Humm's HIS5067 Blog

 This week has been an interesting week. Six weeks in, the motto "Semper Gumby" still rings true. This week, the interns and I could not show up immediately as the Museum had a critical guest come. The announcement was last minute, and I was told to wait and come later in the day. For those who have never worked in a museum setting, being flexible with time management is crucial as anything can be happy.   Once we were able to attend the Museum, we were only able to spend a few hours working. I could only work for just 2 hours before going for the day. My time there meant I could not finish the Waterhouse box, but I will complete it next week. In this week's blog post, I will discuss the Waterhouse family, who they were, and why they are an essential part of Maitland. The starting point for the Waterhouse family history starts during the Civil War. Where William H. Waterhouse would fight in the New York Cavalry and be wounded and captured by the Confederates and sent to A...

     This week's work has been a typical day for working at Maitland A&H. The only difference between last week and this week was that I had to change to a new office. As mentioned, my task is to scan documents for the organization. Since my first day working at Maitland A&H, I have been constantly focused on one box to get done; I am glad to say that the first Waterhouse box I worked on will complete by next week. With such a completion, I will post photos of my workstation next week and the Waterhouse home.      Once my task of scanning is finished, my job will not be complete as there is still the fact that the scans have to be labeled and metadata be created to go with the scans. If someone else were to make the metadata, it would most likely be a difficult task as they would have to go through each pdf file, read what the document was about, and write out the metadata. If I were to complete the task, it would most likely be not as challenging a...

 I returned and interned this week, and it was such a relief to return. One might find it interesting to be in a room all day to only scan and record papers for Maitland A&H. I find it quite relaxing. Kate was eager to have her interns return. Being back, I could look over the vast history of Maitland contained in one box. Also, returning to Maitland has allowed me to work with other class members who are also interning. These class members are reliant on me to complete their tasks. It was nice to be able to work with them as my task was to also scan necessary documents for their project. While working at Maitland A&H, their objective is to create a new permanent exhibit for Maitland A&H. To help them succeed in their job, and they are reliant on my end to have items ready to be available when they need them.  Even though the task is not as demanding on my end as working on their project, I intend to show that the job of an archivist and the job of a curator are tw...

 This week has been another letdown for attending Maitland A&H. The Exhibit Manager Katie Benson is out of town but will finally be back next week. The good news is that since I have worked at Maitland A&H before, I know about some of the difficulties with weather and archives. In the last post, I stated I would discuss this topic.   Most people may not see weather as a big deal in their career as they can stay inside; weather means almost everything. The simplest change in temperature can ruin an archivist's day. This blog will break down how specific weather affects the objects.   The most common weather damage is sun damage. Just like the human body, most objects can not be in the sun, or they will deteriorate. Only a few objects can be out in the sun; most of these are metals and rocks. The majority of the things will have sun damage from exposure to UV rays. Objects such as paints and inks will dry and fade away from the sun hitting the items. Even though mos...