A Twitter Reflection

I have now been in the ranks of the twittering masses for just over two months. These are my observations of successful (and not so successful) twitter usage by museums (and related people and organizations) thus far. I will provide the names of those museums I feel are doing well, but at this time it is not my place to call out museums I feel are not doing the greatest job. (What can I say, I'm non-confrontational and am not in the position to ruffle feathers.) Anyhow, on to the post.

One of the things I love is the museum that provides interesting tidbits about goings on in the museum. The Shelburne Musuem in Shelburne, VT is one of my favorite twittering musuems (@ShelburneMusuem). Why? Because I want to know more about the museum than just what events are happening and. Yes some advertising of events is acceptable, since spreading the word is always good and twitter is certainly an outlet for it, but I want to know more than just that. I loved being told by @ShelburneMuseum that "The turtles have emerged! Collections Asst. Nick rescued one that was trying to cross the road in front of the Covered Bridge." I followed the painstaking process of restoring a Tiffany settee, and the pouring of the lighthouse foundation. Things like this made me like the museum that much more.

So rule No. 1 in twittering about museums is to provide something extra about the museum that one would not be able to find out otherwise. It is easy enough to look at a museum's event calendar to figure out what is going on (although friendly reminders don't hurt as long as it doesn't dominate the twitter stream). I look forward to tweets from @ShelburneMuseum because of this something extra, and the next time I'm up in Vermont when it's open (season starts May 17th) I know where I want to go.

Rule No. 2 in twittering is to not do the opposite of what @ShelburneMuseum is doing. Please do not tweet solely about upcoming events. I can find out about them elsewhere.

Rule No. 3 is to not heavily rely upon bots. What are bots? Autobots (no not the kind from The Transformers) as they are also referred to as are programs that search for tags on news stories, or anything really, and if the particular tag matches what is being searched the bot (hooked up to the twitter account) will tweet the link to the story. This often ends up in a tweet looking like *tag being searched* "partial article title..." link to story. What gets really annoying is when these searches occur all at the same time so in a span of a few minutes 5, 10 or more tweets come from one account, blocking up the stream. I like the idea of there being a real human behind the tweeting. This in no way is me saying I don't want to get links to something newsworthy online. I do, I just don't want them automatically given to me. I much rather prefer someone writing Found this museum news article interesting: link to story.

No. 4 Respond to those who reply to you through @ tweeting (where the @ symbol is placed in front of the twitter name, for example @museummusings). These messages show up in the sidebar under the aptly named @youraccountname, making replying to others easy. Now I know this rule is not always followed and I certainly understand why for some institutions it is not feasible. Sometimes the personpower isn't there and sometimes there are just too many questions/comments/suggestions to reply to them all. I do suggest replying to some when one can. I also suggest the Direct Message feature and have gotten numerous direct messages from museums just thanking me for following them. Things like this create a good relationship between follower and tweeter and I feel retains followers. I certainly appreciate them. The museum groups that sent me Direct Messages just for following them are @ShelburneMuseum, @heardmuseum, @metmuseum, @EngineMuseum, and @fordstheatre.

I also recommend using the established protocol of the hashtag #followfriday in which a tweet consists of other twitter accounts that you recommend following. The trend is to provide 5 of them. So even though today is Monday, I recommend following (in addition to myself and the accounts above): @TheWomensMuseum, @MuseumMaknMusic, @tenementmuseum, @fieldmuseum, and @GettyMuseum. There are many more museum related twitterers out there. Just search for Museum on twitter and go from there.

There has been much discussion in the museum world about this too. Multiple people have discussed twitter and its benefits on Museum-L and numerous tips on how to utilize it properly have been included. Apparently there are also podcasts on iTunes that deliver tips on how to effectively use twitter, although I have not used them. Connecting with others who share common interests and is a good thing in the museum world: person to person, museum to museum, museum to person. I maintain my stance blogged previously that twitter has the unique potential to reach the masses thereby expanding a museums presence in the virtual world.

Hello to all and today especially to those who found me via twitter.

Been Busy

Hi Everyone-

No worries, I have not forgotten this blog, it has been a very crazy few weeks. So I figured I would update you all on what has been going on with me, most of which is school/museum related.

First, I will be graduating from my undergraduate college in less than two weeks as Valedictorian. It was a wonderful surprise. I just finished my speech that I will be delivering at the Honors and Awards ceremony the day before graduation.

Second, I received an internship at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. I will be working for 10 weeks in the Collections Department. I am beyond excited, this is by far my favorite museum dedicated to a particular topic. Baseball is also my favorite sport. There will be numerous posts as the summer progresses on my life at the museum. Also cool? I get to help out with the baseball related events like the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

Third, I will be staying in the Cooperstown area for the next two years as I was accepted into the Cooperstown Graduate Program for History of Museum Studies. It's the only program I applied to and am so glad to be a part of it. Just think, the more I learn, the better this blog will become!

On that note I do have 3 blog posts in the works, so stay tuned.


~Maria

A Newsworthy Update

During a previous entry, I wrote about how the Touro Synagogue had to stop giving tours because of economic troubles.

Today, it was announced that tours would resume at Touro Synagogue with the help of volunteers. That story can be found here off of the (NBC) turn to 10 website.

Take home message of the story (other than Yay!): VOLUNTEER.

Coraline - A Book Review

Over the past week, I finished the book Coraline by Neil Gaiman. It was recommended to me by my best friend and since I had just seen the movie, I figured it would be a good time to read it (that and it has been forever since I've sat down and read a book from start to finish. I just looked and my last book review was on Feb 9 and that book wise is a ridiculously long time ago, although I did start two books that I haven't finished between then and now.) Neil Gaiman could easily become one of my favorite authors once I begin to read more of his books, seeing that Coraline is the only one I have read. Mirrormask, a movie which came out in 2005, was written by Gaiman; I totally recommend that movie, especially if you liked movies like the Dark Crystal and the Labyrinth.

Anyhow, Coraline is a book about a young girl named, you guessed it, Coraline. I am typing that correctly too, in case you haven't heard of the book or movie, her name is not Caroline and this does play a part in the book, although knowing the character's name, I almost continuously read the book as Coraline even when Caroline was on the page. Coraline moves into a flat converted from part of an old house with her parents. Her parents seem ever busy and a bit clueless as to what to do with Coraline, so Coraline goes off exploring her new surroundings by herself. She explores the property and meets the new neighbors and then she finds a door in her flat that when opened leads to nothing but a brick wall separating her flat from another. But that's what happens only sometimes. When she opened the door again the brick wall was gone and she enters what I imagine to be a very creepy and supernatural air duct and finds herself in a mirrored version of her own flat, complete with parents. These parents take complete interest in her, almost as if their world revolves around her, and even the neighbors get her name right. These parents however have buttons for eyes and tell Coraline that she can stay with them if she accepts her own set of button eyes.

Instead Coraline asks to go home, which these other parents agree to, but when she gets to her real home, she finds her parents missing. Coraline knows that her "Other Mother" must have stolen them. So she goes back to her "Other Flat" to rescue them. Throw in three dead children locked behind a mirror and an unlikely ally in a talking cat, and you have one creepy, but very smart and creative, story.

What children would see as a story about a courageous girl trying to save her parents, adults probably would find this book to be a bit darker. The button eyes alone were enough to creep me out. I think that this is one of the stronger elements of the story as it is often difficult to write a children's book that can truly appeal to adults on a different level. This clearly is a demonstration of Gaiman's talent, but I'll hold out on any more judgement until I read another one of his books.

