Permissions: The Other Side

The research process has always been an exciting application of quasi-scientific methods within humanities; proper formatting, whether bibliographical or page numbering, provides just enough rigidity that a standard can be set and subsequently conformed to, shifting the creative focus appropriately to the utilization of sources and proliferation of final products (i.e., the paper itself.) And while the taboo of plagiarism often looms large over the conscientious writer, the consequences of such a ethical violation often remain isolated to in-house discipline, without an understanding of the broader implications of such action within the scholarly community.

As the Rosenbach holds the papers, and library, and living room, of Marianne Moore among their collections, she is a figure of much study within the confines of the Museum & Library. And while I have been aware of the forms needed from researchers before their work on Moore begins, working with the files of research on her elucidates her importance within the poetry community. Beginning with a compilation of reference works the Rosenbach already holds, I have now begun to sort through the files of scholars who examined her materials, finding out which researchers had their work published, and confirming proper citations to the Rosenbach. A gratis copy is also a requirement of publication on Rosenbach holdings; it has been truly shocking to note how many researchers were not compliant with these two conditions of permission. (The files aren't particularly welcoming, either, perhaps distorting my perception of the extent of "transgressors" in the academe.) However -- especially as someone interested in pursuing a career that would consist of such research -- the work I have done on her files is as personally beneficial as it is exciting to read from some of the most prolific scholars' and poets' work done at, and inspired by, the Rosenbach. Examining some of the older files also contextualizes the Rosenbach as an institution rich with history, and expertise, within its collections; among the organization's former staff members are the executor of the Marianne Moore estate, as well as a preeminent Moore scholar, whose knowledge of Modernism in poetry facilitated a position at Yale's prestigious Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Despite my ineptitude regarding poetry, seeing so many creative and compelling analyses of one individual's work by the academe is a true inspiration for my own research interests and goals.

Class Is In Session

Hello, All,

I have recently made the decision (semi-forced because of approaching deadlines) to take a gap year before applying to graduate school. The reason why this is relevant to TPC and the APS Museum will make sense soon.

Last year I was in a semester long program that was the scholarly parallel of TPC: it was a test run for students who were considering graduate school rather than immediate careers/forays into the "real world." Although I struggled with the deadlines for writing papers, I felt confident that I was excited for graduate school. But when I got back to campus for my junior year I saw my friends applying (and accepting) programs to do research or teach abroad and to do other exciting, challenging adventures. I remember adamantly believing that I would break with my father's wishes and enroll in a similar program, but here I am applying to graduate programs...

Now that I am one week away from my first GRE and less than a month away from my first grad school application deadline, I am (in typical Natasha style) realizing that I am procrastinating and stalling for a reason. This is where my story becomes relevant :)

TPC has stressed that the world is a challenging and worthwhile classroom to explore; the APS Museum has modeled how academics can find engaging careers outside of the ivory tower. When I think about my life as a set of courses, I notice that I am barely managing passing grades in "Time Management" and "Work Environment." I value being a well-rounded person; maybe this is the only chance in my life that I will have to "study" for and "pass" these courses?

This is an announcement to myself that I am willing to take on the challenge of re-invigoration. I want to find a way to re-invent what I thought was my "for-sure" future as an English Major. Now I sound a bit like Obama. These are broad declarations of Change I Can Hope For but what I can pragmatically believe in are these next few days of stress and fear. I don't think I'll go back on this decision but I am very grateful for the advice and support of the staff at both TPC and the APS Museum. I already have some employment leads that may lead to a more genuine future grad school application.

Don't really know how relevant this post is, but it's what's going on right now :)

The Union League and The Conservation Center

As my time between posts has been inordinate, I fear wasting anyone else's with the more mundane details of my life recently -- it would undoubtedly require the readership's stifling of many a yawn throughout my yarn. I would like to take the opportunity, therefore, to highlight two of my recent field trips: the Union League of Philadelphia, and the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts.

