History Burgoo

KHS Collections Corner: The Martin F. Schmidt Collection

Working with large projects has always seemed for me a daunting task. This was especially true when I was first assigned to work with the Martin F. Schmidt Collection. What appeared most intimidating was that I would be cataloging a massive volume of printed material, from newspapers spreads to small pamphlets to large maps. 

2004.41.324, Daniel Boone. This is believed to be the earliest separate print of a figure or scene made in Kentucky.

Donated in 2004, the collection contains 629 prints and took staff and volunteers several years to fully catalog for public access. As Martin F. Schmidt describes in his book Kentucky Illustrated: The First Hundred Years, the prints depict various early views of Kentucky history from as early as the late 1780s into the late 18^th century. Schmidt collected these prints for over 50 years. When determining what prints to keep and publish he decided to select works that “felt the touch of the artist, architect, etcher, painter, engraver or lithographer before they were seen in publication” or works that predated photography as the dominate medium. Schmidt tried to make this as exhaustive a collection as possible. As a result this collection contains a wide variety of print materials depicting historical Kentucky, including public figures, decorative architecture, local business advertising, disasters, and the Civil War.  

Working with the collection was very engaging. For instance, some days, I would have the opportunity read narratives about a tornado that sweep through Louisville. Other days I would work with a small photo-styled album of prints highlighting the significant architecture around Louisville. Working with collections like this creates an incredible experience.

Be sure to check out the collection in the KHS Objects Catalog (www.history.ky.gov/objects). It shows an interesting perspective of the times and printing related to Kentucky’s early history.  As Georgetown College professor Dr. Klotter, once commented about this collection, the prints “At one level they enlighten us; at another entertain” (Schmidt, Kentucky Illustrated: The First Hundred Years, 2).

--Devon Stivers, Collections Intern, Museum Collections & Exhibitions

2004.41.498, “Le Tour du Monde.” An 1837 French publication printed in Paris that shows the mystery of Mammoth Cave.

2004.41.202, Currier and Ives lithograph captioned “Battle of Mill Spring, Ky. Jan. 19th, 1862. Total rout of the Rebel Army, by the Gallant Soldiers of the West, under Genls. Thomas and Schoepff."

2004.41.593, A colored Harper’s Weekly engraving from 1890 showing various pre-damaged locations around Louisville before the tornado that occurred March 27 of that year.

 

2004.41.581, Currier and Ives chromolithograph entitled “De Ole Kentucky Home”

 

KHS Collections Corner: A Look at the J.T. Hatfield

Last week when I was cleaning up some artifact records, I came across an interesting piece from the family of J.T. Hatfield. This piece is a painting of a steamboat titled “Steamer J.T. Hatfield on the Ohio River.” Not only is it interesting because it tells us about the steamer but it also provides us with a look at what the Ohio River looked like from the artist’s perspective.

 

Steamer J.T. Hatfield on the Ohio River, 1982.9 (click to enlarge)

 

In this case, the artist is also a river boat pilot that worked for the Hatfield Coal, River Transportation and Mining Interests named Rome Childers. Childers was the pilot of the steamer named the Iron Duke which traveled between the company ports delivering coal. It is easy to imagine that this was a scene he saw frequently when he was making his runs.

The steamboat featured in this painting was the first flagship of the Hatfield Line and the first of two steamers to bear the name of J.T. Hatfield. The steamer was built in Point Pleasant, West Virginia and was used to deliver coal from 1882 to 1934. It traveled between the company ports in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. It was one of a fleet of steamboats that traveled along the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers to transport the company’s coal from the mines that it owned. Over the course of its history, the Hatfield fleet had the following ships: Henry de Bus; J.T. Hatfield (first); George Matheson; Plymouth; Convoy; J.F. Butts; Julius Fleischmann; Alert; W.C. Mitchell; Henry C. Yeiser, Jr.; J.T. Hatfield (second); D.T. Lane; Ellen Hatfield; Eugene Sana Smith; and the Iron Duke.