There are numerous parts of the movie that closely follow the book, but new elements were added in, to what benefit I'm not sure now having read the book. Since I saw the movie first, I actually enjoyed these additions including Wybie, a boy near Coraline's age who plays an important part in the movie (even though the role is somewhat small), and a doll that looks exactly like Coraline, only with buttons for eyes, that Wybie gives to her after finding it at his grandmother's house. As creepy as the doll is, it didn't play much of a role in the movie, and isn't in the book at all, so beyond it tying into Wybie's character and his believing in Coraline, I wasn't disappointed by this change from book to movie. I was a bit disappointed however that Wybie's character was not in the book (most likely stemming from my having seen the movie first, had it been the other way around I probably would have thought that he was an unnecessary element). I still recommend seeing it, especially in 3D (totally worth the extra money for that format).

National Council on Public History Conference- Part 5

Today is the final installment of the NCPH Conference Digital Projects Showcase.

The eighth project was on the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania battlefields and creating an interactive history about them. The interactivity comes in with the creation of a digital map giving people a choice on how to tour the sites from a remote location (who will hopefully want to visit the sites in person) or from the physical sites themselves. Still in an unfinished state (with some improperly coded links) the maps were created using Google and provide information about hotspots including pictures. What I see is encouraging so far and when the project is complete it will include 3D models, flyovers and panoramic photos in a multi-layered map meant to interpret and provoke these sites. In mapping these elements digitally, it preserves the integrity and history of the physical site and provides users with an active role in their interaction with the maps. The link to the homepage for these sites can be found here (http://www.nps.gov/frsp/) off of the National Park Service website. Just click on Virtual Tours under Quicklinks when you get there to see what has been completed thus far. The links to the google maps themselves do not work (possibly due to the maps being unfinished) but the one for Fredericksburg can be found here.*

The next project was called Mapping the American Civil War: Cultural Heritage on the Web and when completed will consist of all sites related to a Civil War event. Okay, so not all, there are some criteria for inclusion. First, it must fit the general theme and time period. Second, the site must be extant and interpreted. It also must be publicly accessible and the owners of these sites must agree to have their property included in the listing. The GIS coordinates also need to be verified. The presentation discussed the numerous hurdles faced during this project the biggest I feel is the scope of the project. Every site involved in the Civil War spanning multiple states. Clearly this is a project that could only be done online because of this scope...so much data! In addition to Civil War sites, the project will also list sites pertaining to the Civil War's legacy, Civil Rights. Another issue the project team talked about running into was that of outdated websites listing information on these sites. Related to that is the accuracy of these sites and multiple sites copying off of one another. Another website issue is trying to rid descriptions of sites from bias when the information garnered about these sites is clearly biased. Biases can come simply from owners wanting to "pump up" their properties to draw more visitors. The goals of the project (in addition to the overall mapping) are to reduce the overwhelming amount of data, provide interested parties with places to go when travelling and to put these interested parties in touch with locals who know more about the sites than what is provided on the central mapping site. Currently the website is not live, the expected launch date is January 2010 and will not be a static site as the creators expect to keep it constantly updated. I wish them the best of luck, it will be an amazing website I'm sure.

The final project also involved mapping, this time of Fox Point a now bisected (due to the highway) neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island. One of the things I liked about this project is that it was created by graduate students from Brown, I would have liked to seen more projects from students, but perhaps in a different session. I found the concept interesting and it tied in nicely to my thesis in terms of project output. The problem addressed here was that of what to do with oral histories to make them more accessible for the public. The solution? Memory mapping. Using Google Maps the Brown students transcribed oral histories and then linked them online. When the histories mentioned locations a virtual pin is placed on the map and the part of the oral history that mentions it is posted along with it. In an effort to include photos, a flickr site was created which allows people to comment on photos, add memories (and their own photos) and reconnect with other residents. Scribd is another site used for the project which allows site visitors to scroll through the oral history transcripts. Sadly this website seems like it was a just a semester project, and indeed it was called a prototype that won't be developed further (but will it be added to using the same format for the rest of the oral histories?) I wish it would be developed more as I did enjoy it and the local connection that it had.

I truly have enjoyed writing about them and giving my opinion on them. It was so worth the price of the conference and many of the projects have given me ideas of things I can do now or in the future with my own projects. Out of all of the projects presented, the Fox Point project was the first one that I explored online and I have since employed some of the methods used there in my thesis related website. I have begun mapping John Ronayne's life via Google Maps, more on that sometime later, maybe.

Sadly I was not able to attend the follow up on Saturday morning because RIPTA buses don't run the necessary route that early. Did anyone reading this get to go? It was Session 28 at 8:00am.

* Due to the possibility that the broken link is intentional due to the unfinished nature of the project, feel free to ask me to remove the link if you are associated with the project. Likewise, feel free to contact me if the broken link is not intentional and you would like to know how to make it work so that others may view the maps.

National Council on Public History Conference- Part 4

Part 4 starts off with the project Beyond Steel created by Lehigh University. It is a live project and can be found here at http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/beyondsteel/. As I am writing this, I am having quite a bit of fun exploring the different features of this site and I highly recommend that you go do the same. A grant funded project started in 2004, Beyond Steel is meant to capture the middle of the 19th century through the 20th century. In addition to Sanborn Maps of the area, extensive work has been done to find out the history of the places on the maps- heads of households, their wives and family make up, their occupations, and if there are boarders living in houses. This information is arranged alphabetically by surname and by location, so if you want to know for example who lived at 445 Vine, you can do a search and find that Clinton H Bitting lived at the address in 1900 according to the Sholes directory. Just for your information, he was a tinsmith and his wife's name was Minnie. In addition to that, you can even get an image of the source and see exactly where the information came from (in this case page 173 of the directory). During the presentation, we were told that there were 600 items on the site, which might not seem like a lot, but considering one item (the directory) has multiple pages (522), there is plenty of information to go around. There are also a multitude of essays and numerous photos. There is a comment feature on the photos, which will be extremely useful in identifying the people in them. The goal was to portray the industry and society of the area, and I feel that this project did exactly that. Again, go visit the website and explore it on your own; it really is quite something.

The presentation on the Knowledge Cube is the only one that really confused me, maybe it was because the movie about what it is didn't work or because it is still in the concept stage. I think it is most certainly a mix of both, this was one of those times when it is important to make sure that everything works on a powerpoint presentation when it isn't on your own computer, but I have to give the presenter a lot of credit for making due without it. Looking at just the presentation, she also spoke the loudest, having sat in the back for the previous projects. Anyhow from what I gathered, the Knowledge Cube is in development at Clarkson University and the project is being handled by numerous departments there. It is a project of in house collaboration, which a univerity setting is perfect for. On the campus of Clarkson is a building called Old Main; it isn't in use anymore. Knowledge Cube is bringing it back to life in a virtual sense as the setting of the project is located in it. However, the walls of the virtual Old Main are meant to melt away to present new objects, to create a dialogue about them, and history, so as not to make it seem like an alternate reality. The first run of Knowledge Cube will be static, but as time goes on, interactivity will be added. One of the more interesting aspects of the project so far (I'm sure there will be many more as the project is further developed) is that Knowledge Cube has been created completely using "off the shelf technology" such as Qlab (usually used in theatrical production). There has been no special Clarkson only programming, which is a great thing, so when Knowledge Cube is finished, it will show a multitude of universities, organizations, and locations just what can be acheived using available technologies.

I could write about the next project at this point, which is on Fredricksburg, but I feel that due to its subject matter, it belongs in Part 5 with the Civil War Mapping project. If I could have changed one thing about the organization of the session it would have been the organization of the projects, because some are similar to others. I would have had the Beyond Steel project come after the GIS in Annapolis, and the Maine Memory Network and the Fox Point project (will be in part 5) come after the Massachusetts Studies Network but before PhilaPlace. I can see the point of organizing it this way (if there was a method to its organization that is) because it prevents one from confusing similar projects together, but I just like it better when similar things are grouped more or less together.

