I'm Back

I had a bit of a hard time to write blogs because my computer broke, which is annoying in the first place and causes a very expensive aftermath. The “money-situation” got a little tight after the Euro rate dropped to death. 

Working in the Textile Warehouse -
 Preparation for Display

Warehouse Sneak Peek: Stacked to the Ceiling

Today is the last day of my internship. To fill you in, I started my internship on June 3^rd at the Ohio History Connection in Columbus. The OHC is an umbrella organization for over 50 sights and museums throughout Ohio. My internship was awesome and I could not have had ended up in a better place. I mostly worked in the collection storage, so I got familiar with all task of a curator. A curator takes care of the collections, takes in new objects to the collections (accession), decides to let certain items go (deaccession), and designs and sets up new exhibitions. The collection facility is divided in history, archeology and natural history. The objects are stored in four huge warehouses. Before the OHC took over the buildings, they were part of a textile factory. Uniforms, paintings and antiques snooze today were once T-Shirts and mattresses were made. The collections include everything you could think of that has an Ohio connection. There are mastodon teeth and bones, ancient Native American pipes and artifacts, the dresses of Miss America 1963 (she was from Ohio), the very first Ohio flag that was made (it’s from 1903), even the electric chair that was used in Ohio. I marveled at the silver dining ware of the battleship U.S.S. Ohio, Captain Curry’s blood stained hat and I learned to appreciate the state of Ohio and its diverse history. Basically I dealt with items from the Civil War era to 1980s pop culture objects. The last thing I cataloged was an Atari game console with controllers from 1982. Cataloging was an essential part of my internship. Incoming objects need to be measured, described and researched about.

Shaving like in the 1910s

Scales in the Warehouse 

The curators also try to preserve the most contemporary history. The newest items of the collections include a “Just Married” sign from the very first gay marriage in Columbus, signed by all couples that got married on the day it was legalized. One of the goals of the OHC is to preserve the history of groups that are usually underrepresented in traditional museums. Another thing I learned: historians like to have good food. My co-worker explained to me how historian's jobs work: “We can’t pay you much, so we show our appreciation with food”. And there has been a lot of delicious food. I had Schmidt’s German food in Germanvillage, Columbus, I had Mediterranean flat bread, humus and garlic dip, and cook outs and pot lucks. I had so much nice home-made typically American food. Chili and cheese, deviled eggs, kale and quinoa salad, Cole slaw, brownies, cookies of all flavors, apple, pecan, strawberry-rhubarb and cherry pie… (I only thing I don’t get: Why do Americans like their grilled buns and dogs burned?!)