The ship was named after the company founder and president James T. Hatfield (1865-1938). He founded the company on January 17, 1882 in Covington, Kentucky. Here are some more interesting facts about this steamer!

• It was over 144 feet long.
• Each wooden barge could carry 500 tons of coal.
• The boat carried around 6,610,000 bushels of coal annually (based on 1907 figures)
• The boat had a 23 person crew.
• The captains were: William Henry Martin, Charles A. Gebhardt and Charles M. Young.
• The roof bell was cast in 1875 by the Buckeye Bell Foundry of Cincinnati.
• The whistle was made by J.W.C Heslop of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

Explore the KHS Objects Catalog at www.history.ky.gov/objects to learn more about this painting (1982.9) and others!

--Deb Rose Van Horn, Registrar

KHS Collections Corner: How to Hang an Oversized Painting

So how would you store a painting that is almost 7 feet tall and 12 ½ feet wide? Our museum collections and exhibitions staff has been working to answer that question this week. 

In July on the KHS Facebook page we told you about the oversized painting “Morgan’s Raid on Cynthiana” by George Gray, which we brought back to KHS after it had been out on loan for over 20 years. Over the past few months the staff has been determining the best place to put this painting in storage and how to hang it. In addition to the problem of its size, this painting is very heavy due to the fact that at some point in its history, the canvas was adhered to wood.

We started by finding a place in storage with enough wall space to accommodate the painting. Then David and Jake made custom cleats out of wood that match the hanging mechanism on the back of the painting. They installed the cleats on the storage walls while one of our interns, Beth S., and I held the painting upright. Due to the size and weight of the piece it is hanging fairly low but we still had to lift it onto these cleats.

We raised the painting up to install it by bringing over a forklift that we sometimes use in the storage area. We lifted the painting by hand just enough to get it on to the forklift and then the lift raised it up to the right height to hang on the cleats. Two staff members we assigned to balance the painting while it was on the lift.

After the painting was installed, we had to address the problem of creating a custom dust cover for such a large piece. Beth S. and I cut two large pieces of Tyvek® to be sewn together. Then Beth C. and I sewed the pieces together using the sewing machine.

Once this was completed Beth C., Beth S. and I took it to storage and attached it to the wall using Velcro strips so that it could be easily removed.

The last step was to put a photo and number on the outside of the cover so that the piece could be easily identified by anyone looking for it in storage.

The project took two days to complete but the results are well worth it! To learn more about this painting visit the KHS Objects Catalog at www.history.ky.gov/objects.

--Deb Rose Van Horn, Registrar

The KHS Collections Corner is a new series on History Burgoo about the collections work going on behind-the-scenes at the Kentucky Historical Society. Join us to learn a little more about the work that our collections staff does to preserve items from Kentucky’s history. We'll cover the storage of artifacts, exhibit preparation and installations, information about loans and donations, and more.

KHS Top Artifacts of 2012

In 2011, KHS launched a new online artifacts database, the KHS Objects Catalog at www.history.ky.gov/objects. Since then, the number of artifacts available online has grown from 700 to over 9,000, and with easy-to-use searching, sharing and feedback features, its popularity has skyrocketed as well!

As we look back on 2012, we decided to crunch some numbers… The KHS Objects Catalog was searched 13,452 times last year (a 21% increase over 2011). Some of the top searches relate to the year’s biggest news stories, while some left us scratching our heads. Check out the full listings below!

Top 10 Searches

1. "Random Image" - a great way to discover Kentucky's historic artifacts is by clicking the "random image" button!
2. Hatfield - The History Channel's mini-series "Hatfields & McCoys" premiered in May, bringing renewed interest in the 19th century feud between Kentucky and West Virginia families.
3. Churchill Weavers - For 85 years, Churchill Weavers produced distinctive handwoven clothing and home textiles in Berea. 
4. Civil War - In the midst of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, interest in Civil War history is high. For more information and resources, see www.history.ky.gov/civilwar.
5. Images
6. Quilt
7. Sawyier - This Kentucky painter is known for his scenic watercolors of Frankfort.
8. Lincoln Watch - Spielberg and sound designer Ben Burtt solicited help from KHS to record the tickingn of Lincoln's pocket watch for the historical drama "Lincoln," starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field.
9. Paul Sawyier
10. Unnumbered-3269 - A Civil War-era flag: the 3rd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regimental Colors.

