes of it, nothing will definitely be the result if I stop struggling. Therefore, here's to a successful blog!
I doubt anyone will read this. So I'm going to say it. I am trying to do this so I'm a. not bored out of my mind, b. not getting fatter, and c. not driving my very stressed mother crazy. Now, even if I do find a job later this week - I have an interview for an accessory store later this week, I'll still post.
This is why. I am a college graduate with a bachelors of arts. I'm currently looking to go into history. But not teaching! I am a history graduate with a focus in public history. If I can find a job in my field it'll most likely be in archival work, or library work, or research, or even archeological. In fact, right now I'm looking for any job so that I can save up and go to field school and have even a chance of working in cultural resource management, which is what I really really want to do. If I'm lucky I'll save up enough money and find a school near where I live that teaches architectural history courses, then I can have some architecture under my belt and straddle both sides of the fence of cultural resource management.
Really honestly, though, I'm hoping this blog will keep me from getting depressed, so depressed I'll stop looking for work. However, even if I struggle against the world and nothing comes of it, nothing will definitely be the result if I stop struggling. Therefore, here's to a successful blog!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)