Hello readers, and welcome to my blog! My name is Emily Dattilo, and I am a senior studying History and Anthropology at Loyola University Chicago. Here at Loyola, the Anthropology Department recently acquired a large donation of artifacts from a woman named May Weber. She was a psychiatrist in Chicago who also had a passion for collecting ethnographic artifacts (stuff from other cultures) from all over the world. At one point she opened her house as a museum for all these artifacts, but eventually it had to close (Museums are expensive. Really really expensive.). After her passing, she donated her collection to Loyola, and now it is my job (along with my fellow classmates and professor, Dr. Nichols) to get this collection organized and functioning as a tool for research and teaching. This blog will document my work with these artifacts, along with all the triumphs and trials in the process.
Working with the May Weber Collection presents a unique opportunity to work with a collection from its very beginning. Most collections in museums are fairly well-established already and other people throughout the years have worked with the artifacts, made discoveries, made mistakes, and, most importantly, done all the dirty work involved in
accessioning artifacts. With the May Weber Collection, WE will be the ones handling the artifacts, researching them, and taking care of all the big and little details of accessioning. Although this process will take years to finish and my internship ends with the semester in December, I am thrilled to be able to build the foundations for so many future students. In this sense, I am giving back to the Loyola community. One day students, professors, and researchers alike will be able to use the collection to learn first-hand about museum work, as well as other cultures, and I am proud to know that I will be helping to make this goal possible. Additionally, I hope to one day work in a museum so this opportunity will give me a glimpse into what the future might have in store for me.
A view of the May Weber Collection...and its many cardboard boxes.
A rather...frightening...piece from the collection. Fortunately, it's too big to fit in the room where I'll be doing most of my work.
Now, for the questions you've probably been asking yourself: “What does she mean by Cardboard Jungle?? What does that have to do with a collection of stuff??” Well, over the summer I was able to begin work on the collection, which mainly involved organizing and sorting through boxes. When I first visited the tiny room on the quiet 8th floor of Mundelein it was filled with cardboard boxes. Wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling stacks of cardboard boxes. Each of these many boxes held surprises and mysteries that were slowly unpacked and repacked throughout the summer. Not much time had passed in that cramped space before I started calling it a jungle, both for its confusing layout and the many uncertainties it held. Although there aren't nearly as many boxes in the room anymore, I thought it was appropriate to use this nickname for the blog that will record my work in that very special “jungle.”
I hope you enjoy all of my stories from my exciting semester within the depths of “The Cardboard Jungle!”
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