The Union League has loomed large over much of my time in Philly, quite literally; its placement kitty-corner from TPC makes for a startling work of architecture amid the skyscrapers of Center City -- many of which the Union League trumps nonetheless with its powerful presence and arcane aesthetic. Founded in 1862 to support President Lincoln and the Union during the tumult of the Civil War, the functionality of the institution has changed markedly, although many of its standards have not; despite my attendance at a meeting for the Civil War Consortium -- counting many of the premier cultural institutions of Philadelphia among its members, including the Rosenbach -- the Union League's dress code was explicitly outlined, with jacket and tie among its requirements. A tour following the aforementioned meeting elucidated the Union League's historical relevance from its inception onward; stately Sullys were situated strategically beside portraits of every Republican U.S. president, and a marvelous statue of Lincoln was bordered by a singular collection of Civil War-era books in the Lincoln Memorial Room. The gentlema... erm, patriotic social club's collection of paintings also included an unforgettable work (in scale and stature) of George Washington by the aforementioned Thomas Sully, two individuals I can't help but become intimately familiar with in a city of such deep historical relevance as Philadelphia.

While the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts has a decidedly more muted facade than the Union League, the objects inside were equally impressive -- and ever-changing! From the Rosenbach's own John Henry Brown journal to daguerreotypes, enrollment lists, maps, and illustrations by Disney himself, almost every imaginable form of media was in the process of conservation, providing a fascinating glimpse at the "during" stages of such intricate work. The knowledge base of the staff at the Conservation Center was astounding; in addition to the training necessary for curators, a strong foundation in chemistry -- organic chemistry included -- is prerequisite for work that often involves, for instance, the submersion of highly soluble objects into water. The eclectic demography of the Conservation Center was also a neat surprise; in the inherently classed structures of cultural institutions, seeing an array of individuals bound only by their passion for preservation (and buffed fingernails!) was settling, in ways. Needless to say, I am extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to visit both the Union League of Philadelphia and the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, as both buildings house magnificent collections and are illustrious examples of Philadelphia's historical relevance within the larger US cultural and historical scene.

Knocking on the Cabinet of Curiosity's Door

Recently I’ve been searching the APS Library and Museum collections for thematic connections that could translate into a potential future exhibition theme. Specifically, the APS Museum is looking to put on another “Treasures Revealed” exhibition which brings forth wondrous artifacts from the inner cabinets of dusty history and presents their unique life stories to curious visitors. For example, the last Treasures Revealed exhibition included Lewis and Clark’s field journals, Eugene Buguet’s gothic photographs of spirits communicating with clairvoyants, and the Works of Confucius & his disciples, a book bound in human skin.

Because we both work in an area that is devoted to the history of the Founding Fathers, I’ve spoken to Anne (fellow Fellow) about the Independence National Historic Park museum/library/offices’ worship of all things Great White Male. Benjamin Franklin and Lewis and Clark are two of the APS’s beloved mascots. Therefore I appreciate the mission of the APS Museum to give air-time to other (Other?) significant people/events/objects who also shaped our nation’s character. Their 2006 exhibition, The Princess and The Patriot, celebrates the achievements of some of the first female members of the APS. Because of this precedent, I’ve been wondering how I could bring forth collections material that are currently unidentified or do not fit with the majority of the collection strengths.

The objects that I have chosen to research have led me into the cracks between the collection catalogues where 27 item donations from 1797 have curiously become a 10 item remainder and where 19^th century replicas/fakes of original Aztec art masquerade in mystery. My cosmic question is how to present these items as treasures that fit with what the APS Museum defines as a ‘treasure’? In the past “Treasures Revealed” exhibition there were a few Inuit and unidentified American Indian artifacts that did not go through to the final object list because the researchers couldn’t accumulate enough of the right kind of information for a complete and relevant story. Unfortunately, I have been having the same kind of road-blocks with my own research but Lyndsey Rago Claro has been a great help and advisor so I can look forward to leaving an educational and comprehensive packet of potential exhibition material for a few artifacts in our collection.

Now I can’t help this next part because I’ve been trained to sniff out and (over) analyze the current living habits of historic disparities between human populations/communities. I am sensitive to throwing around these ‘-ist’ words (racist, classist, sexist, and their many friends) because I think people resist recognizing their pervasive influences in the assumedly “safe” and “politically correct” arenas of academe and liberal arts. These words put people on the defensive because they connote shame and blame. I’m not a friend of these words but I am a participant in our examination of them, so the way that I talk about these issues may be more bold or off-hand than others are used to.