Top 10 Most-Viewed Artifacts

1. 2002.41.1 – Lincoln Watch
2. 1904.26.1 – Daniel Boone Rifle
3. 1990.16.1 – Apollo 17 Moon Rock
4. 2008.19.8 – Hatfield Rifle - This Model 1892 Winchester purportedly belonged to Hatfield patriarch "Devil Anse."
5. 1959.13 – Graveyard Quilt - This quilt, made by Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell (originally from Pennsylvania, she moved to Lewis County, Ky., in 1834 with her family), is an excellent example of nineteenth century mourning customs as well as an example of the emotions that were often expressed by women through their quilts. 
6. 2011.1 – KAS Recovered Suit - The Kentucky Archeological Survey recently uncovered this suit in Madison County. It's story was featured here on History Burgoo and hotly debated on the KHS Facebook page in late October
7. 1993.61.01A – Edward Polin Jacket - Edward Polin Jr. was the first African-American Kentuckian to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps
8. 2009.17 – Piece of Memorial Coliseum Flooring - This section of pine flooring was on display at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in early 2012 as part of the "Women in Basketball" exhibition. On April 2, 2012, UK won its eighth national championship after defeating the Kansas Jayhawks 67 to 59.
9. 2010.3 – Kentucky Derby Barbie Doll
10. 2011.112.2 – Turkey Decanter Bottle - This ceramic decanter was created by one of the foremost designers of game bird statuary especially for Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey in 1978.

What will be the top searches of 2013? We can't wait to find out!

Behind the Scenes: What happens after an exhibit ends?

 

Beth S. moves artifacts from the gallery to the workrooms.

Did you ever wonder what happens when the exhibit ends?  Well I’m going to take you on a behind-the-scenes look at the close of the exhibit “Civil War: My Brother, My Enemy” that closed here at KHS last week. First of all, the planning begins before we ever step foot in the gallery. The staff meets to come up with a work plan, we gather supplies that will be needed and we get all of the collections work spaces and storage areas that need to be used ready to go. We also clear off any available carts to help us move objects and plan a path for the artifacts and cases. That way we know exactly what is going where. Because this exhibit was a traveling exhibit from the Frazier History Museum, this process also included pulling out all of the packing crates and boxes that the exhibit came in.

 

David, of KHS's exhibit design and fabrication team, working in the gallery.

The staff divided up into two teams including the gallery team and the packing team. The gallery team included out fabrication staff (David and Jake) and two of our curators (Bill and Julie), the director of museum collections and exhibition (Trevor) and one of our volunteers (Jeff S.) and the packing team included me, the registrar, our collections management assistant (Beth C.), a curator (Sara), and two interns (Devon and Beth S.). The gallery team worked on pulling all of the artifacts out of the cases, taking cases and settings apart, and getting panels, graphics, and mounts ready for shipping. The artifacts then traveled down the hall to the workroom and conservation lab where the packing team was ready to receive them. Each panel had to be individually wrapped with bubble wrap to protect them during the shipping process. The KHS cases all had to be wrapped and moved out of the gallery in to storage.

 

Trevor and Bill taking artifacts out of the cases.

The packing team split up the tasks into two sub-teams with Sara and Devon checking the condition of every item to make sure that there was no new damage. This involves examining each item to make sure there are no new chips, scratches or cracks and making notes on any damage they see. The staff did a condition report of every item before the exhibit opened, so Sara and Devon compared each of the reports with what they were seeing. Meanwhile, Deb and the two Beths worked on packing and crating each item. Each item had to be checked off on a packing list and individually wrapped to make sure that everything was there and that no damage during shipping. The process took a little over two days but the team is finally done and the exhibit is ready to ship out to the Frazier next week!

That's me, closing up a crate to be shipped back to the Frazier History Museum.

