Smithsonian Catalogs

I'm posting this link in response to Maria's most recent post, but this catalog (and the many other online museum catalogs out there in cyberspace that you can easily locate through word and/or images searches that incorporate a key term for the object and the words museum or collection) will be very good leads for many of you. AND Carrie posted the link to the CAS online catalog recently (which has a bazillion fans from Polynesia, as well as many many other items). Use these sources to direct you to scholarly works.

Today we meet in the classroom to discuss your job posts and catalog reviews.

If you haven’t checked SacCT, you should do so later today. The instructions for next week’s NAGPRA-related blog post have been uploaded, as have the worksheet and  instructions for your object research. The Research and Inventory Worksheet  is a fill-able pdf. I will hand out a copy of these in class so we can go over them, but you'll see on SacCT that you have very specific instructions for how to save them. "Once you have completed one for each of your objects, you will save it as “YourName_1" (then_2, _3, _4 and so forth).  The order in which you complete and save your worksheets does not matter.  These file names will later be changed by me or Carrie to reflect the object’s accession number. For now, I need to be able to identify them quickly as yours [for grading purposes] in an electronic folder."  If you don’t have access to Adobe Pro, you should go to one of the campus labs (I have linked to a map under the assignment tab on Blackboard that shows the labs with Adobe Pro). The photocopied images of comparative objects drawn from your scholarly references should be stapled to the relevant hardcopy of the Research and Inventory Worksheet. (The electronically submitted worksheets will not have these appended.) Remember, there will need to be three of these for each of your objects (one from each of the scholarly sources you cite).  If you are researching five objects, you’ll have a total of 15 images. Each must be marked with an abbreviated source citation).  Please don’t hesitate to ask/email me if you need help with anything related to the research assignment. I have many catalogs in my personal collection and am more than happy to also help you try to locate other sources. If you get started now, you’ll have plenty of time to request inter-library loans. Every second you spend on object research counts toward lab hours. Please don't leave this to the last minute.

SAS Request

Students, please respond to Amy's April 17 post about the exhibit.

Catalog Review

If you've checked your syllabus and SacCT, you'll see that I've given you a list of catalogs (all in the library) from which you must choose in order to complete the catalog review assignment due on Tuesday at 11am. Once you've checked your catalog out from the library, please leave a note here in the comment section telling the rest of us which one you selected, since I'm not entirely sure how immediately the library system updates availability notices in their system. 

Lights, Action, Exhibit (and Reception)!

The team photos Nancy took yesterday, along with a few other reception pics, are loaded on her blog. Be sure to check them out. Here are some more images that document the exhibit process and the reception. I begin with the storyboard presentations, as a reminder of how far we have come in a matter of weeks, having moved (on fast-forward) through all the critical stages of exhibit design:  1) concept development, 2) design development, 3) fabrication and 4) installation. Congratulations to all; everyone had great things to say about the show. When you are next in the museum, read the feedback in the guest register. I'll have a docent check list (for opening and closing) prepped and in the reception desk folder by the time the museum opens. Joe and Nathan are on duty today.

Storyboard Presentation

March  11, 2014

Graphic Design Storyboard

Nancy presents the graphic design elements.

Parallel Lives Team

Tasmanian Sojourn 

Colonial Milieu Team

Full Circle Team

  Opening Day

 April 15, 2014 

Please leave this door closed during
exhibit hours.

Asher the Adorable

Paul, Jessica, Gia, Airelle and Abbie

Nathan, Fiona, Holly and (almost) Nancy

 

Remember to tell visitors we have a touch box
where they can handle fragments of fiber that
 have fallen off the 100+ year-old-objects.
And that we thank them for NOT touching
the exhibit materials.

CLEAN LAB! Courtesy of me; please
do your part to keep it this way.

ER

NOTE: I did not have to go to the ER for any foam board trimming injuries. And we are finished a half-day ahead of schedule.

Job-Related Blog Post Assignment Due Tuesday, by 11 am

If you check your syllabus, you'll note that you have a deadline for a "job-related blog entry" due this Tuesday by 11am, with details tba. Here, I provide you with those details (and I will post them to SacCT and send them via email as well).

The Burcaw chapter entitled "Practical Matters," which is part of this week's reading assignment, includes a discussion of museum jobs. You have two tasks related to this reading that you will complete in the form of a blog post (they can be done entirely at your computer, assuming that you have finished the reading).  Title this post Museum Jobs,* and respond to the following:

1) Burcaw discusses five pathways by which most people acquire their first museum job. Have you had a museum job in the past, or do you currently have one? If so, tell us what that job was/is, and which of the means listed by Burcaw (1-5) led to your acquisition of it.  If you have had more than one museum job, and decide to discuss those as well,  please be sure to address the issues surrounding your first museum job at the outset of your discussion. (Haven't had a paying job, but rather a volunteer position? Answer the question in the context of that volunteer position.)

2) Burcaw, having not yet made the transition to the digital era, notes that most museum positions are advertised in newsletters. In fact, most are advertised now on electronic job boards. I have links to three of these on the Anthropology Museum website, on the page dedicated to  Museum Anthropology Courses. The second part of your assignment is to browse the three job boards linked there (scroll down to the section entitled "Museum Career Information") and to locate a position for which you would like (hypothetically-speaking) to apply. Copy and paste all the available job information into your blog post (I have you do this, rather than link directly to it, because position announcements come and go very quickly). In parenthesis, tell us from which job board you pulled this ad. Below the ad, tell us why you chose it, and then enumerate (in bullet-list form) at least three (and no more than five) skill sets and/or examples of previous professional experience that you would foreground in an effort to demonstrate your qualifications/fit for this position (Burcaw offers some valuable advice and we will talk more about this at our meeting on 4/22).  If you have questions about the assignment, leave them in the comments section.

Brain Scoop Video "The Replicator"

Now that you've all had a taste of exhibit development and fabrication, you might enjoy (or at least appreciate) this. (BTW, I just saw the Biometrics exhibit referenced here; very cool).

Counting Down

I'm really proud of all you guys who have managed to put some decent hours in for the exhibit. It is starting to show. Only four more days till the opening. Lots of details yet to work out.

Nathan mounting images

These guys are putting up with me
insisting that they lower all their images.

Mallory and Jim work on the timeline (and
put up with me telling them "too high, eye
level, eye level!")

Jim contemplates options.

 

Nancy antiques the LH Morgan text.

 

I picked up the vinyl lettering and will
try to install tomorrow.

Friday Hours

I will be in the museum tomorrow from 10:30-1:30 and then 2:30-5 or so. In the morning, I may have to be working on another project (in the museum) but will be there to let you in and help you find material you need, etc. I have printed out all of the Colonial Milieu team's labels. Those need to be mounted on mat board and trimmed with the paper cutter. I have a few more images on foam core that need trimming (for PL, CM and FC) and will finish those first thing in the morning. If you plan to come by in the morning, please let me know. 

More Fabrication and Installation Photos

Jessica trimmed images for dry-mounting

Gia sews the palm fiber skirt to a dowel
 muslin covered dowel for hanging

Airielle paints the outline of Tasmania that
Fiona and Crisitan traced on Saturday

The postcards were printed by Reprographics
 today and Nancy brought them over. 

Gia poses by her team's case.

Jessica and I hung the spear.

And I spent the rest of the afternoon dry-mounting
and trimming images.

Add caption

FYI--We are mounting object and
photo labels on mat board that
can be trimmed on the paper cutter.