The End

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

~Dr. Seuss

A little over a week ago I graduated from Loyola University Chicago, and with that event my undergraduate experiences came to an end, including interning in the May Weber Collection. After almost an entire year of working in the Cardboard Jungle, it is finally time to say goodbye. And goodbyes are never easy. To make it a little easier, I have decided to use my photo series, Selfies with the May Weber Collection, to help me say goodbye to one of my favorite places at Loyola. Almost every week for the past two semesters I have taken a selfie with something in the collection, and the result is a bunch of pictures that attempt to sum up a year's worth of experiences. (Disclaimer: No artifacts were harmed/mishandled during the making of this photo series.)

Now that it is the end of my adventures, I can better see how the collection and myself have changed in the past year. The collection moved from its temporary housing in Mundelein to its new and improved rooms a few floors down. For my part, I have learned more than I could have ever imagined about myself and about cultural artifacts. A selfie doesn't really do justice to all of these changes, but I can tell you that I started somewhat apprehensive, but also smiling, enthusiastic, and willing to learn.

First day in the collection for class!!

I wasn't always sure what I was dealing with, but it was exciting just to have the opportunity to work with artifacts in a collection. I, and my fellow interns, were part of an incredible beginning and carried out so many amazing transformations for this collection, and I am grateful that I was able to help out with all of that for almost an entire year.

One mystery that was eventually solved: it's from Papua New Guinea.

Yay masks!!

As to be expected in any jungle, there was excitement, and occasionally some sort of danger, awaiting me in the depths of the Cardboard Jungle. There was never a dull moment. I am still fascinated by all the unique and curious artifacts in the collection. It has always kept me asking questions, and occasionally those questions were answered.

I've encountered swooping birds of prey,

dinosaurs returned from extinction,

colorful and fierce animals,

and toothy demonic creatures.

As cliché as it sounds, I've also learned a few things. I've learned how to build storage mounts, my sewing skills improved...

...and I encountered the frustration and exhilaration of researching uncharted territory. As a result, I know way more than you would imagine about Indian textiles and Chinese clothing. My research is also now part of the collection so that future students and researchers won't be quite so lost when they encounter these artifacts.

(Left) Researching the Indian jacket and (Right) the Chinese tiger shoes











Looking back on my experiences, some of them could have easily killed my dream of going into museum work. Dust and mold aren't exactly glamorous, and sometimes the only things that need to be done are the tedious tasks no one else wanted to do earlier that week.

Despite any obstacles, the collection somehow still managed to put a smile on my face, partly because of the wonderful people there too. In the fall semester, I got to know a wonderful group of interns, and in the spring semester I became better acquainted with my fellow alumni interns. Dr. Nichols has been an amazing professor throughout this year, and it has been a pleasure to be her intern/volunteer/minion.

After all this time, it's no surprise that I've also found myself growing more and more enthusiastic over seemingly unexciting things, like proper storage. The words "archival quality" are music to my ears, and I'd love to talk for hours (or write blog posts) about the many artifacts in the collection. Who knew one could care so much about inanimate objects??

I may still be smiling, but don't let that fool you. I've known it for a long time, but now at the end of the year I truly feel how much I'm going to miss the May Weber Collection. It has become an important part of my undergraduate experience, and I can't imagine my senior year without it. My time there has given me a taste of the museum world and solidified my dreams of finding a career in a museum after graduate school.

Last day in the collection!!

I hope that in the coming years the May Weber Collection will continue to settle into its new home and eventually become an established and well-loved collection at Loyola. I look forward to hearing all about its developments in the future!!

Now that I'm at the end of the year and the end of my blog, it is time to say thanks:

Thank you so much to Dr. Nichols for being my mentor this the past year. This year wouldn't have been the same without you, and I wouldn't be where I am today!!

Thank you to my fellow alumni interns for being dedicated and all-around awesome. I'm so glad I got to know you all better this semester!!

Thank you to all of my readers for following my blog this year. I have truly appreciated having a supportive audience to share my incredible adventures with each week.  

For the last time, thanks for reading!!!!

Discoveries

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places."