Therefore, while I am going through the APS’s manuscript and material collections, I am trying to apply my specific skill set as a student of these ‘-ist’ words so that my contribution to the APS Museum will be significant because it is something that is unique to me and what I can offer. My time in class and in the city is a part of this perspective. Last week my Education and Difference at Work class visited the Belmont Charter School in West Philadelphia where each of us entered the classrooms of 2^nd-4^th graders. Besides being an inspirational experience that has turned me on to education as a career, my time at Belmont helped me brainstorm ideas for Treasures Objects—what would the children from my Belmont classroom want to see in a small history of science museum? These kinds of questions bring up the ‘-ist’ words because exhibition preparation has to take into account who we are serving, what is our intent, and as a consequence how can we broaden our reach? I’ve been excited to see how, as the Museum is becoming a professional icon, the shows and public programming are finding ways to serve under privileged neighborhoods…I hope my own interests and research will connect with these communities in some way.

I am currently pulling together past research that the APS Museum staff had begun on some of these “unidentified” or “random” collection objects that are testimonies of histories other than Benjamin Franklin and Co. There are lots of promising artifacts that ran into a dead end because they couldn’t fit in with the exhibition’s themes or because of technicalities with rights and reproduction laws. Sometimes I worry that if these objects are displayed that acts like NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) will require the APS Museum to return the objects, which is “good” but also a loss for the Museum (interesting ideas of identity through ownership going on here…) So that’s what’s up in my neck of the woods and I’m optimistic about the results!

The Unexpected

In my first post, I talked about contributing to an upcoming exhibit space inside the First Bank:

Despite setbacks, the staff are hoping to open the first floor of the bank building to the public as the new site of the archaeology lab. If their plan pans out, the second and third floors would remain split between storage and office space and the basement would remain somewhat creepy and totally awesome.

It turns out the Bank is open to the public much earlier than expected. I haven’t gotten all of the details straightened out yet, but I figure that’s what the ‘edit’ button is for. There hasn’t been time to ask too many questions with the urgency of First Bank’s debut. Though not all of the grand plans for the Living History Center have worked out yet because of time constraints, much of what was planned (my panels included) will be added at the pace originally intended.

The park’s Living History Center used to be in an annex of the old Visitor’s Center. It stands on Third Street, directly across the street from First Bank. The Visitor’s Center was purchased by an outside group, as detailed in this article. They hope to raze the building and construct their own museum, focusing on the US War for Independence (1775-1783). In anticipation of the move, the Living History Center (seemingly) packed up and moved to a small, but functional temporary location for the winter.

In a surprise twist of incredible timing, which set the events in my post in motion, I am happy to inform you that October is Pennsylvania Archaeology Month! It being such a month, the Living History Center is open to the public. Without lights, air conditioning, or much free floor-space to work with, the Bank building needed lots of work done to prepare the small exhibit on the park’s archaeological digs. Watching everyone present pull an exhibit together so efficiently was, for lack of better word, inspiring. I was lucky to be there during the install.

Despite the unexpected rush, the staff weren’t careless or bitter. The install illustrates two things I have noticed favorably among the staff during my placement. They are incredibly focused on getting a job done and keeping everyone safe during work. Both traits are a joy to watch.

Philly and the Rosenbach

Much like Natasha and Ann, my time in Philadelphia thus far can only be described with superlatives. I am particularly pleased with my experience at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, one of the (many) hidden gems in the robust academe scene here. In a few short weeks, I have had the privilege of holding John Brown's letters, one of which was written in the days before his execution following the Harpers Ferry raid; Cervantes' first published edition of Don Quixote, widely regarded as the first modern novel; and James Joyce's Ulysses manuscript, considered by many to be the epitome of the modernist movement, among many other fascinating objects. I have been given two main projects thus far at the Rosenbach, each of which has been instrumental in introducing me to the multifarious nature of work at cultural institutions.

In commemoration of the upcoming sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the Rosenbach has planned an exhibition chronicling the factors leading to our nation’s most fractured era through its collections, and I have the incredible opportunity to contribute a subtheme to the exhibit. From choosing the pertinent objects for display, to determining a compelling and informative storyline through which to connect each of the items, even to creating labels and citations for the exhibit, I have, in an intensive three weeks of work, been exposed to the process of exhibition development – in many ways, similar to the construction of a research paper, but with additional elements of artistic license and intimacy in working with manuscripts, letters, and other media. Academic research in topics of interest is engaging enough, but it pales in comparison to the potentiality of educating the masses through exhibition development.

