Week 4 Day 7 and 8 (June 3 and 4): Phase 2 has officially begun

So this week we really started on the actual collections. Christine and I decided to start with concentrating on the founding families of the city of Maitland. We realized that while all the information (both old and new) about these people were in the research library they were scattered throughout the room. What we aim to do is get all this information in one area on one side of the bookcase, stored between two half shelves (lets say the right side of shelf 10 and shelf 11 for example). We located this collection directly in the middle (the inner side of both bookcases) where the light is the best, and we thought would deem all this information most important. Less important topics or collections will go on the outside of the bookcases. I'll make sure to take pictures to further illustrate my point and where the collection will be held.

Not gonna lie the first day was a little slow going for me since I was doing something totally new. Even though I didn't feel very confident of the work I did thus far, Christine reassured me that it was looking great and we were making great improvement. Towards the end of the day Christine and I made a more detailed game plan since we both know what we are up against now.

I definitely think the toughest part was moving box by box and before making huge changes having to go back to the database so as not to forget where the current location of each box was now at. Also boxes that needed to be moved to make room for this collection couldn't simply be thrown out or taken out. I had to instead temporarily relocate them to another shelf as more and more things got moved around. Of course the tedious problem is that these less important boxes also had to be continuously updated on the database so I wouldn't lose track of them. I think right now my biggest fear is losing track of a random box and the database not being updated. I think as long as I pay attention and try not to rush I'll be okay.

So all of that was Tuesday but on Wednesday instead of my usual hours at the museum I had a meeting with the very sweet and helpful Laura Cepero at RICHES located in UCF. Christine decided that instead of doing one task at a time I could simultaneously create a collection, take pictures of the older documents in the museum to digitize and learn a bit about Metadata. Laura sent me some information on how to scan (if we were using a scanner), what type of high resolution photos to take and how to upload to RICHES. In the end we decided that it would be easier if she sent me a database where I could plug in all the information of each photo I took since I will be taking much more than 10 photos. I learned that this is the beginning stages of Metadata (in this database I have to describe the content of my pictures in great detail). Like I said Laura was super helpful and she seems to be a pro when it comes to all things digital. Hopefully I gain a lot more knowledge from this young lady.

Also before I forget here are the pictures I promised from last week.

This is the mannequin I've been talking about. 

Up close photo of my worst nightmare the mannequin 

One of the headless mannequins at the front of the museum. I actually don't find this one creepy and find the dress (19th century at least) to be very beautiful.

So that's it for this week. I've learned a ton of information this week and the best part is that I'm learning it as I go and getting real experience in the field of archiving. Until next week folks!

-Ambar the History Student