This exhibit also featured 12 items from the KHS collections, including things like a leg shackle, military uniforms and antebellum dresses. In addition to packing up the items on loan from the Frazier History Museum, the staff had to check the condition of these items and get them ready to go to storage. All of these items have been cataloged and are available for the public to see on the KHS Objects Catalog at www.history.ky.gov/objects.

-Deb Rose Van Horn, KHS registrar

KHS staff weighs in on Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’

Staff members here at KHS have been more than eagerly anticipating the release of Steven Spielberg’s latest film, “Lincoln.” We felt a strong connection not only because Kentucky is home to dozens of Lincoln and Civil War sites that tell the story of our 16th president, but one of KHS’s signature artifacts played a small but vital role!

By now, most of the staff has seen the movie. In fact, a lot of us saw it together last week for the first (or second!) time. Greg Hardison, participatory arts and programs administrator (you may know him from Camp ArtyFact) even shaved his beard that day to honor our 16^th president.

His appearance turned more than a few heads. After the movie, Greg said “I have realized that social acceptance and willingness to enjoy facial hair has changed. In yesteryear, politicians and powerful men often had eccentric facial hair. Today that acceptance is only extended to pop stars, wrestlers and crazy history folks!”

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

 

Over 30 KHS staffers attended the movie together, and all stayed behind to watch the credits. Cheers erupted as “Kentucky Historical Society” rolled by in the credits. Charley Pallos, KHS creative director, used to live in Los Angeles. “I had to move to Kentucky to finally get on screen credit--albeit indirectly--in a movie.”

“I think it was awesome!  I enjoyed the ‘personal’ perspective and it was interesting to see the political maneuvering.” –Pam Brookman, HR administrator

“A particularly interesting scene is Abraham Lincoln’s recalling his and his families earlier interactions with slavery, when he encounters slaves shackled together and being transported south during a river trip to New Orleans as a younger man; and even earlier, when his father moved the family to Indiana, partly on account of his father’s view towards the institution of slavery.  Lincoln’s dialogue is a composite, created from several primary sources.  The first example, from an 1855 letter from Lincoln to Joshua Speed, recalling an encounter in 1841 along the Ohio River.  The second, from a brief political biography written by Lincoln, with the aid of John L. Scripps of the Chicago Press and Tribune.  It was fun to recognize the use of primary sources on the big screen, and a good example of the script writer’s attention to detail.” –Tony Curtis, research associate for the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition

“For such a near mythical figure, the moviemakers succeeded in making Lincoln incredibly human – conflicted, caring, frustrating, and very often, funny. The movie gets you thinking about Lincoln the person, Lincoln the President, and in a broader sense about the Civil War, and how much of the movie was historically accurate. The quiet moments in the film were perhaps the most thought provoking. The scene in the Army telegraph office with the two soldiers was particularly effective at getting you to think “Could anyone other than Lincoln have accomplished what he was trying to do at the time? Would anyone else have even tried?”  Who knows?  “Lincoln” makes you think, and that’s the mark of a great movie. And having seen a number of movies this year, nothing was cooler than seeing KHS’s name on the big screen surrounded by colleagues!” –Katie Skidmore, development associate

 

Lincoln’s pocket watch ready for recording with a very small microphone carefully and temporarily attached!

 

For more about KHS’s role in “Lincoln,” check out this video on WHAS 11 News. The pocket watch and a recording of its ticking are on permanent display in “A Kentucky Journey” at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History.

Intern delves deeper into Davis Political Collection

Earlier this fall, I wrote a post about the Drexell R. Davis Political Collection focused on two of the campaign posters from that impressive group of political memorabilia (for some background, read my earlier post here). As my internship in the Museum Collections and Exhibitions department continues, I gain more and more insight into American political parties, candidates, elections and the souvenirs associated with them. I’d like to share a few more objects from the Davis Collection now.

