Though Wanderlove has ceased its production stage and has ushered in its exhibition stage, it still necessitates our attention since it exists outdoors and is subject to the elements. Daniel, an intern, and myself were required to go down to the Riverwalk and re-attach panels of yarn that had become loose and scope out any more trouble areas that may require our attention in the near future. Other duties which we have undertaken since Wanderlove’s ceasing as our primary point of focus have involved helping Annie and Mary in collections by scouring museum past-perfect records as well as saved files on computers to try and find any accessioning information on pieces of artwork whose provenances have been lost over the years. Since MAP certification has shifted to our main focus, it is paramount that we organize collections so that we have a cohesive categorization system that is easily traversed by staff and researchers alike, instead of being a haphazard space where over the years a lot of what can only be described as stuff has accumulated. Another undertaking which we oversaw was the clearing of the tables outside of the collections room that had before been plagued with dozens of green office boxes and binders filled with old museum brochures and pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and even documents from the 19th century that had simply been sitting there without having been organized and sorted; now they are in line to be scanned and digitized.
I (as well as other interns) have also been helping Sara around the office by organizing her shelves, printing new maps for guests, and copying children’s activities booklets for use in the museum. What I am most proud of though is assisting her by using her computer to format and create new name tags for the museum’s board whereas previously they were all of different formatting and inconsistent in form, so I have effectively rectified that problem (pictured below). I have also helped her in reformatting and submitting grant forms for recompense, and providing technical advice when it is within my purview. Nearing the end of my internship, I can surely say that all of the intricacies of museum functionality and the influence of internal, and external, politics have definitely surprised me. But, what I can say is that the people have definitely made the experience memorable, along with some very interesting objects which piqued my interest. Pictured also is myself on Danville’s live-streamed River City TV news with reporter Mark Aron, Wanderlove creator Calder Brannock, and Annie and Felice from the museum; all people who made the heat on that particular day bearable. I cannot wait to see what is in store as the summer begins to wind down and what other observations I will make and relate here in my last post to come.
