Happy to be back in the Salem Museum to finally start this internship in earnest. The past week I worked with the staff to get acquainted with the museum and its innerworkings. So far, I have learned about the curatorial and archival aspects of the museum, which is exactly what I wanted to do. I helped re-organize the civil war exhibit, set up artifacts for a school field trip, and done a lot of accessioning. I have enjoyed going through newly donated material and examining / filing them. I can understand how some might find that type of work soul-crushing, but I have no problem with it so far. Next week, we start work on a new exhibit about Salem through the ages, focusing on one person from each era. It will be more research-heavy than what I have been doing so far, so I am exited to learn about what goes into that.
First picture is of me holding an authentic musket in the archive. We were bringing stuff out to show the kids on a field trip the next day. Luckily, I was not working when the kids showed up. Second picture is of a “key” and “sounder” for a telegraph that was recently donated, along with a half filled-out accession form.