National Council on Public History Conference- Part 3

For those of you who have read some of my other posts, you know that I have a background in archaeology, so I was excited to see the presentation on GIS in Annapolis, Maryland. GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems and allows one to manage, analyze and display any sort of geographically referenced material.* Using the GIS software, current maps can be matched up with historic maps to compare how an area has changed overtime, or in the case of this project to show where archaeology was carried out in Annapolis today and what it once was in the past. The project began in 2005 partially because it was a way to provide locals with the history that they wanted. Using the GIS interface the projects could target multiple audiences with the same maps tied to other historical documents such as census records and city directories as well as house histories and photographs. Although I have not used GIS, I have done my share of comparing multiple historical maps with today's maps for my thesis and for another class I took called Researching Historic Properties. It is a sometimes long and complicated process and I was amazed by the breadth of the project, the whole area analyzed and cross referenced... highly impressive. I was fully contented to watch what basically became a show and tell of "look what GIS can do" after a brief intro into what the project was about because it is something I am interested in, however I was slightly annoyed to be unable to locate the project online to further explore all that it has to offer.

PhilaPlace was the fourth project showcased. It is meant to be a digital experiment combined with community participation using the internet. PhilaPlace has an interesting origin as it was originally a series of trolley tours to bring residents together and view how their surroundings have changed. The concept was to provide an audience a glimpse at Philadelphia using a lens of place. The digital leap was born as a way to expand upon the trolley rides and allow those no longer in the area to experience the change in the neighborhoods. It will use a collections management system for peoples photos and stories, in addition certain things in these neighborhoods will be mapped so that viewers can find these places physically in whatever way they currently exist. The choice was made to use Google Maps instead of something along the lines of GIS because of its familiarity with a wide audience and its ease of use, a great choice for a project like this that many can utilize. One of the challenges of such a project is that neighborhood names have changed and not everyone agrees on where the boundaries for particular neighborhoods begin and end. This, however, comes with any co-constructed narrative that provides a place for participants to share their stories about places. Unfortunately it will not go live until 9/10/09 when it will be officially launched. Much progress has been made on the project, however, and I think it will be highly successful because it can be used by many different groups of people. Residents past and present, those interested in Philadelphia who have not lived there, tourists to the area, and those generally interested in these sorts of projects I feel will all be able to use PhilaPlace. I look forward to it's launch and will update on this as the date gets closer. For now information about the upcoming launch can be found here at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania website.

The Maine Memory Network, which can be found here at http://www.mainememory.net/ is Maine's digital museum. Begun in 1998 and online starting in 2001, Maine Memory is a collaborative effort between the groups that form the Cultural Affairs Council. It was started in order to fill a need, this need was the result of Maine's geography and climate. There are 250 historical societies in Maine most of which are staffed by volunteers during the summer when the weather is more stable. This clearly created a large gap between the times when societies were open for visitors to research anything. The Maine Memory Network is the solution to this limited access. With 200 contributing partners, over 15,000 items are now digitally stored and free to access. One of the more interesting elements is the ability to create one's own album and online exhibit using items in the collection. In albums you create the captions for your private viewing (unless you let others view it) and with online exhibits the credits for the photos and other elements are automatically placed, creating a smooth interaction between user and program. I always enjoy when something unexpected happens out of a project with an anticipated result. This project had it's expected result but an interesting thing also occurred. In Maine, students are given laptops when they hit the 7th grade and the Maine Memory Network became a useful teaching tool. That's not all, schools and historical societies partnered up and now students are helping the historical societies upload things into the digital collections, making even more things accessible to the public and Maine researchers.

Part 4 will start off with the Beyond Steel project from Lehigh University. Look for that tomorrow or Monday.

*Thank you to the Guide to Geographic Information Systems for this definition. For more in depth information please visit the website here at http://www.gis.com/index.html.

National Council on Public History Conference- Part 2

One of the main reasons why I registered for the NCPH Conference was because of the Digital Projects Showcase, a mega-conference session of sorts in which 10 projects were presented for a total of about 15 minutes each. It was sponsored by the Museums and the Web conference (which I really want to go to but can't). I made sure that I got there early so that I could get a seat up close and success! I was one of the first few people in the room so I grabbed a good seat. Unfortunately the room was so long and narrow, many people who did not get there so early ended up in the back, making hearing and seeing difficult. What made this session interesting in the conference managing sense was that because of its organization, people were able to come and go between sessions (and people in the back could move up to the front). I think the format was a resounding success and I hope that future conferences will continue to use it for at least some sessions.

The first project showcased was the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, capturing memories of those affected by the hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As Michael Nelson from the University of New Orleans put it, the Memory Bank is preserving the stories of people who fell between the media extremes (which were stories of heroes or of crimes from desperation). It follows the format of the 911 Archive structure, and was created in collaboration with the Center for History and New Media using Omeka, a digital collections program.* After these hurricanes, one will remember, people from New Orleans were scattered from the area, which created a dilemma for the project because without people and their photos and memories, the project cannot exist. The solution for this was obviously to get the word out, but I found the method of doing this to be quite creative. The first is the use of posters displaying Katrina Crosses to catch one's attention and the information of how to reach the project and contribute a personal story. The second is the use of mailer cards. Each of the session goers received an example of this. In a simple sense these are twice the size of a postcard so that they can be folded in half and secured shut. On the inside is space for someone to share their story. It can then be mailed off where the story will be collected with others and entered into the Memory Bank. I love how that method makes project participation so easy for people. That of course works best for those who have access to the cards in some way. The first Mardi Gras after the hurricanes saw an influx of people returning to the city of New Orleans for the first time (consisting of visiting but still displaced residents and tourists). The Memory Bank used this opportunity to reach people by printing their own Mardi Gras cups for people to use. I think that was brilliant and very original, using the history, heritage and culture of the area to aid in the project. They have even created a Skype account as another method in which people can tell their story. One of the interesting things I learned was that the money FEMA had for documentation after the hurricane went into building documentation and not oral history. Thankfully this project has helped to document the memories, photos, and blogs of the average person who witnessed and suffered from this devastation. These things most certainly would have gone undocumented and eventually would have been lost completely had the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank not been created. The website for it can be found here at http://www.hurricanearchive.org/. They are still collecting people's stories, and it currently contains over 25,000 items.

The second project was the Massachusetts Studies Network (I'll be calling it MASN). What started 5 years ago at UMass Boston as an attempt to collect photos that represented life in Massachusetts, blossomed into a collection consisting of 1,300 photos and stories, creating a digital portrait of Massachusetts. Using volunteers, freelancers and one part-time worker, MASN runs what is called the Massachusetts Memories Roadshow numerous times a year across MA. This is done in a format similar to the TV show Antiques Roadshow (which I love). In an event, people are allowed to bring in about 3 photos showing life in MA at some point in time. These photos are scanned into a computer and the stories that go with these photos are recorded. In return, oral history/photo scanning donors get a keepsake photo of them with their photos at the event and the satisfaction of having preserved local history. Held at local historical societies or community buildings, local residents past and present of all ages can interact and find common ground. One of the challenges this project faced was how to make it extend beyond a physical event? One way was to create a social network hosted on Ning, which allows people to connect with one another digitally and continue to share interests, photos and stories. There is also a Flickr group. Both of these sites brought up questions after the presentation about copyright issues that go way beyond what I understand at this point. I was excited by this project and it was amazing to see what could be accomplished without funding (especially when each Road Show costs $8,000 to $10,000 to run). The website for the social group is located here at http://mastudies.ning.com. The link to the Flickr group is http://www.flickr.com/groups/massmemories, it is newly live and I'm sure that more will be added to it as time goes by.

Part 3 will be comprised of more of the projects showcased during the session starting with GIS in Annapolis.

*This is probably the most general of definitions of Omeka and in no way does it justice from the little I know about it. I really hope to learn how to work with it at some point in the not too distant future (aka grad school).

