A Most Mysterious Artifact

"Energy and persistence conquer all things."

~Benjamin Franklin

This week brought, of course, more accessioning. Undaunted by mold (oh yes, there's been more of that) and a never-ending pile of boxes, we have bravely continued our work. We're making great progress with the accessions, considering we've accessioned over 100 artifacts!!!!

100+ artifacts accessioned is definitely a reason to celebrate.

Beside working with the collection, my internship also includes a class on Museum Studies. In this week's class we were presented with a mystery object as part of our lesson in documentation and attribution. According to the catalog this artifact was an "African shield." Dr. Nichols was skeptical so she and another student investigated while the rest of us have been accessioning. She walked us through the process of researching an object when you have very little to go on:

1. Google it. That's right, Google. Although it all sounds very informal, Google is a great starting place. We didn't have any available documentation on our "African shield," so we did an image search. We were looking for pictures of shields that matched the materials and techniques of our shield, along with similarities in design. Various results led us to our next step...

2. Finding another reputable source to find out more about other artifacts that resembled ours. Some sources we checked in class were May Weber's books (Good thing we organized them a few weeks ago.) and the British Museum's online database. Dr. Nichols even posted a picture of the "shield" on Facebook so her friends with experience in anthropology and/or museums could offer their insight. Obviously, using Facebook is only effective if you have enough friends that might be knowledgeable in the area you are researching. If I had done the same thing, I would have gotten more questions than answers.

So, after a long trail of searching, we discovered that our "African shield" was actually a shield from the island of New Britain, which is part of Papua New Guinea.

The mystery artifact

This investigation taught us the very important lesson of reliability. Just because something as formal and reputable as a museum catalog says that an artifact is one thing, does not rule out the possibility that it might be something else. Mistakes happen and sometimes paperwork and notes get lost in the files over the years, making the catalog record inaccurate. That doesn't mean that you can't trust anything in the catalog; it only means that you shouldn't be afraid to ask questions when necessary. We also learned how to solve this problem with easily accessible resources. Who would have thought you could research an artifact in a museum collection with Google and Facebook?? 

Any post about the Cardboard Jungle wouldn't be complete without pictures of some of the artifacts I encountered this week. Being able to work with all the different artifacts is what makes this internship so exciting, and I hope all of you readers are also finding these artifacts interesting. Enjoy some pictures from this week in the collection!!

Children's shoes from China-My favorite artifact of the week!!

This bird mask is nothing to squawk at.

 I'm not sure what this is...

 A rather grim mask...but its mouth moves!!

More Mexican masks waiting to be accessioned.

The adventures continue next week, so be sure to stay tuned!!!!

Thanks for reading!!!!

Eat. Sleep. Accession.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” 

~Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax

We have FINALLY begun working with the artifacts in the May Weber Collection!!!! We have begun the process of accessioning all the artifacts and at the same time we are filling out condition reports for the objects we accession. Admittedly, this is going to be a long process, but the end result (beautiful, wonderful organization!!!!) will be worth all our hard work and dedication in the end.

Look at that smile. Even this mask from Cameroon is happy we've begun accessioning.

Unless you have done accessions before or are otherwise participating in the museum world, you probably have no idea what on earth I'm talking about or why I'm so excited about it. Let me clear that up for you. Accessioning is the process where a museum takes responsibility for a collection of artifacts. They record basic information about each object in the collection, take note of its condition upon arrival (condition report), and enter the information into the database with the rest of the museum's collections. Since this is our first and only collection, we're in the process of building our database. This process is so exciting because not only are we able to handle the objects (we have some really cool and really interesting stuff), but also we are getting them organized. It's all starting to look more like a collection and less like a room full of boxes.

For us working with the May Weber Collection, the accession process operates like this:

1. Pick an object.

Pick a mask, any mask

2. Fill out the condition report. You will assign the object a new number, note relevant background information (where it's from, old numbers, etc.), note what it's made of, take measurements, and record what it looks like, including any damages or condition issues.

This is what our condition reports look like.

3. Remove the old tag and attach the new one.

These Mexican masks all have new tags.

4. Repeat the process with another object!!

Filling out a condition report for the mask on the right

A useful lesson that I learned on my first day of accessions is to always wear gloves when working with the artifacts. Whether it be cotton or nitrile gloves, it is important to wear them so that the artifact is protected from you, and you are protected from the artifact. One of the masks I was accessioning looked like it had some dust or cobwebs on it. Turns out it's most likely mold. Thankfully I was wearing cotton gloves. 

Thumbs up for cotton gloves, protector from mold!!

Between learning how to accession artifacts and running into mold, this past week has been particularly eventful here in the May Weber Collection. Stay tuned for more adventures next week!!

Thanks for reading!!!!

No Such Thing As Too Many Books

“[Books] are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print."

