This week has been full of a type of boring monotony that is almost expected when doing this type of work -- many hours spent staring at a computer screen (looking through 100+ pictures of doilies)
At the beginning of the week, I was still in the process of scouring our records for what has/has not been accessioned. This is important in my process of sorting through the items. I had a couple boxes and a storage bin to go through overall, and at the beginning of this week I decided to go through the storage bin. I spent much of last week going through the boxes of other items and I figured having something different might help speed things along.
I ran into a couple issues/questions while doing this. Since many of the records are pre-Past Perfect, they don't have traditional accession numbers (what I'm used to using), but rather have the old numbering system that was used here, prior to the Past Perfect system. Due to this, I am unsure how to number them when I put them into Past Perfect -- but I will deal with that issue when I get there. In addition to this, I also found an item that said 'deaccession'. I asked Jonathan about this and he explained the reason for deaccesion and gave me a box,to create yet another organization pile, for the deaccessed items. Inside of the storage bin was a plethora of quilts/blankets and clothing. There was a 'crazy quilt', that was featured at the 154th Indiana County Fair! It is very fun to look at, with all the different patterns and shapes. It kinda makes me want to try making a quilt! In addition to this, some of the clothing was from the Wolfenden Estate,a prominent family in Indiana. There were articles of clothing that dated as far back as the late 1800s.
I also spent almost an entire day looking through pictures of old doilies, trying to find the one I had in the old records. After looking through all 100+ pictures, I did not find what I was looking for. I found one that was similar, but not the same. And now the doily is in my 'other' pile, that needs to be reviewed and the list will be published in the paper for people to claim. I have narrowed down my pile to what is/is not in the system -- I now have a box of the 'other' items and need to compile a list so we can publish it in the paper. I also have a box (with a single item) for deaccession. In addition to this, I have my pile of stuff to go to the Clark House, after it has been put into the Past Perfect system.
After this week, I am looking forward to diving further into the process of my exhibit. I have already done a little bit of research and looked through what items I have at my disposal. For my Museum Methods class, I was tasked with dissecting/critiquing a museum exhibit, from a local museum. Because the professor knows I am currently doing an internship here at the historical society, he selected me to present my findings of this assignment to the class on Monday. I'm actually pretty excited to do this and hope it will give me some insight on exhibit design, aiding me in the process of building my own exhibit.
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