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.

About Me

As promised yesterday, here is a little bit of information about myself. I figured this would best be set up as a list of questions, and yes I did come up with them myself, so if you feel that I have left something out, please comment and let me know. My comments are called musings, just so you know.

1. Where do you go to school?

a. I go to school at Salve Regina in Newport RI, where I am a senior majoring in Cultural and Historic Preservation. I am not taking classes this semester, for reasons I'll post later, but I am set to finish up my graduation requirements and graduate in May. If any of you are looking to apply to undergraduate schools I highly recommend Salve and the CHP program.

2. What are your educational goals?

a. My goal currently is to get a Master's Degree in Museum Studies. I only applied to one school, the Cooperstown Graduate Program, because once I visited it, I knew it was for me. If I don't get in I'll just reapply next year. I'm not going to settle by going somewhere else. Depending on where I end up career wise, I am also contemplating getting a certificate or degree in Web Design. I also am open to getting a Doctorate, maybe in American History or something similar. I don't think that I could ever not be learning. I'm a lifer, lol.

3. What first got you into museums?

a. I have always enjoyed history, anthropology and the like. I also have archaeological experience and have spent two summers excavating around Newport. I seriously considered going into archaeology for a while, but as I will delve into later it was my job as Lab Manager that showed me that museums were my calling.

My first introduction to museums came from my Grandma, who had a lot of museum coffee table books. The pictures in them were exquisite. And I really wanted to reach into these photos and hold these objects. It was so cool how all of these objects, originating from all over, could be in one place.

As I got older and started going to museums, I really started to wonder how museums operated in order to have all of these things, and who decided to display them, and how could I get to work with such neat objects. Until I got even older, I didn't know that what I saw displayed was only a minute fraction of what the museum actually had, which only made me have even more questions.

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With the desire to keep my posts relatively short, stay tuned for tomorrow when I will continue to answer some basic questions about me and other museum musings.

An Introduction

As this is my inaugural blog post, I will keep this to a short welcome and will follow up with a longer entry shortly. I welcome you to a blog that will not only be about museums in the physical sense, but also about their presence on the Internet and anything else that I may see fit in the future.

This is not going to be solely about museums, however, I also plan on commenting on books that I am reading, artists that I like, places I enjoy and the things I like to eat. I will also reveal a little about myself.

I can't guarantee that I will post something everyday, but I will update regularly. So keep checking back, you'll never know what you might find.

Thanks and welcome!