The Museum’s collections is being forced to switch locations. As a result, the last few weeks of work have consisted of soft packing pictures, carefully packing textiles, and hand-making boxes for specific artifacts. While this appears like it is less exciting work that falls more into manual labor, the repeated work has actually been very exciting. This is due to the fact that I have seen almost every artifact in the museum, and have been able to handle several swords, World War I and World War II era clothing, and local photographs that all captured my interest immensely.
This continues the theme that has been running through my head all summer. This work may not seem glamorous to learn about, describe to family members, or to write a blog post about; but when this work is being done, and the hands-on aspect of the work takes over, the history comes to life (even on a Monday). I have been able to handle rifles, jackets, swords, helmets, pants, and patches from the areas of war that interest me the most. In that moment there is a special connection between myself, and the man or woman who trained, fought, lived, loved, cried, and wrote home while wearing that very same jacket. I hold these artifacts with great care and respect for a man or woman whom I have never met. I hold these pieces of clothing and wonder what they may have seen. The horrors,good times, and adventures they have encountered before they were boxed up contain a life time of lessons that I get to encounter, look into, and take care of, before I pick up the next artifact, and take off on another adventure. That connection is what has made this Internship so fun, and so special.
