Gallery Tour

Today I got to tag along and see a museum tour in action. It was a fun experience to get out of the basement and out of the museum classroom and into the gallery. I’ve actually been so busy with all of the other projects that I’ve got going on, that I haven’t even taken a proper walk-through of the gallery.

Patty took a small group of school children through. From the fossils and natural history exhibits to the western wear of Helldorado, she had an impeccable knowledge and memory of each of the pieces in the exhibits. Here’s a brief run-through of our tour: first we started off at the giant mammoth exhibit – always a favorite with the kids because of the shear size of the thing, it is quite impressive. I feel ashamed as a historian not know things, but something that I learned was that all of the bones and fossils on display are not real. Due to their age and fragility, they are all stored downstairs where the air and environment can be controlled. It was funny, at the end of the tour one of the little girls raised her hand and coyly asked if we were going downstairs to see the fossils.

What is neat about the Nevada State Museum is that their exhibits touch on all aspects of science and history. I never did well in science so it was quite informative to learn about stalactites, minerals and precious stones, animal habitats and bone structures of ancient animals. It is always a treat to see the awe and wonder on the children’s faces when they see the animal exhibits and especially the interactive displays.

The mining exhibit at the museum is especially fun. In one corner you can learn about life in the mines as a hologram miner recounts his tales as a Nevadan miner. Around the corner children can hop on an imitation mining cart. A television screen pans over railroad tracks and scenic byways with each push of the cart.  Other fun highlights include video footage of the 1950s Showgirls of Las Vegas, Nevada-native animals and Native American storytelling.

I picked up some great tips along the way as to how to be a successful museum docent. One of the import things to remember about guiding any group is to know your audience. For example on this tour, it was a group of young elementary-age kids. Most of them had some degree of mental disability. Accordingly Patty tailored her tour – she pointed out the familiar animals and objects and kept the history very simple. So appealed to their knowledge and asked them basic questions about animals – what they think they would eat, where they would live. It seemed like the kids really like being asked questions because they would eagerly raise their hand and shout out answers – even if most of the time they were wrong, they were really excited. Another important thing to remember when leading children’s groups around in particular is to stay at their level. For example, Patty was describing an extinct sloth’s bones and she referred to them as ‘compact.’ The children didn’t know what that word meant so she had to backtrack and say simpler words that they knew.

Especially as a scholar it is easy to slip into academic, advanced jargon. This was a nice reminder that working with the public as a public historian can be very different than your typical scholastic settings. So if you love working with people of all ages, you have a stellar memory, and you enjoy interactive and challenging work – a docent could very likely be something that you would like. Many historical houses and associations even offer docent training programs to teach those important tips and skills to succeeding at guiding tours.

Until next time,

Alliso

Hidden Treasures

Today it was back into the basement and into the cataloging world. I have been working on cataloging a box of items that have recently been donated to the museum. It is always interesting to read through the deed of gift and find out some background information on the items. At first glance, the box did not appear to be filled with anything special - some pencils, match books, newspaper clippings etc. Upon further research Michelle and I discovered more than we had anticipated from this simple box of personal belongings. Ever heard of Joseph E. Thiriot Elementary School? Or Bill "Wildcat" Morris Rebel Park? Turns out we were cataloging some of their personal items that were donated by their families. I know it's nothing 'celebrity-status' around here but it is a fun find to who some of these items belong to.

Is this match book awesome or what?

Public History: Historical Houses

As I’ve been getting a feel for life inside a museum, I have started to feel my way into the various other opportunities that are available in the public history field – and let me tell you there are many! As I mentioned in a previous post about my discussion with Patty, asking questions to my co-workers and talking with as many people as I can has proved fruitful. For example while discussing my interests following graduation, one staff member at the museum recounted their time spent working at a historical house in Long Beach, CA. I didn’t know much about historical houses so it was quite exciting to learn about. Working there she was able to do primary research on the house itself and its inhabitants. She gave tours of the premises and gardens – and even learned more about the house from guests on one of the tours which she was able to put into her research and present to the historical association. During the holidays, particularly at Christmas, they decorated the house festively and dressed up like the inhabitants would have at that time. As I have a large interest in serving as a docent it was fun to hear about various ways that this can happen. Public historians don’t have to be limited to a museum – there are many other avenues out there to explore!

For some interesting information on the historical house she worked at, go here:

http://www.rancholoscerritos.org/visitor.html

See you next time,

Allison

Material Culture in Action

Have you been wondering what these trunks are that I keep speaking of yet? Well, let me give you the deets on them you can get a better idea of not just what they are labeled with but what the heck is in there. Like a cadbury cream egg, the good stuff is inside.