My other focus thus far at the Rosenbach has been in relation to Marianne Moore, the (decidedly) American modernist poet whose works are largely housed in the library. While the Rosenbach is dedicated to programming and education as a museum open to the public, its library is equally valued as a resource to researchers and other scholars; and with a significant portion of Moore’s work among its collections, many who engage in research at the Rosenbach are particularly interested in her papers. The logistics behind permissions and property rights are still rather unfamiliar to me, but in essence, I have been assigned to make sure that research and related work has been properly acknowledged as done through the library’s collections – thus, I am gaining invaluable insight on the methods and procedures of academic research on both sides of the equation, individually and institutionally. There are additional side projects that I have begun working on as well – manuscript transcriptions and independent research, in particular – that, in all, have framed an unequivocally positive experience thus far at the Rosenbach Museum and Library.

A Few Firsts

The First Bank. You can see its very tiny label in the bottom

left corner of the window to the right of the front door.

The First Bank of the United States

The First Bank of the United States acted as an early commercial bank and regulated of currency. The bank also served as the US government’s fiscal agent during its chartered life (1791-1811). It was an integral part of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s overarching plan to stimulate the struggling US economy. During its first years of operation, Carpenter’s Hall housed the bank. In 1797, the bank moved to its own, permanent location nearby at 116 South Third Street. The building is currently a part of the Independence National Historical Park (INHP). Though its textbook name is First Bank, the distinction of ‘first’ came long after the bank had ceased operations to differentiate from the nearby ‘second’ bank of the same name.

After the Bank of the United States’ charter expired in 1811, local merchant Stephen Girard bought the property and opened his own bank. The building remained a bank until the Girard National Bank moved to a new building in center city in 1926. The original interior of the Bank of the United States is largely unknown because the bank has few surviving records to work with. Documentation is especially between the years of 1800 and 1901. From the few photographs and written accounts, the NPS knows the first floor originally contained a barrel vaulted ceiling running east-west that was held by a series of Corinthian columns. All banking took place on the first floor. The original layout of the second floor and third floor are unknown.

With the sole exception of the basement, the entire interior of the bank was gutted for renovations in 1901. James H. Windrim is credited with redesigning the interior of the bank. The center of the first floor was opened up into a rotunda and topped by a massive skylight. Series of Corinthian columns hold up the rotunda and skylight on the first and second floors. Also, a large winding staircase and elevator were added to the back (west) end of the bank. The NPS acquired the Bank of the United States from the City of Philadelphia in 1954 and it is currently not in use.

The First Project of a CRM Intern

Lucky for you, I’m not just posting on random historic buildings because it’s the trendy thing to do. In my semester-long quest to do what work has been sitting around for ages, I am preparing exhibit panels for the Bank of the United States. The above is a very diluted version of the bank building outline I made using the park’s collection of Historic Structure Reports as preliminary reading. To supplement the reports, I am currently in between a small mountain of books concerning Finance and Classical architectural themes in the early United States. Hopefully, I'll gain a bit of fluency in both. Alongside reading, I’ve also located images of the bank and related records within the park's collections. There are also a few local collections I need to look into that are not affiliated with the National Park Service, but seem promising. Reading books about commerce and porticoes isn’t all there is in the Cultural Resources Management (CRM) department. There are also statues, ceramic shards, historic wallpapers, government bureaucracy, and all sorts of fantastic museum professionals! There are a ton of fascinating things I am excited to have the opportunity to take part in, but I think I’ll take this blogging business one thing at a time.

My search for a general understanding of the Bank of the United States isn’t entirely random, either. From my office window, I can see a steady stream of park visitors wander past the bank. People take pictures of the façade, try to decipher the roman numerals on the entablature, and generally look very confused. To many, the building stands as a point of interest in part because it isn’t labeled very well. Though it’s rare for uniformed park staff to not be nearby, I often walk by the bank building and overhear someone curious as to what they are looking at. Closed to the public and somewhat isolated, the bank building doesn’t provide much in the way of context all by its lonesome self.