~Roald Dahl

The May Weber Collection has always been a land of surprises and more are being uncovered as we continue to move into the new rooms. Just when you think you know what's in the collection, something pops up out of nowhere. Sometimes it's a pleasant surprise, and other times not so much.

 What sort of interesting stories are behind these artifacts??

 Surprise!! New bookshelves!!

The cabinets are finally filling up with objects.

I've talked about finding mold on objects more than once this year, but it's always been inactive mold. This type of mold is more dry and can sometimes look like ordinary dust. Active mold, on the other hand, is the white, fluffy, spongy/squishy stuff that looks like trouble. This type needs to be treated in order to protect the object from further damage, usually by sealing it in a bag and freezing it for a while. And now we have an object with what appears to be active mold!!!! See all those white spots? That's mold. It's difficult to see from the picture, but the spots are kind of fuzzy too. Hopefully we'll be able to seal and freeze it soon. In the meantime, don't touch it...

The white mold spots are on the left near the bottom of the basket. Yikes.

A far more pleasant surprise has been finding more children's hats from China!!!! Two of them are tiger hats, probably from different provinces in China. The other one looks like it has a fish design. Another of the hats is pink with flowers and five metal figures, topped with some springy pompoms. This one might be from an ethnic minority group rather than mainstream Chinese culture. There's also a pair of purple tiger shoes that look older than the ones I researched. It is absolutely incredible to discover more objects like the pair of shoes I researched earlier this semester since I already know something about them. For that matter, these are probably the first objects in this collection that I have recognized. My only regret is that I don't have time to do more research on these specific artifacts.

 The hat on the left has an image of a fish and the other two are traditional tiger hats.

Hats and shoes in storage

Possibly an ethnic minority hat? Regardless, that pompom is awesome.

Another pair of tiger shoes!! Like the shoes I researched, these are also shaped like baby booties. However, these shoes are decorated in very different colors and with different designs.

Before I close this post, I would like to apologize for my lack of posts recently. I have been incredibly busy these past few weeks with finals, graduation, and all sorts of end of the year stuff, and therefore, unable to find time to write about my adventures in the collection until now. Unfortunately, the end of the year means that my blog will be ending soon too. Stay tuned for one more post!!

Thanks for reading!!

The New and Improved May Weber Collection

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."

~Vincent Van Gogh

After waiting for over a year, the May Weber Collection is finally moving to its permanent home!!!! Dr. Nichols and the rest of us are thrilled to now be in a bigger space with better storage. We're still in the process of bringing objects from the old rooms to the new rooms, but hopefully it won't take too long with the team of current and alumni interns to help Dr. Nichols.

Goodbye, old rooms!!

That being said, this change of rooms is only one major shift in a series of smaller ones over the past year. The landscape of the collection has changed a lot since it first arrived at Loyola. I've written before about how it has changed since the summer, but even since the last semester it isn't quite the same room. The collection is a work in progress, so change is simply part of its existence for the time being.

This is what the collection looked like in August, right before classes began for the year. It was the end of the summer, so many of the boxes had been moved and there was room to work (without getting lost in the labyrinth of boxes). On the table, I had just begun sorting the books. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the room at the beginning of the summer, but back then the boxes covered the space from the table to the windows. It really was a "cardboard jungle."

This is what the collection looked like on its very last day in its 8th floor location. Lots of objects are out of their boxes because students have been working with them, and the photo studio is still set up in the back corner. Since August, more tables have been added and many of the boxes were moved to the storage room across the hall. The books we finished sorting at the beginning of the fall semester are organized by geographical region in the stacks of boxes on the right.

This is the new room before the cabinets and shelves arrived. It will be used only for storage; the connected room will be used for research and preservation work.

 We've begun filling the new cabinets with artifacts!!!! Yay for proper storage!!!!

The new rooms are wonderful because first and foremost they allow us to more fully properly care for and preserve the artifacts. Specially designed cabinets are better storage solutions than cardboard boxes because they are much sturdier and will be more accessible to us. It's far safer (for us and the artifacts) to look for objects by pulling out drawers instead of lifting and rummaging through boxes. We even put the books on shelves, so no more moving boxes while doing research!! Another great feature of the new space is that there is a separate room for storage and a separate room for working on objects. While technically our space was divided like this with the old rooms, our workspace was surrounded by objects in storage and consequently kind of cramped. Once we're done moving objects, this is going to be one incredible place to work.  