Like I’ve previously mentioned the museum lends out several trunks to teachers in the local school districts. Today I had the chance to actually crack them open and take a peek. The women of Nevada was one of my favorites. Inside are a plethora of teaching materials for teachers. First there is a DVD with a powerpoint presentation and other resource books on the specific trunk topic.

The rest of the trunk consists of specific material objects. The Women in Nevada trunk is a trove of domestic gadgets and cooking utensils. For example, below is a picture of a nineteenth century iron – looks a lot different than it does today, right?

A good number of items in this trunk I had never seen before. Take the below object. Can you guess what it’s for? It’s a biscuit cutter.

As a teaching tool, is a great exercise for children to show them these objects to see how people in Nevada lived 150 years ago. By analyzing the types of objects they used, we can start to formulate what life was like for these initial settlers. Unlike the museum, where children can only look, these trunks give them the hands-on approach to history with tangible objects that they can touch and examine. I’ll admit as I sat on the floor and rummaged through the objects inside, I felt like a little kid again, full of excitement and eager curiosity. But that is what history should be all about, right?

Until next time,

Allison

Accessioning and Deaccessioning: How Pieces Enter the Museum Collection

Before I dive again into the exciting world of cataloging, let me define a few terms and lay a bit of groundwork here. Most of the items that come into the museum’s collection are donated. Only on occasion does the director purchase a piece. When a donor brings their items to the museum a deed of gift is created which puts into writing the official transfer of goods. These items are lumped together into one number – this is called an accession number. These numbers start with the year of the donation and then their order in donations that year. For example the pieces I am working on were donated this year and were the fourteenth items given to the museum – so the accession number is VM-2012-014. (VM stands for Vegas Museum).

On the infrequent occasion that the museum no longer needs an object in their collection, the item can be given back to the donor – this is known as deaccessioning. After the proper paperwork is signed and processed, then the items come to Michelle – the registrar and well, to me for the summer. We give each individual object a catalog number. This takes the initial accession number and adds to the end the number of pieces in the particular accession. For example, in this box I was working on was a framed newspaper clipping. It was the first item I cataloged from that accession so its official catalog number became VM-2012-014-001. Making some sense yet?

Next time I’ll talk a little bit about my most recent cataloging project and the hidden treasures Michelle and I have been encountering in the collections – excitement awaits!

Until then,

Allison

An Intern’s Bread and Butter: Networking 101

You never know what you can learn just from talking to people, even in the most unlikely places. Today looked like another day of working on the trunks in the museum classroom but it started off with a welcome surprise. At first, Stacy and I were expecting to take a group of children from the Boys and Girls club around the gallery. While they did not end up showing up, Patty, one of the infrequent museum volunteers did. A crucial aspect of any internship is networking. As an intern you are not only trying to get experience, get a feel for the inner workings of a museum, but to also explore the profession and talk to as many people as you can. This is key.

 So while the group did not show up, I got the unexpected chance to get to know Patty. He is actively involved in the museum community in Las Vegas and she gave me some great ideas about how to get myself out there and how to seek out opportunities in the field. She told me about other museums in the city that I could explore such as the Natural History Museum as well as the Old Mormon Fort which I was not familiar with. As a Civil War aficionado it was music to my ears to hear about a group called the Roundtable. They are involved in Civil War reenactments (here in Las Vegas, who knew??) annually. Something that I found really impressive and exciting was their volunteer work that they do in school classrooms. Throughout the year these Roundtable members will don their Civil War finest and go to classrooms and talk about the Civil War to the children. Not only do they get to fashion historical garb – as must do on my bucket list – but they get to educate kids about history in a non-traditional way.

Although I am fairly new to Las Vegas, it is great to hear about ways that us fellow historians can volunteer and work in the museum and historical field right here at home. So if you feel inspired just like me, go on, get out there and look for the possibilities that are available in your community. Maybe one day you’ll even find yourself sporting your soldier’s finest, faux-gouging a reb’ (not UNLV, of course) with your bayonet in the blistering desert heat a la “Gods and Generals” –  all for good fun of course.

Allison

Vegas Style: The Beginning – Well Maybe the Middle.

Today we finally started gearing up for the Vegas Style exhibit – yeah! Dr. Clemente and several of our exhibit team had already previously come to the museum and selected around 15 pieces that we will use in our exhibit this fall. The garments range from Helldorado western wear to 1930s silk evening gowns. Today Michelle and I worked with Tom. Tom will be building the exhibit cases for our exhibition. Today we pulled each outfit and laid them out for Tom to take pictures of. He will use these photographs to use to begin brainstorming and building the exhibit cases. There is a lot of legwork that goes into preparing for and putting on an exhibition. I’ll be here this summer to document part of this journey while I work at the Nevada State Museum. So far the pieces are selected and documented. I’ll keep you posted along the rest of the way!

 See you next time.

Allison