When thinking about the emblems and mascots of political parties images of flags, donkeys, elephants, Uncle Sam, stars and stripes, etc. come to mind immediately. But during the election of 1888 a new emblem joined these traditional symbols: a red bandana. The story of the red bandana is attached to the vice presidential candidate in that election, Allen Thurman. Thurman was running with incumbent President Grover Cleveland against Republicans Benjamin Harrison and Levi P. Morton (who would win the election). Thurman was often seen in public with a red handkerchief or bandana in his coat pocket, frequently taking the bandana out to mop his brow during interviews or debates.

In her book, “The American Bandanna: Culture on Cloth from George Washington to Elvis,” author Hillary Weiss writes that, “one night at a Democratic rally, vice-presidential nominee Allen Thurman pulled a red bandana from his pocket, complaining it would have been cheaper without the import tariff. He was dubbed ‘Old Pockethandkercheif,’ ... and the bandanna itself became the Democrats’ 1888 symbol of consumer rights.” One result of this event was that red campaign bandanas began to crop up everywhere alongside traditional posters, buttons, and other souvenirs. Not only was image of a red 
bandana made into a political symbol of consumer rights - much like eagles and flags were used to symbolize patriotism on other campaign souvenirs - the symbol was made real by printing political messages and images onto actual cotton or silk handkerchiefs.

Handkerchief, 1986.88.28

This bandana from the KHS Collection (1986.88.28) is one of these campaign handkerchiefs. The cream colored flags at the corners of this piece have black text which spells out some of the Democrats’ platform: “Tariff Reform” and “Low Taxes.” Allen Thurman is in the oval frame on the right and in his breast pocket is the famous red bandana.

Another, similar handkerchief in our collection shows Thurman and his red bandana more clearly (1939.822). I thought these objects were particularly interesting because they are, essentially, a symbol within a symbol; Thurman’s red bandana symbolizing economic reform printed onto a real handkerchief for supporters to wave at rallies and other events.

Handkerchif, 1939.822

According to an article from the New York Times published in June of 1912, the bandana was also used by Thurman as a covert signal between him and his close friend, Senator Edmunds of Vermont, during his time as a United States Senator from Ohio. The article says that “if the proceedings became dull, Thurman would draw his bandana from his pocket and flourish it without ostentation. At the signal Senator Edmunds would surrender the chair to a substitute, and the two estimable statesmen would seek rest and reasonable refreshment in company.” This article illustrates that Thurman’s habit of wearing a red bandana was well established before the election in 1888.

Be sure to check out the KHS Objects Catalog online at www.history.ky.gov/objects to browse through more of KHS’s political objects, and keep checking this blog for more updates on the Drexell R. Davis Collection!

--Beth Sylak, collections intern, museum collections and exhibitions team

 

 

Travelogue: Williamsburg (Finale)

Day 4: Last Day and Heading Home

Deb: I started the last day by going to a great session on planning an exhibit exchange program for museums in the southeast. Basically the idea is that museums can save money by putting up exhibits on an exchange and borrowing other exhibits from the same place. The borrower would have to pay for the shipping but little else. It is a great idea to save some money with the limited budgets museums have these days. After that Jennifer and I went to a session on doing condition reports for objects in museums. I found that we are doing a lot of things right here but I picked up some tips on making our condition reports easier to read.

Jennifer: Another session I went to on the morning of the last day was titled, Volunteers: Maximizing Your Greatest Resource. My purpose in attending this session was to learn more about how to manage volunteers. I have seven volunteers that work with me on the Churchill Weavers Collection, they do a fantastic job, but I am very keen to learn more about best practices in managing people and projects. The session presenters offered useful information on how to recruit new volunteers and ways to show appreciation for the ones that are already with us.

Deb & Jennifer: At lunchtime, Deb put her board member hat back on for the SERA business luncheon. This was the opportunity for the SERA board to tell all of our members what has been happening in the 

last year and where we see the organization going. There was a call to remind everyone to renew their membership at the beginning of the year. For $10 the membership is a bargain and provides members with discounts on publications, the opportunity to get travel scholarships for conferences, and get information about collections management work in the region (for more, see www.seregistrars.org). 