National Council on Public History Conference- Part 1

Last Thursday and Friday, I attended the National Council on Public History Conference at the Biltmore in Providence, RI. For me it was great because I live only 1/2 hour away and could take the bus, which was doubly great because I get the bus for free because I am a student who goes to a school that worked a deal out with RIPTA for free statewide bus rides. So on Thursday I took the bus to Kennedy Plaza, which is literally across the street from the Biltmore. Unfortunately I missed the bus back home that I wanted to take and had to wait an hour for the next one in the drizzle, but it all worked out. I think beyond that stressful experience, the only lowlight of the conference was the weather. It rained, a lot. During one of the conference sessions, I could hear thunder and watch lightning. When it wasn't raining, it was drizzly and very foggy. I felt bad for those who went on tours and for those who wanted to explore the city.

Beyond that I think the conference was a resounding success, elsewhere* it has been reported that 603 people registered, the most so far for NCPH. It was great for me, a student, to mingle with others (including many other students, which speaks loudly for the future of public history). I also got to see the latest in public history related books and sit in on sessions showing the future of public history. There was so much offered that it made deciding on what to see difficult, but at I learned in an attempt to go to one session which was full, there was something else that I could go to without worrying if I would have an interest in it.

I had very much been looking forward to Session 8, called "Remembering Slavery," dealing with how different sites portray the history of slavery and how audience views of that history has changed over time. I took a class on the African American Diaspora my first semester at Salve Regina (technically my junior year after transferring) and found it fascinating. However, even with my arriving quite early for the session, which I figured would be crowded, there was no room and people were already sitting in the doorway. Disappointedly, I walked to Session 9, "Commemorating Times of Change: Innovative Approaches to Public History at the Presidential Libraries of Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan".

I've never given Presidential Libraries much thought beyond knowing that they are libraries which happen to contain the particular President's writings, papers and correspondence, while they do contain these things, they also feature exhibits on the specific President or about the time in which they held office. I found myself to be quite interested in the topics presented, which involved how do you keep the public involved with the particular past (something that most historiy museums face, if not all). What makes this so vital to the Presidential libraries, however, is that as time goes by people become increasingly separated from the events and the President himself, for example when school children come to view exhibits.

The first presentation was about FDR, entitled: "Action and Action Now" FDR's First 100 Days. In addition to giving a brief history on the events surrounding his election, we were presented with information regarding the challenges that were faced in creating the exhibit and how these were ultimately dealt with. In a sentence, it was the challenge of presenting the scale and scope of the crisis that was not a recitation of a history made stale by the cliches of Alphabet soup (brought on by the different things he created during his administration: WPA, CCC etc). In order to do this, they thought it best to create a narrative into five chapters of his administration, ranging from a room meant to give the feel of his radio "fireside chats" to installing scaffolding to bring about the effect that FDR was responsible for many building projects (and was often shown as a construction worker in cartoons that contained scaffolding on buildings). They also acknowledged that this era is a period of contested history and rather than promote or ignore one side, the decision was made to frame the debate and provoke a dialogue among the audience, a move I think is vital to have in a museum atmosphere. Initial comments of the exhibit were along the lines of how people had it rough during the Great Depression, but as we have entered our own economic crisis, many comments are about how the times are similar to today. It is because of this crisis that those at the library decided to leave this temporary exhibit on display until the end of this year.

The second presentation was on the JFK library, which gets an amazing 6 million visitors a year, many of whom are school children or foreign. This exhibit was created to look at events through the JFK's eyes and follows a chronological path of his administration. The exhibit even contains a replica of the stage used during the first televised Presidential debate. The goal of the exhibit was to strike a balance for those who witnessed the history with those who know relatively little about what took place so that all who go to the library have an engaging experience with history that is still meaningful today. The presentation also mentioned how size constraints have limited the amount of things that can be shown in the exhibit, and because of this events like the Vietnam War are left out of the story. They also mentioned how temporary special exhibits are highly successful and allow them to portray other facets of JFK's Presidency, for example they once displayed Jackie Kennedy's dresses. Things like this bring a whole new audience to the library (always important). There is also an extensive website for the library that can be found here. Interestingly, I learned that this library is also Kennedy's memorial, which is why there is not on in D.C.

The third Presidential Library is Ronald Regan's whose educational mission is to "Engage, Excite, Educate" a very good mission if you ask me. It houses 55 million papers of his and the exhibit is currently in a redesign where context is being added along with thematic presentations involving things like the Cold War. One of the interesting ideas the presentation was the Great Communicator Files, which shows the process of creating a speech. Another was the opening of the Air Force One Discovery Center which is geared to audiences at a fifth grade level and was created to provide room for debate among exhibit goers.

What I originally was disappointed in going to, I came out an hour and forty five minutes later being quite satisfied by this new information. If I'm ever in the area of one, I will totally go to a Presidential Library.



Other semi-conference related, but not so specific things I learned are: everyone has presentation troubles in some way, like verbal crutches (umm, uh, and um uh... unnecessary words that fill up empty space), going over time limits when not reading a script, and not having tested powerpoint images and movies prior to presentation time (sometimes your pictures are way too small to properly see in the audience). As a student, I see this a lot, and am glad it happens in the professional world as well. While certainly not desired by any means, it makes me feel better that it pretty much happens to everyone, as I am guilty for doing these on occasion as well. I continue to maintain that it is important to work on these elements (especially making sure that everything is working on powerpoint as that happens to be a pet peeve of mine).

* elsewhere is the homepage of the NCPH which is located at http://www.ncph.org

Clouds Hill Farm and House Museum

Long promised pictures of Clouds Hill Farm in Warwick, RI. I first talked about the house museum here. There are fewer than I thought I had, but, oh well.

First is a shot of the North face of the property. One of the things I found so interesting about the house is that it is made of stone. Normally a house in this style is made of wood.


This is not the entrance of the property, the east facing side is. Sited on a hill, it was difficult to catch that angle of the house. The house looks down to busy Post Road and condos now with plenty of water views, but I can only imagine how stunning the view was when the house was first built and nothing was in the way.


The property features working horse stables and has a pony as well. The property is also a prime turkey habitat. I saw numerous turkeys roaming wild throughout my afternoon there.

I got to see the house for free through Preserve Rhode Island's Thresholds: Step Inside History. Clouds Hill Farm was one of 23 properties listed. The event is being held again this year with some of the same properties as last year and many new ones as well. On May 9th from 11:00 to 3:00, 26 Rhode Island properties will have free admission. Click here to go to the event poster for a list of participating properties.

Clouds Hill is not on the list this time, but is worth the price of admission.

A Tuesday Catch Up

This week's artist is Claude Monet, an artist I consider to be an amazing Impressionist. Born in 1840, I am rather fond of him because he was the first real artist that I remember studying in school. I'll always appreciate my junior high French class for introducing me to many artists like Degas, Renoir, Manet and Cassatt. Perhaps known best for painting water lilies, he also painted people, haystacks and the Rouen Cathedral. I remember hearing about how he would move from one canvas to the next as the light on the Cathedral would change and would return to the beginning of the series the next time the lighting was right. There were more than 30 of them. I find that absolutely amazing to have that many of one subject in a series. He died in 1926. I saw some of his work in a special exhibit of Impressionist artists at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston when I was in the 10th grade. It remains one of my favorite exhibits to this day.

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I spent Thursday through Sunday in Cooperstown, New York for the Cooperstown Graduate Program's Interview Weekend. I would love to go there for Museum Studies. It is the only place I applied to. I'm crossing my fingers and wish all of those who also went the best of luck. Decisions are already in the mail and I'm anxiously awaiting to get a letter. In addition to meeting a lot of great museum oriented people, I got to go behind the scenes at the Fenimore Art Museum and the Baseball Hall of Fame and visited the Iriquois Storage Facility which also houses collections from the Farmers' Museum. I also rode the carousel at the Farmers' Museum. There really are no words to describe the weekend and everything that I got to do. So cool!!!

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I promise I will post about the now passed "pork" measures that John McCain unhappily tweeted about that first got me into twitter. I feel that it is important to still know what these things are, I know that I was introduced to a number of good cultural institutions in this way.

