The highlight of my time this week proved to be my first visit to the offsite location for the OCRHC. I felt excited to jump back into my regular routine after having recovered from COVID. This experience revealed to me a new aspect of museum and preservation work.
Though the offsite proved to be an essential part of my time, I still continued some more familiar skills during the first half of the week. I worked on finishing audio logs. I was able to listen to a poignant interview from a local musician. She painted a vivid picture of Orlando's local music scene. Additionally, her oral history provided many interesting perspectives on life. Her desire to rise above her circumstances inspired me. She describes how when she was younger no one, including herself, thought she would amount to anything. However, later in her life she found success through her music career. This success was not overnight but the result of her hard work and continued dedication to music. This discipline for her passion encouraged me to more diligent with my own personal goals in life. It also emphasized the importance of dedication towards a goal. Then, in addition to audio logs I had a unique opportunity to personally represent the History Center. There was a photoshoot for a local magazine. Myself and a few other team members posed for a group photo that would represent the makeup of the History Center. This was a fun experience as I was able to interact with people from different departments and contribute to the image of the institution.
Now, the latter half of my week revolved around my first visit to the offsite. I was overwhelmed by how many significant objects and artifacts were contained there. Some memorable ones were items from the Pulse nightclub memorial. It was humbling to see these sensitive items up close. There were other interesting items such as numerous, colorful paintings. When looking at these I learned that they would all soon be framed and set up in new section of the offsite location. Therefore, I am excited to see that develop and get a better look at some of the paintings that were covered by tarps for protection. Other objects included technology like multiple typewriters, textiles, and interesting memorabilia such as a peculiar looking firehouse dog.
After exploring the many areas of the offsite I was tasked with learning the early steps of cataloguing items. Through this experience I became acquainted with the software system Proficio. This software allows for museums and archivists to catalogue their large collections of items. Following a brief tutorial I was challenged with trying it for myself for a collection of items submitted by a previous Orange County commissioner's family. I began with the commissioner's extensive collection of pins, badges, and commemorative coins. Initially, I was very slow with logging these items. I found myself fumbling with the software and certain functions. Some mistakes included putting the measurement of items in inches into the area for metric units. Another mistake included when I read an area meant for country of origin as "county of origin." Thus resulting in an entry saying an item was from Florida in the country of Orange County. However, these small mistakes were soon corrected. As I continued I became more confident with cataloguing these items. Though, I believe some things that may prove challenging in the future would be identifying certain materials. For example, one pin appeared to be silver but was actually brass that was silver coated. For larger items or even sculptures I realize I may run into even more complex materials. Nonetheless, this small exercise into cataloguing proved fruitful and informative. I enjoyed becoming more comfortable with it and finding my rhythm as I worked. I am looking forward to learning more about this process as well as further information about preserving certain items. The diverse opportunities during this week has helped create an engaging, innovative atmosphere for learning more about the field.
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