mestaton

My semester at the Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation was an interesting experience. I believe that in working in a museum, we understand that no task is too small and that we all wear multiple hats. I loved learning more about the town of Blacksburg and its very interesting history and how it has evolved from its early settlement. The museum not only acts to inform visitors about its history but also current events, as I’ve discovered in my research. This was my first experience working in a museum with a high cultural focus, it also allowed me to gain more of a background working with local non-profits. I was able to assist the directors with research, donor and visitor outreach and even working on a small scale interactive exhibit. Even being at the front desk, although not exciting was still fun, seeing visitors react and say “This place is so cool!” or “I’ve never been here before but, I should have a while ago!” it just made me smile.

I hope that the museum grows with more people visiting every day, with new events happening all the time and with exhibits being refreshed I think that more people will be able to come and see what a place like this has to offer. The house is so beautiful and I hope that I can work at a place with this much architectural charm in the future. Although this building has gone under a couple renovations I think more people need to see the charisma of these buildings and what they can bring to a community.

The BMCF has asked me to assist with research regarding an upcoming exhibit for June and July focusing on environmental issues in the area such as the agricultural history of Blacksburg (which is very rich due to Virginia Tech), sustainability, and consumerism in the area. I always find it fun to branch into different topics outside of my usual scope of research. Even though I will have graduated by the time the exhibit is up, I can’t wait to see pictures.

Until this point, I really didn’t know anything about agriculture at all and I’ve found it interesting how so many of these things intersect. Along with mining, Blacksburg has been an Agricultural powerhouse for years. Before being called Virginia Polytech Institute, it was first and foremost an Agricultural school. Today, the research gathered from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has really allowed Blacksburg and the state of Virginia to shine. Virginia provides a large percentage of the nation’s apples and turkey, which explains why the mascot for Virginia Tech is a turkey! Although he’s also known as a “Hookiebird”

The BMCF wants to focus its attention on not only agriculture but landfills too. We not only want to show how many landfills have reached passed capacity but also ways that the City of Blacksburg can hopefully address this issue on a local scale. Sustainable Blacksburg.org is a great source for anyone to find ways in which they can improve their consumerism habits in their daily lives.

One of the main projects that I started working on earlier in the semester is finally done! In order to gain the attention of a wide variety of audiences, especially teens and young adults, we created a flower wall perfect for taking group photos and selfies. We used paper to construct the flowers and thrift picture frames. I was amazed how one of the Museum’s volunteers Pramillia made such a gorgeous rose as the centerpiece. Kate Skelly, Janean Williams, and I came up with this idea as we originally wanted to tie this into Victorian Flower Language or Floriography because the Alexander Black House takes a lot of its inspiration from Victorian-style architecture.

As the BMCF also focuses a lot of its attention on art, I hope that the wall will also open up opportunities for craft classes or kits, especially for younger audiences. I created a blog post discussing Florigraphy in more detail and it will be accessible on the BMCF website along with QR codes placed both nearby the photo wall and on printout cards at the front desk. I am so unbelievably happy with how cute the wall looks and I hope with spring flowers blooming in Blacksburg that more people will decide to stop in for a quick photo opportunity. I’ve heard a few patrons talk about the wall as we were putting everything up, so I’m taking that as a good sign that we already have people interested.

Due to weather and unseen events in recent weeks, I started my internship remotely for the first two weeks. After coming into the Blacksburg History Museum and Cultural Society’s main building, the Alexander Black House, I was able to make connections to my previous internship experiences. I saw new and exciting things, I loved how many models there were of local Blacksburg Buildings and how beautifully reconstructed the Alexander Black House was. The Alexander Black House, built-in 1896 in the Queen Anne style was reconstructed during the early-mid 2000s. Much of it remained intact but from the exterior, you can’t tell there was an extension to the house. It is interesting to see the relationship between presenting historical information and engaging with cultural heritage. I do not have experience working on the cultural side of this type of institution, but I am excited to learn more through this semester.

My main projects as of today are focusing on ways in which we can gain attraction from younger audiences up until college age. For March we want to re-decorate one of the meeting rooms on the second floor and to include a photo wall to connect the museum to those who are invested in social media posts, primarily teens. My more long-term projects will involve re-making a timeline of Blacksburg history and researching for that. My hope would be to have an form of immersive digital timeline if this could be achieved but that is yet to be determined. I will also be working with the Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation to re-vamp their social media and/or blog.

In working with the Salem Museum this semester I have learned a lot about what goes into keeping a small local museum running. I have also sharped my skills in Exhibition Design, learning how to make a visual composition with text and image. There are so many drafts when it comes to making an exhibit its honestly mind boggling, but I have enjoyed every last minute of my experience. I hope that the skills that I have built with exhibition design and accessing objects will help me for future internships and even employment after graduation.  This internship has helped me discover what I enjoy about working at a museum, in order to better help me understand what I would like to do after Roanoke College.

I really enjoyed creating this exhibit for Grace Smyth, including the little QR code for a bit of digital interaction.