Also coming soon, the third post about my thesis and the ceramics that I analyzed for it.

My Other Museum Related Project- Part 2

Part 1 of this post discussed not only the basics of what I did for my thesis, but also who John Ronayne was (as he was the head of the household at the time when the ceramics were deposited). I realized that I could not let Ellen Sullivan get lost in the telling of my thesis because she is a big part of it as well. Sadly, because she is female and because of the era in which she lived, little can be traced of her through historical records. I found myself wondering who she was throughout writing my thesis and now that I am expanding upon it, I have been able to spend more time on her and her family.

Ellen Sullivan and her family were among the first wave of Irish immigrants to come to Newport. This was due to available work in the area, mostly in construction. One of the more prominent projects was building Fort Adams. Construction began around 1825.

Ellen Sullivan was born in Cork, Ireland, reportedly in the same parish as her husband John Ronayne in 1829. Based off of Census records, her family soon came to America as her siblings were listed as having been born here, one, her brother John (b. 1832), in New York and the rest in Rhode Island, suggesting an arrival to Newport date of around 1833. She was the oldest of six children, and one of three girls.

Little is known of Ellen’s father, part of this is due to the commonality of their surname. What is known is that he had died sometime between 1846 and 1850, the time between the birth of Ellen's youngest brother Michael and the 1850 Census. He does not appear on that Census and Ellen’s mother Julia is listed as the head of the household. In 1840 Census Records only indicated the name of the head of the household at which time Ellen’s father was alive. There is a possibility that his name was John, as it is the name of her eldest younger brother, but this is only a theory at this time.

In the Census records for 1870 and 1880 Ellen is listed as Keeping House. After John Ronayne died, Ellen was left with the use of two houses as well as many of the household goods and $500. She was granted a life lease by her brother-in-law David at his house, left to him by Ellen's husband John Ronayne, presumably so that nieces Kate and Mary Ronayne could have access to their new homes. Ellen died on June 12, 1895 and was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery on Warner Street in Newport.

A picture of part of John Ronayne and Ellen Sullivan's grave marker. They share a monument with John Ronayne's father Thomas.

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Part 3 will include information about the ceramics found during the excavation of the trashpit linked to Ellen Sullivan and John Ronayne.

Mixed Topic Monday

Today's entry will be a little different than my usual posts as it consists of a few topics rather than just one, partially due to being busy over the past couple of days and the desire to talk about all of the topics without turning them into separate posts and spreading them out over the next week.

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First, the artist of the week is Joan Miro. This artist has been featured at the bottom of my blog since finding him late last week. Now that Dali week is over, Miro has taken the spot at the top of my blog. Coincidentally, this morning, I discovered via twitter that there had been an exhibit at the MoMA from November to January. (I'm sorry I can't remember who tweeted this but thank you.) Feel free to follow the link to view the online portion of the exhibit at http://media.moma.org/subsites/2008/miro/flashsite/index.html. I had chosen Miro to feature this week because of the colors used in much of his work. I love color and surrealism and whimsy and Miro, who I had never heard of before (I'll admit I am very much an art novice) really fits what I like yet breaks out of my constraints into so much more. Here is a link to the blog I got the museum link from because this blog can do Miro much more justice than I can http://www.artsjournal.com/man/.

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Also from twitter courtesy of @PresNation about one of the few places in Newport I haven't gotten to visit. A sign of the times, the Touro Synagogue will no longer be giving public tours aside from the ones already booked for the summer. The Touro Synagogue is the oldest Synagogue in America and just cannot afford to pay the two tour guides who were let go last week as stated in the Providence Journal article found here: http://www.projo.com/ri/newport. Having spent almost three years in and about Newport including two summers (and being an RI native) I had only seen one actual tour group in passing and two advertised. Maybe I just never knew where to look, but I am sad that I didn't take the opportunity to go there when I could have. The article does go on to say that tours should recommence come the summer when the new museum on the property opens, the Loeb Center for Religious Freedom.

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Also a belated Happy International Women's Day! I was off celebrating my Aunt's birthday yesterday and did not post about it. I wanted to post a link to this museum that I found via twitter and am now following. Fittingly for the day and month (and year round in my opinion) is the The Women's Museum in Dallas, TX. The link to the museum is here and the link to the twitter feed is here @TheWomensMuseum. It is most certainly one of the museums that I mentioned in my previous posts about twitter- very much a place I would go to during a road trip to that area.

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In honor of the movie Watchmen, which opened up on Friday, here is the link to the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. http://www.moccany.org/ Currently the museum has an exhibit up featuring a collection of things related to the Watchmen movie and comic. The museum is located in New York City and if you are interested in the movie, the comic or the museum in general the exhibit, The Art of Watchmen, is open now until May 2nd.

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Lastly, the Please Touch Museum which I featured in an earlier post also has a twitter page which can be found here @pleasetouch.

Isn't twitter great? Back to the usual sort of posting next time.

The Twitter Potential

I have officially joined the ranks of twitter as of yesterday afternoon. Up until a few days before that, I didn't realize that it had a web presence, I honestly thought it was just a cell phone thing. Anyhow, one of the things online that I follow faithfully is the Museum listserv and a topic started on Thursday involved John McCain's twittering about pork in the Omnibus bill (I will have a totally different post about this perhaps tomorrow evening). I actually spent time in researching if it was really John McCain tweeting or a fake one, after all there was an article a few weeks ago discussing celebrity posers, so I was skeptical. There was also the thought running in the back of my mind that during the campaign he didn't know how to use email, so how could he possibly use twitter? My research came up with the following conclusion: John McCain twitters with help. I'll accept that, but if he was using twitter, why wasn't I?

So I joined twitter as a way to expand my online presence and awareness, to be primarily used in conjunction with this blog. So there will be tweets alerting to new blog posts and some that sum up blog posts in 140 characters or less, but in a short amount of time, I realized how twitter will allow me to do much more than that.

I began following numerous museums that are using twitter to update their followers on new exhibits, different events and museum specific news. Many of these museums follow each other too. I have been introduced to museums that I didn't know of and thus I have been spending a good portion of my Saturday looking at these museums' homepages. I would love to go on a huge road trip to visit many of them.

Not only am I following museums, I am following museum professionals, museum studies students and all around museum enthusiasts, including other museum bloggers. It is a great way to meet new people, forge contacts and just stay connected to others with like interests. I find people so interesting and I like to network and learn from those who know more than I do. Above and beyond following someone's tweets, I've seen twitter used to find roommates for museum conferences, plan gatherings, and have short and succinct conversations. I am also pleased to see that there are many my age who are interested in entering the museum world for their careers.

The first step is for museums to get out there and tweet, then following like institutions. Soon others will begin to follow the newly twittering museum. I think a crucial step lies in making the statement that the museum is now on twitter, whether that announcement comes on the museum website, via an email newsletter, or even posted (albeit with small signs) around admission desks or at the museum store. I don't know if I'd think to search twitter for a single institution if I didn't know that there would be a positive result, searching for the keyword museum and rolling from there has proved successful enough. The point is though, that tweets can only reach those that are following them and these numbers are far lower than some attendance numbers, so why not reach as many people as possible?

In conclusion I love the connectedness that I get off of twitter, because it is so much easier I feel to find other people with similar interests. It is also something that is easy to do, which means that museums and other cultural institutions can cheaply utilize it, and if utilized properly I think that this is a great virtual expansion of a museum's reach. It's already starting to happen, and I only see this going further as more museums catch on and decide to tweet along with the rest of us.

Hello to anyone who found me through twitter and thanks for visiting!

Free House Museum Event in Rhode Island

I received this in my email today from Preserve Rhode Island. It is an announcement about an event across the state in which certain house museums will open their doors for free. The event is called Thresholds: Step Inside History and will be held on Saturday, May 9, 2009 from 11:00am - 3:00pm.