After lunch, we and other SERA members got to go on a special behind the scenes tour of the DeWitt   Wallace Collections and Conservation building. Even though Deb had been there the day before, it was a great opportunity for all of us to see behind the scenes. We went into different areas this time and had a painting conservator and a furniture conservator talk to us about their work.  Then we got to see the furniture storage area.  The storage was amazing and gave us lots of good ideas to put into place back here at KHS.

All good things must come to an end, and at the end of day 4 we headed back to the airport to head home. Unfortunately, due to a sick co-pilot we made it to Atlanta but missed our flight to Louisville!  The one good thing about Atlanta is that Deb’s parents live there and they were nice enough to pick us up at the airport and put us up for the night.  Needless to say it was nice to see them even if it meant we didn’t get home that night. 

The next morning we hopped on a flight to Louisville and our trip was over. It was a lot of fun and gave us a lot of great information to take back and use here at KHS.  We can’t wait until next year when SEMC is in Savannah, Georgia!

-- Deb Rose Van Horn, KHS registrar, and Jennifer Donovan Spence, Churchill Weavers project assistant

Travelogue: Williamsburg (Part 2)

Day 3: Sessions, Sessions, Sessions

Deb: The third day was really an educational experience for me. It started out with the general session which was on the future of African American interpretation in museums. At the annual business lunch I got to see fellow Kentuckian and former KHS employee Mike Hudson become the new President of SEMC. After lunch, I went to a great off site session at the DeWitt Wallace Collections and Conservation building that was taught by an objects conservator.   Tina Gessler, the conservator, had an hour to try and teach a room full of people how to identify, care for, clean and preserve metal objects in their collections. I’m happy to say that I brought a lot of new information back to KHS to supplement the things we are already doing. This is one session I will use all the time.

Later, I went to hear Jennifer present on the Churchill Weavers Collection in a session called Stairway to Heaven: Approaches to Managing Large Collection Projects. Jennifer did a great job and a lot of people were introduced to one of KHS’s largest collections.

Jennifer: After the general session, I went on to explore the historic Duke of Gloucester Street on my own. My first stop was at the home of the town weaver. There I received an education on the ingredients used to dye cloth. Did you know that in the 18^th century, red cloth was the most expensive color of cloth to buy? Do you what was, and still is, used to create red coloring? B-U-G-S, BUGS!

Later that afternoon, as Deb mentioned, I participated in a talk about how to manage large collections projects. I presented with Rebecca Rose, registrar at the Virginia Historical Society, and Bethany Austin, registrar at the Hampton History Museum. This year was the first time I presented a session at SEMC, so I was a little nervous, but very excited to talk about, and promote, KHS’ Churchill Weavers Collection. I received good feedback and several museum professionals expressed interest in adopting our cataloging practices for their collections related projects. 

Deb & Jennifer: Deb began her evening by having dinner at the King’s Arms Tavern on Duke of Gloucester Street. Later that night, the two of us met up for a special event at the Capitol building. The entertainment was great and included period dancing, music, and a very funny puppet show. Later Deb was invited with a group of other conference attendees (Jennifer tagged along) to see one of the private residences in Williamsburg. Some of the Colonial Williamsburg employees live in these houses and they are not open to the public. The current resident told us some very funny stories about people walking into the private residences because they thought the houses were part of the exhibits.

Up next: Day 4, the last day of the conference!

Travelogue: Williamsburg

Hi! We are Deb Rose Van Horn, KHS Registrar, and Jennifer Donovan Spence, Churchill Weavers project assistant, and we just got back from a trip to speak at the Southeastern Museums Conference’s (SEMC) annual meeting and we’d like to share some of our adventures with you. The meeting was held in Colonial Williamsburg this year which made it a fun trip! While a lot of our time was spent in sessions to bring new information back to KHS we did get to explore the sights of Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown, too. Here are some photos and stories from our trip.

