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Benvenuto, sadly this is the last blog post of this internship. Naturally, I have saved the best for last. The picture below is part of my exhibit, which centers on one particular sewing machine. This machine is not just any piece of machinery, for it came out of the Preston Place (a really really old home here in Salem). It is a Willcox & Gibbs sewing machine from the mid-19th century.

I knew that I wanted this mini exhibit to be different because Alex told me every intern wants to do medical stuff; I want to be different and remembered this sewing machine. In this exhibit, I focus on this company because it has an interesting background. I have displayed the founding’s of the company, advertisements, and patents. Note this exhibit starts in this corner but continues up the staircase. As an extra piece, I have included an interactive exhibit, which I’m going to keep a secret, you will have to go to the Salem Museum and find out for yourselves 😊.

 

Benvenuto back guys. As this blog post wines down, I have a few more things to tell you all. If you recall from last week, Alex and I were in the middle of re-doing the Civil War gallery. After while gathering our supplies, we got to work. This picture here is what the gallery looks like now. It took us about two weeks to complete our vision, but at last it is finished. The room has a different feeling in it. You are not being suffocated by the number of artifacts hanging on the walls. It is strange to see how a few new signs and new designs, and a few new items can go a long way in making a gallery feel welcoming and educational.

Stay tuned for my last post because I have been given an opportunity to create my own mini exhibit, and because I love you guys I’ll tell a secret—it deals with machinery, needles, and clothing.

Benvenuto back guys. This is part three of five, in a series dedicated to the Salem Museum. If you recall from last week, I was in the middle of peer editing and making signs for the gallery. This week Alex and I have started on a long transformative process of the gallery into a new updated interactive space. Right now, we have only got two walls complete, but exhibit building is a process. For example, we began gathering our supplies—like mounting putty, signs, artifacts, and tools—and brought them to the second floor. Day one, we finished the wall, which is featured in this post. Day 2 encompassed wall two, and day three was wall three. Currently we are not done, for we’ve got two more walls to fill, so stay tuned and find out the product.

Second, I must say that I’m warming up to designing exhibits. There is a sense of craftsmanship in constructing from the bottom up to the finished product. I enjoy helping hand in many different areas.

Benvenuto back guys. This is part two of five, in a series dedicated to the Salem Museum. If you recall from last week, I was in the middle of peer editing for the remake of the Civil War gallery. Good news is that the peer editing is finished, all of the signs have been printed, and glued to foam board. I’m so excited to remake this gallery, which will occur after this well anticipated break.

Naturally, I wanted to give you guys a look at the current gallery. It definitely needs some tender loving care. Of course not only will the signs have a makeover, but the fabric in some of the cases will no longer be black. I’m warming up to designing exhibits because I get to have a helping hand in many different areas. For example, peer editing, sign making on Publisher, archives, and putting everything together. So far it has been fun. I can’t wait to see what the Salem Museum will have me doing the last half of term. Anyways that’s all that I have to say for this week, stay tuned to see the finished product.

 

Hello guys, this is the first of a series of five blog post about life in the museum world. This picture seems boring and dull, you are completely correct. The last two weeks have been filled with grammar and writing. The Salem Museum is in the process of re-doing their Civil War room, and I have been tasked of redesigning the signs. This is an easy task—wrong 😊; the Civil War is not my time period and I know nothing about Salem’s history. Yet, this process has been a learning experience. I have learned more about local history and grammar. For example, this photograph is the fifth time of proof reading. Even though this task has been long and tiring, it has been pretty cool.

In summary, stay tuned to see what happens to “boring” historians next week.