They first held this event last year around the same time and I happily took my mom (this is the day before Mother's Day) to Clouds Hill Victorian House Museum in Warwick, Rhode Island. I had wanted to view this house because it has such an interesting history and remained in the hands of the original owner's descendants. It was turned into a museum because the remaining descendant had no children and she wanted the property to be taken care of. The house was built in 1872 and was home (in 1931) to the first female fire chief in the world. The engine house (and fire truck!) from the volunteer fire company she formed is still on the property as are some barns with horses and ponies. Wild turkeys also roam the area. I have pictures of the house somewhere on my computer which I will post when I find them.

I am happy to see that this year the event is an hour longer than last year running from 11:00 to 3:00 instead of 12:00 to 3:00. Maybe I'll be able to get to more than one place this year (there are 23 properties participating). This year I'm torn between going to the Paine House Museum in Coventry, Rhode Island and the Old Jamestown Windmill in Jamestown, Rhode Island. They are in very different parts of the state, so I don't think that I could get to both even with the added hour.

I will post about this event again as the date gets closer, any of these properties are well worth a visit.

My Other Museum Related Project- Part 1

Today’s entry deals with the other museum related project that I have been working on. This project is a continuation of the work I have done on my senior thesis, a requirement of my major. My thesis entitled “Alive With Meaning”: Piecing Together the Material Culture of Newport’s Irish, 1848-1898, in a very simple sense deals with the ceramic material culture of an Irish immigrant family living in Newport between those years. Had I only written about that, however, it would have been a very short paper, which it wasn’t. Length wise it was 124 pages long; 45 pages of it was a written thesis the rest were a mix of photos, a glossary, analysis tables making up numerous appendices.

The ceramics that I based much of my thesis on was from a property now owned by the Newport Restoration Foundation. The ceramics were discovered when the head gardener for the NRF went to plant a tree for the tenant of the house. What he stumbled upon was actually a trash pit consisting of large ceramic sherds, clay pipes, glass, faunal remains (animal bones thrown out after a meal), and small finds (buttons, buckles, beads etc.). In the Spring of 2007, my professor was contacted to look at the site and that July he and three students, including myself, recovered the remains of the trash pit.

The Irish immigrant family that my thesis focuses on is the Ronayne family. This was concluded through dating the ceramics and by running back the chain of title (the deed history) for the house. John Ronayne came to America in 1848 where he settled in Newport by 1851. Tax records for 1854 (which were published in 1855) show that he was in the bottom 20% of taxpayers in terms of monetary wealth. He worked as a teamster delivering coal from the nearby wharf to homes and businesses. He married Ellen Sullivan sometime between 1860 and 1870, she had been in Newport since at least 1832. Over time, John Ronayne gathered up enough money to buy numerous properties in Newport which he rented to others for an additional source of income. In 1891, two years before his death, tax records show that he was among the top 26% of taxpaying entities in Newport, certainly a dramatic rise for an immigrant from the Great Famine era. He never had any children so after he and his wife died, his property was split up among his siblings, nieces and nephews.

The ceramics recovered from the backyard of the Ronayne household give insight into the way that John Ronayne and his wife lived in Newport. Stay tuned for more on my thesis tomorrow when I will (briefly) describe the ceramics and what they might mean.

Just a Few Changes

I have once again been playing around with the formatting of this blog, but as I am still happy with its colors they have remained the same.

Things I have changed:

The artist of the week- it is now at the top of the blog above the entries. Before it was at the side of the entries below the "This is Me" section and it annoyed me that the artwork was usually cut off rather than shrunk to the appropriate size.

This Day in History- a fitting addition taking the space where the the art used to go.

Blogs I Read- these are 5 of the museum/preservation/history related blogs that I read. I have enjoyed them and since it is a feed, they will automatically update if a new blog is posted. This section is also on the side of the entries located above my favorite websites (which will expand soon) and my blog archive. I think that I will start to have a Blog of Interest post maybe once a week to draw attention to other blogs that I like. This of course is added to the other things I have promised to post, such as what I would have in my own museum. I will get there, I'm still trying to figure out a happy medium in time between postings.

I have also added a blog description and expanded the "This is Me" snippet.

That's it for now!

Random Search Result: The Please Touch Museum

I stumbled upon the Please Touch Museum located in Philadelphia, PA by chance: through doing a random search for the word please. I don't even remember why I searched for it, but the Please Touch Museum was at the top of the results list. Similar to my finding the Canon Camera Museum, I stumble upon museum related things when I'm not looking for them.

The Please Touch Museum is a children's museum and if I were little, this place would be a lot of fun to go to and spend hours. This so does not look like a museum where one brings their kids for an hour or two. I don't think that I would want to leave. They also have a playhouse theater with original performances and a carousel. Age wise, I think the museum is geared towards the toddler to kindergarten age group, at least it looks that way from the pictures that the website provides.

One of the things I like about the museum website is that for every listed exhibit, there is a list of children's books that fit the theme of the exhibit. It's a great idea especially for when kids find a particular exhibit really fun, parents can then bring home some of that fun in books dealing with similar topics. I wonder if these lists are provided at the exits of these exhibits for parents to take with them. Some of the books listed are for a slightly older age group than what I would have guessed based on the pictures, so far I've seen a book recommended for up to age 8, but there is nothing wrong with that in the slightest. It is just another way to expand one's imagination and knowledge. It also gets older children (maybe older siblings) involved with what the younger kids had fun with at the museum.

I am impressed by just about everything that I see on the website, and am further impressed by the food offerings in the Please Taste Cafe. Everything listed seems healthier than one would find in any other cafeteria like atmosphere for both kids and adults, and all of the prepared foods are nut free. It is also fully wheelchair accessible. Now a days, I think that these things are so important.

If you are in the Philadelphia area, I certainly recommend checking it out if you like what you see on their website.

They also have a blog, detailing the history of some of the more popular children's toys, which can be seen at http://www.toysandplay.blogspot.com/. The most recent post chronicles the history of the Easy Bake Oven.

It's A Museum: Common Sense Please

Before today, I had never heard of the National Canal Museum located in Easton, PA. After going to it's website, I think I would rather enjoy spending an afternoon there. In addition to the museum itself, there is a historic house, a technology center, a park, and a canal boat ride. This boat is pulled by two mules.

If it were not for this canal ride being in the news, I do not think that I would have heard about the museum. First, I think it is necessary to read the article here at CNN that was posted yesterday. For those of you who don't want to read the whole article, basically the Transportation Security Administration wants the Canal Museum to pay for biometric Transportation Worker Identification Credentials for those who lead the mules who pull the canal boat. These are the same credentials needed for longshoremen and truckers to make sure that they have been given extensive background checks.

The people who lead these mules are costumed interpreters and the canal boat moves slowly along a small route that passes nothing needing extra security. Oh, and it's expensive to get these credentials. "Common sense dictates," as one of my teachers would often say, that this is highly unnecessary. Luckily it is not just the museum community who thinks this as this debate has reached Capitol Hill.

If I read anything new on this issue I will definitely update this story, but in the meantime, go check out the National Canal Museum.

Pictures From Old Sturbridge Village

As promised, here are the pictures that I took when I went to Sturbridge Village.

This is a picture of the Meeting House, and look at those clouds! It was an amazing November day.

This was taken at the Tin Shop. Part of what I love about this living museum is the ability for those who work there to step out of a character and lines to show an interested little girl exactly how to curl a piece of tin. She was so interested in what he had been doing and was so excited to be able to help for a few minutes.

This is a picture of the Potter. One of the very few qualms I have with Sturbridge Village is that natural light is the only light one gets in these buildings. So very spacious buildings are very difficult to take pictures in without a flash because they are very dark. This is a totally understandable however, I don't advocate for unnecessary (and modern) light usage. I actually like this picture a lot, it shows the potter in action. I also like it when people can both work and talk, rather than some who have to stop to talk to someone.