National Park Service staff have used the Bank of the United States building as the park welcome center, storage, offices, and then storage again. The bank's days as storage will (hopefully) soon draw to close. Despite setbacks, the staff are hoping to open the first floor of the bank building to the public as the new site of the Independence Living History Center (archaeology lab). If their plan pans out, the second and third floors would remain split between storage and office space and the basement would remain somewhat creepy and totally awesome.

Along with doing research and preparing exhibit materials, CRM staff also look after the maintenance, management, and preservation of the Independence National Historical Park’s cultural resources. The CRM staff are overall very dedicated to their work and I'm thankful to have the chance to work with them this fall. Below are some links that have to do with CRM and a reference to the historic structures report I derived the First Bank summary from.

• Blog of the INHP Archives and Library.
• Info on the Independence Living History Center (archaeology lab).
• Info on the Cultural Resources Management Department.
• The short First Bank outline derives information from Historic Structure Report: First Bank of the United States, Historical and Architectural Data April, 1981 pages 7-24.

Natasha,

Glad to see you're really getting the whole notion of using Philadelphia as a classroom resource, the experientialness of learning academic subjects, and making Philly your home. Creative Zoology? Didn't even know such a thing existed. You sent me thinking back to my graduate days to a Victorian literature seminar. I remember a session looking at Darwin's work through a set of illustrations.

Have you read Gerald Prince with your developing interest in narratology? Or Labov's narrative study of oral narratives--he did his research on kids from Detroit many years ago, but I think his schema is very relevant to teach writing and reading. Have you read some of Cameron McCarthy's stuff on critical race theory? I have a collection of essays you can borrow (if you have the time--ha-ha!!) called Race Identity and Representation in Education.

Thanks for giving me a window into what you're learning and appreciating.

Mark

First Few Weeks in Philly

I am going to start this entry off by doing something I’ve been taught not to do: listing disclaimers before presenting my opinions. I have never created or contributed to a blog but I have been an avid keeper of journals since I was a kid, so my blogs will have an informal but informative character. Also, I think/hope this will be the longest blog since it is a backlog of the past four weeks that I expect will be the most action-packed of the entire semester, so please excuse the length.

Coming to Philly

For those of you new to The Philadelphia Center (TPC) it has, since 1967, “offered college students a semester of experiential education; a unique hands-on program geared toward professional, academic, and personal growth in an active urban environment” (TPC website). As a TPC intern, we are expected to complete 32 hours per week in a field of our choice, embrace the city as our “personal growth” classroom, and critically engage with peers and faculty in two challenging courses taught by full time TPC faculty. Here is a link to TPC’s new Research Fellowships in the Liberal Arts program: http://www.tpc.edu/news/view/research_fellowships_in_the_liberal_arts

The academic credits that TPC grants us translate to over 3 units of Kalamazoo College credits, so I had the option of not taking an elective. I’m currently enrolled in Dr. Diana Water’s class “Education and Difference at Work.” First off, she’s super cool and one of those rare individuals I can envision myself emulating in 10-15 years. Secondly, this class takes the critical theories and texts that I have studied at Kalamazoo [critical race theory; race and racism in politics; narratology] and applies it to the field of education, which I know next to nothing about. Since I hope to become a college professor I thought it’d be beneficial to learn something about education.

The first two weeks were intense but fun. We were thrown into an unfamiliar context with 5 days to adjust to our surroundings—like a cluster of freshmen, we clung to each other with transparent anxiety and honesty. Here’s a breakdown of what we did that week, in the following order: find the hotel, find TPC, find friends, find the city streets, find housing, find roommates, find new housing, find new friends and new roommates, find furniture and utilities, find money to pay for all this stuff, find a job, and find some down time. You may notice that we did a lot of “finding,” and that’s the point of TPC, it’s the experiential learning that makes this gig work.

So what did I find? The three best people and friends I could’ve been lucky enough to have in Philly.

Meesha Nolen is my roommate: she’s pre-placed at the news station NBC 10 as a sports analyst; she’s introduced me to the fun side of city life, brought out the social side of my personality, and has supported me like a sister and close friend even after only four days of knowing each other. Next is Justin Baker: he is a senior at Hope College (Meesha is a junior at Hope); as a Psychology and Social Work major, he already has tons of work on his agenda (including a Senior Seminar) but he’s always easy-going and fun to hang out with. From our interactions I know that Justin will be an incredible social worker since, as he always says, he “was born just wanting to help people.” Last but not least is Robert Crenshaw: a senior at Whitman, he shares my interest/obsession with race, ethnic, and poetic theories and expressions, and he has as loud and proud a personality as I do. Our apartment is the largest I’ve seen in the city so far and has central heating/air with great water pressure in the showers, so we’re very very content.

