I made my own exhibit! We have a display case by the entrance that is typically used for temporary exhibits relating to an upcoming event/holiday/etc. When I began my internship it was set up for D-Day, but since that anniversary had passed it was time to switch it out. So the first week I spent time on PastPerfect trying to find various collections that I could possibly make a display from. Originally I found a lot of political campaign pins, posters, and memorabilia. Unfortunately, many of the items were too large to fit into the display case and there were not enough small items to make into a whole exhibit. So I looked online for upcoming holidays and anniversaries and found that Aviation Day is in mid August. From this I found out that Salem has had multiple pilots and a long history of aviation.
In between the two weeks there was another Saturday event here at the museum. We had a Living History Day with colonial era historical reenactors that drew a very large crowd. We had about 150 people come to see the actors and the museum. It was a great day and it was really interesting talking to the reenactors, especially about how they got into the hobby.
The second week I did a little more research then I started pulling items. We had far more information and artifacts than I could hope to put into the display case so I had to practice downsizing what I had pulled. Once the artifacts were arranged in the case I began working on the signs. These took a couple of edits and reformatting, but I got them up just a day or so later. Overall I am very proud to have completed my first exhibit at a museum!