This is a picture taken at the Cooper Shop. The Cooper was not there at the time. :-(

This is a picture from the Blacksmith Shop. Look at all of the tools! Also very interesting was how the Blacksmith had an apprentice. I liked that since it adds another element of reality to it all.

And what is a living museum with out real live animals? So here are a few pictures of them.

Canon Camera Museum

Occasionally I stumble across museum related things while I am not trying to. Take for example the Canon Camera Museum, which I found on the Canon website while looking up the differences between two different flash memory camcorders. There it was, on the sidebar of the page... an ad for the Canon Camera Museum. Of course I clicked on it.

I was taken to a new page with animation. It started off blue and as the animation panned down I could see that it was a of a museum complex set in the country. There are open pastures, a garden, a pond, horses and what seems to be a petting zoo. And the horses move as do the kids and animals at what I'm thinking is a petting zoo. It's actually quite cute. I would be in love with the museum's setting if it were a physical place.

The museum complex is made up of 5 buildings: A more classical motifed building with pediment, pilasters, and columns. This building is in the center and is the largest. It is called Camera Hall. The other halls are housed in buildings that are progressively more modern looking in terms of architecture. The Design Hall reminds me of the Farnsworth House. There is also History Hall and Technology Hall. There is an information building as well but it's only real purpose is to balance the museum complex's design. When it's clicked on, a pop up gives a basic 'Welcome' and introduction.

When any of the other four buildings are clicked on, the animation zooms closer to that building and one can see that the people out side of the buildings are excited to be there. The children bounce up and down. It's all very cute and highly innovative.

Camera Hall is just that, a hall about the different types of cameras. Digital Cameras, Film Cameras, Digital Camcorders, Analog Camcorders, Movie Cameras and Lenses. They are all set up as if they would be different exhibition rooms in a physical museum.

History Hall is formed by the Canon Camera Story, a more complex version of the Canon Camera Story and EOS- Goddess of the Dawn.

Design Hall features the Design Room, Portrait of the Pioneers, the Camera Design Process, and the Theory of Design Evolution.

Technology Hall consists of the Technical Room, Virtual Lens Plant, and the Technical Report.

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The Canon Camera Museum is very much worth checking out. I love it when I see technology being used for museum purposes in this way. I think that while museums in the physical sense may be limited to the walls of the buildings they are housed in, the limits to their virtual presence are almost nonexistent (or they should be nonexistent anyway). I really do think that this is an avenue into which we are going to see more and more museums head in the near future. I do hope to be a part of it in some way.

My Favorite Living Museum

My favorite Living Museum is Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. Meant to capture life during the 50 year period of 1790-1840, it consists of 59 buildings including homes, a traditional New England church, places of work and industry and farms with real animals. Whereas some other outdoor living museums close during the Winter, at Sturbridge, there is something to do year round.

I enjoy it for numerous reasons one of which is the personnel's ability to perform characters but step outside of the role and truly explain what one is doing with a more modern understanding ... moving beyond a scripted dialog, so to speak. This also provides a revisitability because you could walk around on numerous occasions and hear different things said each time, even from the same people.

Once upon a time I may have not chosen it because of its having moved its houses to that spot to create an artificial village that never existed. I appreciate that now, however, because although these houses have in part lost their authenticity having been moved from their original contexts, they have been saved from a much worse fate. This, I think is a very good thing.

I last went two years ago in the Fall. It was a beautiful day and Sturbridge was a great way to spend that day.

Pictures to come.

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There are a limited number of other Living Museums that could have earned the title of my current favorite Living Museum. This is due primarily to the fact that I have been less often to this type than any other and the one I have been to the most is Sturbridge Village. It apparently was also the favorite of the teachers in my elementary school and of my Girl Scout troop leaders.

Other contenders:

- Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA.
- The Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, NY. I haven't managed to go here during the museum season, missing it by only a few days the last time I went to Cooperstown. I did, however, participate in a hearth cooking demonstration here in one of the houses, which ranks among the top museum experiences that I have had. Hearth cooking is amazing and tons of fun.

I also intend on traveling to Williamsburg to visit Colonial Williamsburg. I don't know when that will happen exactly, but it is high up there on my list of places to visit.

No One Noticed the Cat - A Book Review

Let me preface this by saying that I find myself buying books to get the free shipping from places like Amazon, Borders and Barnes and Noble. I try to find a book which puts me just over that free shipping edge. This is one of those books found solely for it's price. I do not think that I would have sought it out otherwise. After reading the book, however, I am glad that I did find and buy it. I am also considering the purchase of some of the author's other books, but that will be once I finish the massively large "to read" pile that sits in my room, which gets larger faster than it shrinks.

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Today's book review is of No One Noticed the Cat by Anne McCaffrey. Known more for her Dragonriders of Pern series (which I have not read), this is a short (182 pages) story chronicling the events surrounding the Prince of Esphania after the death of his regent, including a hunting trip with the rulers of the neighboring kingdom, his wedding, and a plot to kill him and all other potential heirs to the other kingdom so that the Queen can rule for her infant son. Key in this story is the regent's cat, Niffy, who with a very limited vocabulary might be the smartest one in the book with a very big personality. Niffy is, clearly, no ordinary cat and often takes matters into her own paws.

I thought that overall the book was well written and clever, but sadly, I think the ending moves too quickly into a nicely bundled package. It clearly leaves little room for a sequel, which is something I look for in a standalone book, but even another 10 pages would have provided the adequate description which would have elevated the conclusion to a more satisfying level. I really wish that this book was longer.

That being said it is a quick read if one has a couple of hours to spare. I do recommend it.

Kingscote Photos

I knew I had some photos of Kingscote's exterior, and I found them last night. I apologize that they do not consist of a shot showing the proper massing or even a majority of one facade. These are the architectural elements that I enjoyed. So I thought I would share.

This is a shot of the entrance.

And another shot of the entrance, but from a different angle.

A detail of the roof line above the entrance.

And one last shot. I just love the architectural details.

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I had also wanted to mention in my previous post that my favorite house museum from my childhood is the Gilbert Stuart Birthplace in Saunderstown, Rhode Island. Gilbert Stuart is a famous portrait painter, best known for his portrait of George Washington which is featured on the dollar bill.

The site also consists of a snuff mill, gristmill, and a fish run. In 2007, the Hammond Gristmill started working again for the first time in about 100 years thanks to the efforts of the many who wanted to see it happen. It is definitely a sight to see and I highly recommend it.

My Favorite House Museum

Today is the first installment of my favorite museums. Today I feature my favorite museum house, Kingscote in Newport, Rhode Island.

Owned and operated today by The Preservation Society of Newport County, Kingscote is my favorite because unlike many other house museums, although certainly not all, everything in Kingscote is original to the house. Nothing has been brought in to add to the house or create an attitude. I always wonder how many people realize that the things in the Breakers, for example, were not necessarily owned by the Vanderbilt family. Many of these things are representations of what the family could have owned. In no way am I saying that this makes touring the Breakers not worth it. It is a fabulous mansion and totally worth the cost of a tour and the crowds. Look everywhere it is gorgeous both in its exterior architecture and its interior opulence.

Just make some time to visit Kingscote as well if and when you come to Newport. It is a great example of the Gothic Revival and as I have already mentioned, everything in the house goes with the house. The entire collection was left with the house by the last descendant of the King family. The Preservation Society became the property's owner in 1972. The collection contained within the house is large and amazing, but in some cases results in a little bit of object crowding. The tour groups are smaller however and the tour runs at a slower pace, allowing one to appreciate much of the collection and tour guides do a wonderful job pointing out the intricacies of certain objects that might get missed with only one glance around the room.

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Other favorite museum houses:

Smith's Castle in Wickford, RI - the history of the Smith family alone is enough to tour the house. It was also a dairy farm for sometime before becoming a house museum. It is also situated on a beautiful plot of land near the water, an area with a history of it's own.

