On the first day, the first thing I had to do was reviewing all the exhibitions in the museum. I was asked by Alex to explain which points were good and which points were needed to be improved. Well, when you see the building from outside, the overall façade doesn’t seem that capacious though, but I’m pretty sure that anyone who has been there before will say it’s much bigger than she or he expected. I realized that there are a lot of things to learn and study. Honestly, except the first floor, the other rooms seemed to need desperate help and remodelling. It was exciting that I could help them but I worried more if I could help the museum enough as other interns do. After that, Alex explained the overall construct of the museum and the location of archives.
Then, I learned how to make “Accession.” In Salem Museum, we use a “new” system rather than the old one. It is comprised of (year number)-(collection number)-(item number). After writing the “Accession” thing, I stored some donated gifts with acid-free papers and tapes.
The second day-It was my first time to write the “accession” by myself. Except for the “description” thing, everything was…no.. I cannot say it was easy. Especially, when I was describing the donated gift, it was hard to use and apply all the descriptive adjectives. I was so embarrassed and confused when I first saw the stuffed bird doll, the mascot of Salem High school ice hockey team, wearing Spartan armaments. So I referred to some previous accessions that other interns had written before and tried to study the writing style and frequently used expressions. Sadly, I assume that Alex will not make me write the accession anymore.. hahaahha…Then, I learned how to record the accession in digital archive using Past-Perfect. Simple ctrl-C and ctrl-V, it was relaxing(?) and peaceful work.
The Third day- For a future exhibition about Championships in Salem, Alex asked me to find champion team pictures in yearbooks. I searched them of SHS, GHS, AL, covering from 19300s-2000s. At the first time, I was confused with the semester-counting system different from the Korean one. For instance, I was not used to thinking if I want to find the 1999 football championship picture, I should find it in 2000 yearbook. Moreover, every sport was played in every other season. So I asked him and other docents couple of times to make it sure. If I had not asked them, maybe I could have made a big mistake and it could have taken more time to finish it. When you are confused, don’t afraid to ASK for help. It was fun to see how all the various extra-curricular activities, especially sports, were emphasized in American school culture.