Day 1: Traveling from Louisville to Williamsburg

Jennifer: Today was a long day! We had an 8:40am flight out of Louisville which meant that Deb had to leave her house in Lexington around 6am.  We spent a lot of time in airports today but we arrived at the hotel in Colonial Williamsburg by 5:30pm. That gave us enough time to check in and relax before meeting friends of ours from other museums for dinner. We spent the evening catching up with our friends before we had to start attending sessions and presenting papers the next day. Deb’s daughter asked her to take one of her stuffed animals (Boots the Monkey) with her and take some photos of him in different spots on the trip. Since there are not many photos from today, here is a picture of Boots in the airport!

Day 2: The Conference Begins!

Deb: The SEMC annual meeting didn’t actually start until 1pm today so I spent the morning walking around Colonial Williamsburg with Kyle Bryner, the registrar at the Museum of Anthropology at Wake Forest University.
While I’d like to say we kept out of trouble, anyone that knows us will tell you that it is nearly impossible. Here is a photo of me and Kyle in the stocks at Williamsburg.

We also visited the print shop, the armory, the coffeehouse, and the capitol. The coffeehouse tour is fairly new but I’d highly recommend it. Not only do they interpret the building for the day you visit (they pick a year) but at the end they will offer you a refreshment. You have your choice of coffee, tea, or chocolate.

 

After a fun morning, we stopped for an early lunch and went back to get ready for the sessions. I was in two presentations that day. The first was called Just Ask and was put together by Mike Hudson of the Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville. That had three blind panelists and three museum professionals and we discussed what a good experience was for a blind individual in a museum and what a bad experience was. I got a lot of great ideas from this session and will definitely be sharing the ideas with the KHS staff when I get back.

The second session was one I put together called In the Aftermath of Putting Collections Online: True Stories of What Happens Next. I presented the KHS Objects catalog (http://www.history.ky.gov/objects) and spoke about some of the things we learned about promoting the database, compiling the database, etc. 

The other presenters included: Tommie Rodgers from the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art; Kyle Elizabeth Bryner from the Museum of Anthropology at Wake Forest University; and Betty Lyn Parker who is the Kentucky Online Arts Resource database coordinator for the Speed Art Museum. It was a great session and we had lots of good questions and feedback about the projects!

Jennifer: At 7:30 am, I met up with members of the Historic House Museum Affinity Group for their annual SEMC Hands-On Help Project. This year’s project was to paint doors, windows, and exterior trim on the Matthew Jones House at Fort Eustis. The weather turned too cold and damp to paint; instead, the archaeologists who manage the site gave us a detailed tour of the house and grounds. The house is stabilized and interpreted to show its architectural evolution. The main body of the Matthew Jones House dates to 1727 and is one of the oldest buildings owned by the Department of Defense.

I attended two sessions in the afternoon. The first was titled, Spotlight on Student Research in Museums: Technology.  Three students discussed the application of virtual reality in museum projects. I found graduate student Austin Bell’s talk fascinating about how the Florida Museum of Natural History used a program called Google SketchUp to plan collections storage for over 600 artifacts.

The second session I attended was titled, Conservation Made Manageable. The session was presented by art conservator Erin Kelly and textile conservator Kate Rehkopf. My job at KHS is to help preserve a collection of 20,000 textiles made by Churchill Weavers. It is very important that I am well informed and up-to-date on best practices in managing museum collections. I was especially thrilled that Kate was available to answer my many questions about textile care and preservation.

Deb & Jennifer: That night, we went to an evening event at Jamestown and visited the Jamestown settlement galleries and the Archaearium. The two sites tell the history of the Jamestown Settlement and the archaeology that has occurred at the site of the original settlement. The Archaearium was built right over the foundations of one of the original buildings and glass panels let you see the foundations right through the floor. It was real treat to see the discoveries made at Jamestown. 

Later that evening, we went to the Southeastern Registrars Association’s (SERA) annual respite. This year it was held at the Trellis restaurant. Deb currently serves on the board of SERA. As the vice-chair, this was a great opportunity for her to meet new and potential members and catch-up with our existing membership. We both agree it was a great event and the chocolate truffles they make at that place are well worth the trip!

Coming soon: Day 3!