I now pronounce you Natasha and Museum

The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an elite group of the foremost scholars and practitioners in international intellectual circles that, as America’s first learned society, has become an “eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, [that] promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and community outreach” (From APS website, see below). The APS was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin and company [More info here: http://www.amphilsoc.org

Over the years the APS has gathered and preserved a rich collection that includes “scientific specimens and instruments, patent models, portraits, maps, art works, rare books, and more than ten million manuscripts” (APS Museum website). Unfortunately, these signature artifacts of American history were stored away in dusty rooms of the APS until a distinguished figure in the international world of museums, art, and culture, Dr. Sue Ann Prince, came to Philadelphia with a vibrant vision to open the APS’s collection to what I think is its most important members: the Philadelphia public. Dr. Prince founded the Museum in 2000 and celebrated its first exhibition, “From the Laboratory to the Parlor: Scientific Instruments in Philadelphia, 1750-1875," in 2001.

The Front of the APS Museum Administrative Offices

One of the most compelling aspects of the Museum is its dedication to local Philly artists, musicians, and actors since every exhibition includes multiple performances and installations by provocative contemporary artists. [More about the APS Museum at this webpage: http://www.apsmuseum.org/] From what I’ve seen so far, I think the APS Museum’s mission is to promote creative learning in an educational setting that introduces a new, two-way relationship between the APS’s material collection and the imagination of Philly’s citizens.

This is a clip from the performance “Darwinii: The Comeuppance of Man” that debuted as part of the 2009 Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, starring Bretty Keyser. Keyser acts as the bastard great grandson of Charles Darwin and explains/explores common misconceptions of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Full information is on the APS museum’s website, provided above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTovMGwXQw

The current exhibition, Dialogues with Darwin, uses the largest Darwin collection outside of Cambridge, England to trace the notion of dialogue in the field of science as it “evolved” from before The Origin of Species was published up to our contemporary times.

Pictures of Darwin Exhibition

In conjunction with the exhibition, we recently hosted a performance and installation by Beauvais Lyons, Professor in the School of Arts at University of Tennessee, whose Association for Creative Zoology parodies and complicates the ongoing debate between creationists and evolutionists. As he explains on his blog, http://web.utk.edu/~blyons/

“The Association for Creative Zoology posits that species variation has resulted from the direct hand of our God, who not only creates flora and fauna whole-cloth, but uses previously existing creative works as the building blocks for creating new species. This explains the common attributes of many plants and animals and is reflected in the principle of zoomorphic juncture.”

I was most impressed that he designed all of the articles in his/the Hokes collection, which shows how versatile of an artist he is in order to be able to create color prints, lithographs, sculptures, porcelain plates and perform taxidermy, acting, and tract writing. Following are some pictures I took of his exhibition…

Kiosks in the Jefferson Gardens

Creationist Propagandist Beauvais Lyons

Taxidermy of the Pekingese Duck

Taxidermy of the Squirrel Bird

Taxidermy of the Gorilla Hen

Taxidermy Collections

Blue and White Ming Porcelain [My favorite piece]

The Association for Creative Zoology

Also, I helped set up and monitor the installation and prepare for his presentation at the National Mechanics Bar that hosts a monthly event called Science on Tap which brings in speakers supported by the APS Museum, the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and the Wagner Free Institute of Science.

While Sue Ann is the founding force of the Museum, the reputation for success that the Museum is acquiring would not have happened without the tireless dedication of its staff. I am always impressed by their diverse skills and knowledge: producing acclaimed scholarly articles/books; constructing wooden kiosks; tracking down impossibly obscure information about APS’s collection; whipping their website into an aesthetic success; creating a range of educational materials for Philly teachers; and navigating the capricious personalities of Phillies’ finest museums and scholars. And the winners are:

Dr. Sue Ann Prince, Director and Curator
Ms. Merrill Mason, Associate Director
Dr. Jenni Drozdek, Assistant Curator of Museum Education
Dr. Jane E. Boyd, Research Curator
Dr. Sylwester Ratowt, Research Associate
Ms. Julianna Struck, Curatorial Associate
Ms. Mary Grace Wahl, Project Director, Collections Care and Management

Lyndsey Rago Claro, Collections Researcher

As a student-intern, my responsibilities have been constructed with an eye towards my own interests as well as the museum’s needs.