The Whitehorne House in Newport, RI - owned by the Newport Restoration Foundation, it is a house museum in the sense that it is a house, but is more the home of a wonderful furniture collection. It also has a very interesting restoration story with the pictures to prove it. Well worth a visit if you are spending some time in Newport.

Edith Wharton's The Mount in Lenox, MA - this might be my favorite of the house museums that I have not yet visited but are on my list. The website makes it look beautiful, a very rags to riches in terms of preservation and restoration. It was recently saved from foreclosure and an uncertain future by the tireless efforts of those who work and love the Mount. I have been wanting to get here for quite some time; maybe I will see you there.

Castle in the Air - A Book Review

One of the many things I hope to accomplish with this blog is to let you know what books I am reading and to review whatever one I just finished. Today is one of those days.

Although I said I was going to bring a book to the Super Bowl party and did, in fact, bring it with me, I never ended up reading any of it. The evening was too crazy with the game and everyone running around. I found myself enjoying the game almost as much as the commercials, my favorite were the three Budweiser commercials featuring the Clydesdale horses, the e*trade babies, and the one with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. Congrats to the Steelers and to the Cardinals for a very interesting game.

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I finished the last 50 pages of my book when I got home. The book is Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones and is the companion to Howl's Moving Castle. Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favorite authors and I recommend reading any of her books, especially Howl's Moving Castle, which is, so far, my favorite.

The book starts out with Abdullah, a carpet merchant in the land of Zanzib. Troubled by his father's other family Abdullah allows himself to daydream about an alternate life where he is a long lost prince found by his father after he was stolen from his castle by the bandit Kabul Aqba. He also dreams that since he is a prince, he is destined to marry a princess.

Then a strange man arrives and sells Abdullah a flying carpet. Protecting his investment, Abdullah goes to bed on top of the carpet and wakes up later that night in a beautiful garden. There in the garden is a princess, the Sultan's daughter, who aside from her father, has never seen another man. She, Flower-in-the-Night, actually confuses Abdullah for a female, after all, he is in a nightgown and night cap. She tells him that there had been a prophesy made about her that the first man she sees it the one she is going to marry. Abdullah is instantly smitten and visits her the next two nights, but on the last night, a djinn steals her away.

Abdullah soon finds himself in chains accused of having kidnapped the princess by the Sultan. He had been discovered by his nightcap having been found among the princess's possessions. In an entertaining course of events, Abdullah is rescued by his neighbors dog and the flying carpet and in fleeing to the desert, he finds the most unlikely of characters: Kabul Aqba from his daydreams who just happens to have a genie in a bottle.

The resulting tale follows Abdullah and the genie in a quest to rescue Flower-in-the-Night from the djinn. The genie is no ordinary genie either, the wishes he grants, if requested in too open-ended a manner, result in more harm than good. This causes Abdullah to meet many interesting characters along his journey.

This is a well written story with lively characters, the right amount of description, and a highly entertaining plot. One could easily read this story without having read Howl's Moving Castle, although I do suggest that one reads that book too.

For those who have read and loved Howl's Moving Castle, what I found somewhat frustrating, is that minus the Castle, the characters from Howl's Moving Castle do not appear until page 250. Thankfully the book is 383 pages long. It took me quite a long time to see exactly how this book was a companion, but in totality it definitely is. There is of course a twist to the story, but that I will not reveal. You will have to go read it to find out what it is.

Super Bowl Sunday

I'm barely a football fan, especially since the Patriots are not playing, but I do enjoy Super Bowl parties when I get the chance to go to them. It also helps that these things are only once a year. My job this year is to slice the pepperoni and cheese.

As much as I wish the Patriots could make it to the Super Bowl each year, when they don't, I can sit down, watch the game, and appreciate the game for how it is played.

So good luck to both teams. Have fun enjoying the game for all of you football fans out there, and for those of you who are like me, enjoy the commercials.

I admit that I will still be bringing a book with me just in case.

The Final Two Questions

8. What do you do in your free time?

In my free time, and I do have more of it now that my thesis is done, I read (just about anything), write (mostly fiction, I've been working on a story now that is over 140 pages long), hang out with my friends, listen to music, blog (obviously) and plenty more. I'm interested in most things and like to have multiple projects going. I am also trying to reacquaint myself with html so that I can make websites, although I do currently use programs like Microsoft Publisher and Apple's iWeb. I'm working on one for my thesis currently, but that's an entry for another day.

9. If you could open your own museum, what would it have?

I had to do a project in the sixth grade called "My museum" and it featured rooms based on what my interests were or what I collected at the time. I had room for my American Girl Doll, Felicity, a room for my books, one for the Kachina Doll I had just gotten, and one for baseball, among others that I can't remember now. Oh, my museum was shaped like a cat.

Today my museum would be just as diverse, or random if you would find that more fitting. If it were based off of the things I collect, it would run the gamut from rocks, archaeology, teddy bears, m&ms, books, and baseball. I would also include a room for the physical exhibit that I would like to create from my thesis, one on different cultures and... I see a lot of expansion happening in my museum as I think more about this question.

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I also see a fun project in the works with regards to this question. More to come in the next few weeks.

On Why I Do Not Have A Favorite Musuem

As promised, here is my elaboration on why I do not have a favorite museum. You will all find out eventually that with most things in my life I do not have just one favorite of anything...except maybe with sports. So I have favorite museums, however, they fall into different categories. In other words, I have a favorite house museum and a favorite living museum (and favorites in other categories), but I don't favor one over the other. At least I don't think I do anyway. Also, as my geographic range has been mostly limited to the Northeast, I reserve the right to change my favorites, as all people should. Although as I visit more museums elsewhere I might just end up having my favorite house museum in the Northeast and my favorite house museum in the Southwest. That's just the way I do things. :-)

Next week, I shall make it the week of my favorite museums. Tomorrow I will finish up the rest of my introductory questions.

Updates

I have been playing with the templates and colors on this blog, and finally found a combination that I like. It is much lighter than what I had had and more viewer friendly. I have also added a few "gadgets" as they are called. The first is a list of links that I enjoy. The second is one that will display a new Picasso artwork each day. I'm thinking about changing this gadget each week to feature a different artist and maybe set up a rotation from there. All in all I am happy with the way it currently looks and do not expect to change it for a while.

Later today I will post about why I do not have a favorite museum, I promise.

About Me Continued

4. What experience do you have?

a. In an actual museum setting I do not have any experience except with being a visitor. I do have experience in working with collections. I was Lab Manager at the Salve Archaeology Lab and after training my successor, I have now "retired," although I would love to be there more than once a week (which is what has been happening the past couple of weeks). I have processed archaeological collections from start to finish encompassing cleaning, sorting, cataloging, photographing and rehousing artifacts. I have spoken at and volunteered for conferences related to cultural and historic preservation and have related gallery experience.

5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

a. In 5 years I will have been finished with grad school for about 3 years. I see myself continuing to work in collections, although I see myself transitioning to more of a curatorial position but possibly just on the far side of that 5 years.

6. Where do you see yourself ultimately?

a. Ultimately, I would love to combine my experience in collections with my interests in curation, education, and the digital realm. Through collaboration I would like to create online exhibits and electronic field trips and work in an administration position. I don't think that this position has been created at all museums yet so maybe I would have to create it. I've already thought of a title: Director of Museum Presence on the Internet... or something like that. I think I would fit best in a medium sized institution where I can wear multiple hats and do all of that. I do plan on getting a certificate or degree in web design to help me create online exhibits and electronic field trips. Also, if I am better suited to be a consultant for museums looking to create those elements for their internet presence, then that's okay too. I'm open to it. But as this is a question about what I would like to do ultimately, I would totally love to have a museum to call home doing what I love.

7. What is your favorite museum?

a. Since I came up with these questions, I saved this one for last, because it is an obvious question for someone wanting to work in a museum. . . but the simple answer is: I do not have a favorite museum.

Gasp! Stay tuned to tomorrow when I elaborate on this answer.