Now that the May Weber Collection has been moved into its new space, it is far less of a "Cardboard Jungle." It actually resembles collections in larger museums, like the Field Museum. While I'll miss its wild charm, this change really is for the benefit of the collection as much as it is an improvement for those of us working there. 

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for the continuing adventures from the new and improved Cardboard Jungle!!!!

10 Ways to Recognize a May Weber Collection Intern

"You are not a 'drop in the ocean,' you are the entire ocean in a drop."
~Rumi

Those of us who work in the May Weber Collection make up a small, brave segment of the Anthropology Department. (And I am one of few in the group who is also a history major.) We're not quite the same as other students, even other anthropology students, and that is because we haven't had the same experiences as most other students. Anthropological field work in a remote location is one thing; field work in the Cardboard Jungle is another thing entirely. But how can an ordinary observer tell one of us apart from all the other students at Loyola??   

Here's a list of 10 ways to recognize someone who works in the May Weber Collection:     

1. We appreciate non-Western art more than most Westerners.
Every time I show someone a picture of an object in the collection, the reactions range from "What IS that??" to "Oohhhh, I love it!!" Current or former intern reactions come closer to the "Oohh, I love it!!" side of the scale. Anthropology majors and minors tend to be on that side of the scale too.

A face only a mother could love...and anthropologists. This is a mask of a demon queen, after all.

2. We can recognize where some of the artifacts are from.
We might not be experts, but after spending so much time in the collection we've started to notice some trends. Many of us have also done research on some of the artifacts.

This is definitely an Indonesian shadow puppet. It resembles the style of the others in the collection.

This is one of the Day of the Dead figures, judging by its subject matter (a skeleton dressed up).

3. We have a highly specialized vocabulary.
What's all this babble about accessions, backer rod, and blue board?? If you have the time, I'm sure any of us will be happy to explain it.

Accessions!

Backer rod!

Blue board!

4. We've learned the limits of Google.
It turns out that the all-knowing Google isn't so "all-knowing" after all. Google is a great place to start researching artifacts in the collection, but more often than not it doesn't know exactly what it is. This is why all of us have made use of the Loyola library's books and May Weber's books.

5. We've become quite crafty.
Need a box in weird dimensions? Does it also need oddly shaped bumpers? What about sewing on a tag or stitching a pillow by hand? You can count on us.

6. We know that "impossible" is really only a word.
Sometimes our duties require us to complete tasks that are really more like the epic undertakings of mythic heroes. Despite our mortal state, we nevertheless use our creativity and endurance to accomplish these quests so that our names may gloriously live on forever in the history of the May Weber Collection. You'll find these heroic endeavors somewhere in the records between the stories of Hercules and of Perseus.        

The Gordian Knot of fabric tape

Cotton gloves: the armor of a true hero/heroine.

7. We're taking the elevator in Mundelein to a floor not used for classroom space.
Other people in the elevator must think we pushed the wrong button, or that we forgot to get off at our floor. Or they're too busy on their phones to notice.

8. We have extensive photography skills.
We may not be National Geographic photographers, but we're operating under very different circumstances. I'd like to see them try to balance a mask on a stand, AND get a good picture of it.

9. We're budding artists and writers.
Describing and drawing each object on the condition reports has given each of us plenty of practice. We could probably write a novel (with vivid descriptions) and illustrate it beautifully. If not, then at least the collection's records will be thorough.

10. We have a cool t-shirt.
Last semester, we made awesome class t-shirts to commemorate our work in the collection. We used a picture of the smiling mask from Cameroon, since we all saw it so frequently throughout the semester. If you see someone wearing this t-shirt, then they probably have many, many stories to share. Ask them about the collection!!

Now that you've read this list, hopefully you'll be able to spot one of us, even when we're outside our natural habitat of the Cardboard Jungle.

Thanks for reading!!