Brief list of my basic projects: research multiple (freaking sweet) artifacts for which the Museum has little to no information; gather potential label information for the “Everything Giraffe” section of the upcoming French Natural History exhibition; help set up and monitor the performance/installation of the “Association for Creative Zoology” and a corresponding ‘Parody Panel’; finally, writing the first drafts of my SIP.

An Example of the Waley Earthenware Giraffe Plates that were popular after the arrival of ‘Zarafa’ from Egypt in 1826.

I think my SIP and research project will start out with a descriptive history of Museology and the contemporary theories of art/science museums before moving into an exploration of how APS Museum’s exhibitions and programming are examples of these theories. Finally, and most importantly, I want to focus most of my paper on how to apply this research to the practical challenges/reality of public education and innovative exhibitions. My objective is to put the theories I’ve read so many times to work—as my professor Dr. Diana Waters would say, make it walk the talk.

For example, I realized the complications of graphic design, exhibition space, and presentation that the APS curators have had to work with in order to put together a successful exhibition in such a small space. The following are pictures of some of the “trade secrets” that I learned:

Using fabric partitions to divide up a large drafty room

Covering up the room’s huge windows with shades that mimic the surrounding walls

Designing Information and Images that will fit with the overall layout of the exhibition

Placing artifacts in visually pleasing yet easy to understand positions

Juxtaposing the excessive collection of The Origin of Species books in an artistic demonstration of the universal dialogue and communication of science

Using Post-it Notes to allow visitors to engage with and contribute to the dialogues with Darwin

Learning “Work”

My first two weeks at the APS Museum were a little frustrating because I've been a student for 14 years now and this is my first complete transition to a work environment outside of the classroom. Even while I was in Chicago and worked in their Special Collections and Rare Manuscripts Library, I was still a research fellow, student, and part-time employee. Now I work 9-5 for 4 days a week plus the occasional afternoon event on the weekends. I think this list will be the most efficient and accurate way to explain this transition:

-Realize that I do not have a professional work wardrobe....realize that after buying a bunch of work clothes that my workplace is more casual that I thought...buy more clothes

-Realize that a teacher will not come over every hour to check on my progress; also realize that my work isn't due the next day, the next week, not even at the end of the month during exams but three months from now

-figure out how to ration work for such a long deadline and engage in brute-force googling in lieu of reading French 19^th century documents for mentions of giraffes.

-Aha moment!!! Work is actually challenging and thought-provoking if I rise to the occasion and have the initiative to develop projects, create work for myself, and step out of my corner office. I’m also excited to learn how to accept the web-like deadlines of a work environment that is in opposition to the achievement structured hierarchy of class work that I am used to.

My Workspace: I have the largest and best window office in the entire building

Coming Home

Finally (thanks for sticking this long blog with me, promise it’ll never be this long again!!) I come home after work to my Philly family. I can’t speak enough about the roomie love and friendship that I depend on to keep me going through the week. Meesha, Justin, and Robert are the best part of my Philadelphia experience. In terms of recreation, I've found a store across the way that rents tennis rackets for $5 for two days :) and a beautiful park with plenty of sitting and grassy space for studying/sleeping in the sun.

Old City Coffee Shop with Yerba Matte!!

My chair for people-watching

My Lunch Cart

My Sitting Area Around Washington Park

After work, I notice my world and its surroundings in a new way. I see a store and think about its presentation, contents, sales, financial business, etc and can imagine myself placed in that active communal role and being successful at creating. Buildings, programs, and things that previously just “were” or just “existed” for my consumption are now creations by groups of people like me. With a group, I can do anything—a little Kalamazoo student, with a group and the appropriate resources, can put on a national event and stamp permanent changes on our cities. I think it’s appropriate to end this blog by saying that having experienced teamwork, resourcefulness, innovation, and inspiration I know I see all things in the world as do-able.