Going back to the drawing board was the highlight of this week at the OCRHC. However, rather than being disappointed I was excited to go over familiar tasks with a new perspective. These task included my Reflections article as well as skills I learned at the offsite. Overall, this week was an opportunity to rethink my initial work and continue to learn new skills.
The start of my week included more research into my Reflections article. I continued with the idea of highlighting the women who made the city beautiful angle. This led me to finding more information about the efforts of both Glenda Hood and Mary I. Johnson. This entailed mutual collaboration in restoring Lake Eola Park as well as individual initiatives. In the late 1990s Glenda Hood approved a multi million dollar plan dedicated to creating more green spaces in Orlando. Mary I Johnson would host recruitment teas in one of the open gardens to encourage women to participate more in local government. Though this angle brought together many unique and still relevant facts, I realized that it was a bit impersonal. It did not capture much about the background of these women. Thus, I went back to the drawing board or more aptly to the offsite.
At the offsite location I was able to browse more files on Glenda Hood to get a better sense of her goals, personality, and mission while in office. These were very helpful, but unfortunately I did not get to look at them long because I focused more on my cataloguing work. Though, while there I also learned from my supervisors that Mary I. Johnson was a big fan of butterflies. She had even dedicated a butterfly garden at a local elementary school. Moreover, she had a large broach collection filled with hundreds of butterfly pins. I was told that she loved them and that to her they symbolized hope. This was made more poignant by the fact that the Victims Service Center of Central Florida, an organization that Johnson started, is represented by the image of a butterfly. With these new facts in mind I was inspired to reframe the article to capture the personal interests of both women. The focus of the article can still be on making the city beautiful but have more of a perspective on what that meant to these women. For example, to Mary I. Johnson a butterfly was beautiful not just because it brightened up Orlando's landscape, but instead because it symbolized perseverance and a new beginning. This meaning was something that she applied to communities that had been neglected for years, survivors of crime who have been in difficult situations, and average residents who sought change in their circumstances. While serving in office, Johnson worked to help create a brighter for all in these scenarios. Thus, it is this personal concern that I will work harder to highlight so that the powerful motivations of both Mary Johnson and Glenda Hood shine through.
Then, other tasks this week included more insights at the offsite. For one, regarding taking pictures I have gotten one step closer to learning the process of fully uploading them. I was able to properly rename the phots to prepare them for later resizing before upload to the OCRHC website. During this process I could reflect back on the images I had taken and evaluate my skills. Most of the time the pictures were sufficient and showed the relevant parts of an object. However, there were times where I realized that the lighting was off, I had too much of a shadow over an object, or a nearly perfect image was ruined by a finger in the shot or part of the light stand. This organization gave me more awareness of what to look out for when capturing these images. Furthermore, while cataloguing items I reached a new type of item, textiles. Due to their fragile nature I was introduced to the fact that they had a different process of packing compared to smaller objects that were usually placed into a proper bag. I was not able to learn the full process yet, but am excited to begin at this step next week. It will expand my knowledge on handling certain materials. Ultimately, I look forward to understanding this new element of collections as well as changing my perspective for the Reflections article. These opportunities show the value in reevaluating old skills and mindsets in order to learn something new.
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