~Barbara W. Tuchman

Deep within the jungle there lie two low walls. No one knows exactly how they came to be, only that they seem immovable and ancient features of the dense jungle.

Well, until now.

Those "low walls" happen to be boxes of books from May Weber's library. She collected dozens and dozens of books about art and textiles from all different cultures, presumably to learn about the artifacts she was also collecting. At any rate, that's what we intend to use the books for once they are organized. Like the artifacts and textiles, the books were packed into boxes without any organization whatsoever. This situation applies to all the artifacts in the collection and has been perhaps one of the biggest obstacles to beginning more work on the collection since I began organizing this summer. As you can imagine, it is very difficult to find things when you only have a vague idea where they are.

On Friday my classmates and I finished unpacking and sorting all the books, the first steps in organizing this part of the jungle. Our work table was filled corner to corner with piles of books about art around the world. In a sense, the world was laid out before us.

So many books.

Language was obviously not a barrier to May Weber, considering many of the books were in other languages (mostly French and German). However language became a barrier to us at some points. We began re-packing the books on Africa and not knowing French or German sometimes made it difficult to figure out which country the book was discussing, or whether or not it was a specific country at all. But, with our combined basic knowledge of other Romance languages (After spending a semester in Rome, I'm not too bad at Italian.) and some educated guessing, we were usually able to figure out where in the world the book was discussing before resorting to Google translate.

By the time I arrived for my shift in the collection on Monday, my classmates had finished packing up all the books and begun sorting through the boxes of paperwork. I continued their work with some of the papers. To be honest, I arrived at the collection on Monday and fully expected to finish packing up the books. I was incredibly (and pleasantly) surprised to see the table completely cleared and all the boxes back in their places, filled with all the books I was just unpacking on Friday. Seeing all of that progress showed me exactly why is it so wonderful to have so many people work on the collection. Such a large task would have never been finished so quickly over the summer when there were fewer people working on it.

A table of papers, surrounded by boxes of books and more papers

Slowly, but surely, we are preparing to work with the artifacts themselves. We have all the materials, we have the room set up, but we just have to work on the finishing touches to these other details. However, the official May Weber Collection blog is up and running!! Dr. Nichols, my classmates, and I will be posting about our work on this blog. Make sure to check it out by clicking this link: http://blogs.luc.edu/mayweber/ 

If you're not already following my blog, then make sure to subscribe using your Google account or your email address so you don't miss any of my adventures in the Cardboard Jungle.

Thanks for reading!!

Getting Down to Business

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

~Nelson Mandela

This past Friday was my first day back with the May Weber Collection since the summer, and we got right down to business. Three fellow classmates and I were assigned the seemingly impossible task of helping Dr. Nichols move all the museum supplies from her office in BVM to the collection across the street in Mundelein. All the materials we moved will be used both to present and preserve the artifacts. These items ranged from packing material (fluffy and spongy stuff) to a state-of-the-art vacuum to giant stacks of blue board (used to display artifacts). We were fortunate enough to have some carts, but even with those it was difficult to navigate the big, bulky boxes of supplies through the crowds of students and faculty. This task became particularly difficult during the passing period between classes when we had to share the small elevators with students going to and from their classes. By the time all the materials were in the room, we were exhausted, but at the end of the afternoon it was great to see how much progress we had made!! Now we are equipped to begin work on all the other details, such as organizing, cataloging, and preserving. We're well on our way to making the May Weber Collection presentable.

 Some of the stuff we moved: a state-of-the-art vacuum (bottom left), a sewing machine (back and center), and spongy and fluffy packing stuff (right)

 Group picture in a Mundelein elevator

This is a room across the hall from the original "Cardboard Jungle," and it looks like the original one did in the beginning of the summer. It really is a jungle out there.

When you think of museum work, heavy lifting and manual labor aren't usually what comes to mind. Usually it calls to mind work that is a lot more sedentary, like researching artifacts or planning exhibits at a desk. However, getting organized and gathering materials is one of the obstacles that must be overcome when starting up a collection. We need to get the heavy lifting done before we can have the materials to begin work on the details of the collection. So, as much as I have to admit that I am not physically made for manual labor (and that only becomes more obvious when the boxes are bigger and heavier than me), this experience has not scared me away from museum work as a whole. There are many things to do in a museum, and moving boxes is not likely to become my future occupation. However I might want to start lifting weights, just in case. At the same time, it was great to be able to get to know some of my classmates better. When you're all thrown to together for a few hours, you're bound to leave knowing each other better than when you started. I look forward to working with them more over the course of the semester!

Due to the three-day Labor Day weekend, I have had to wait an entire week to return to the May Weber Collection. Stay tuned for more tales from the Cardboard Jungle!!

Thanks for reading!!