Museum Collections

Documentation of artifacts I find inside and sometimes outside of museums

[museum-of-artifacts]

A Roman marble sculpture of four puppies, all curled up asleep together. Unearthed from the ruins of the House of the Faun in Pompeii, 1st century BCE, now housed at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy

[explicitlyrics]

this bull amulet from 3250 bce felt so familiar and i figured out why

[archaeologistproblems]

Archaeologist problems: Wet Sharpies

Archaeologists and field scientists of the world, does the tiniest bit of misty rain render your Sharpies Completely Useless when you try to label your artifact and sample bags? Today I discovered this bad boy, and holy shit it writes on wet flagging tape and wet artifact bags like it's nothing. Not sure yet if the pigment will fade sooner than a Sharpie, but for rainy days, this is a game-changer for me.

[hasufin]

I am deeply interested to know how long it takes to fade, because while the museum currently does not have a terrible backlog, in the past we've hard sample bags that have taken us years to process. And if these things do well under humid conditions and don't fade I will give the field guys a gross of them.

[archaeologistproblems]

I'll update later this spring - I've just used it on tyvek labels and flagging tape in a "high stress" environment (seaside, sun exposure, Canadian climate) where Sharpie fades in a few months. Someone in the comments on this post says they behave slightly better than Sharpie for fading, too!

[evolutionsbedingt]

An excellent discovery and I'm definitely curious to hear how it holds up in fieldwork! The only thing I'm a little worried about is how the solvent they must be using will interact with the thin plastic of artifact bags, especially over time – maybe something to bring up with your local restoration/conservation specialists? A quick search hasn't given me any info of what the ink is made of, so some testing may be needed.

[archaeologistproblems]

A very fair point! These are definitely something different than Sharpie material, they seem to slightly repel water as I write, so maybe oil-based? Must be some kind of quick-evaporating solvent still involved, though, because they don't seem to dry much slower than sharpies.

To be clear though, especially since these Inkzalls are a bit more expensive and harder to find than sharpies (cheapest I've seen individually is $2 CAD at Home Hardware, other suppliers seem to aim for $6-7), I'm planning to keep one in my field kit for rainy days but still stick to sharpies for dry days and for labelling the final artifact bags that I submit to the museum once artifacts are catalogued - I can still recognize a tested product for its longevity in lab/storage conditions!

[artemistakenidentity]

Does it seem like it smudges or gets on other surfaces? I'm looking at it for the dozens of bags of frozen food that get damp as soon as they're pulled out to label them. We currently use sharpie and it's impossible to dry the bags to a point that the marker will work. For me, they don't need to last long, but they do need to last rubbing against dozens if not hundreds of other bags in the freezers.

[archaeologistproblems]

Let’s go scientific on this, I’ve done some base level tests! Here’s how Sharpie and Inkzall behaved on bags.

Methodology: Writing by both instruments was placed on both the clear and “white block label” (slightly textured) sections of a dry artifact bag. After about 30 seconds to 1 minute of drying time, both were rubbed with a clean finger. Next, a Q-tip wetted with pure acetone was rubbed over the left-most letters (fresh for each test), and another Q-tip of 70% isopropyl alcohol was rubbed over the right-most letters (again fresh Q-tip for each test).

Results: Both perform similarly in the rub test on the white block, and Inkzall performs slightly better on smooth clear plastic, though both can be rubbed off with low effort. Both solvents reactivated/removed both inks, with isopropyl alcohol creating more “bleed” on both, but overall Sharpie removing more cleanly and Inkzall producing a more pronounced purplish “bleed”.

[thatlittleegyptologist]

Since some of you don't seem to understand how this 'new notes' thing works, I'll break it down:

I'm the OP. I'm making this post. If you like, comment, reblog (without comment) on this post, then I'm the one who will see all those notes in my activity page.

However...

If you reblog (with comment), I will get a notification that you did that, but any likes/comments/reblogs (without comment) you get on that reblog will only be shown to you. As OP I won't see them.

If someone adds a reblog (with comment) to your reblog...as OP I won't see that. I won't see any of those notes in my activity page.

Basically, if someone with a large following makes a comment, then they will get all the notes and OP will see nothing. If OP has said something silly because they're, y'know, 21 and it happens, and then someone reblogs it onto the dash of someone with a large following who then dunks on them for fun? OP doesn't see it, doesn't get notes for it, but they're gonna get the harrassment for it in their inbox.

If I, someone with a 5 digit follower count, reblog something to correct misinformation on Ancient Egypt, then OP will never see it unless it was on the original post, but I will continue to get notes on that post even though it's not my post. If I reblog fanart, or just art in general, with a comment like 'Oh this is so lovely!' then OP will not see any of the notes from people reblogging it from me. They'll only see my reblog. So it's possible for an art post by someone else to have 200 notes for them, but 9000 for someone who reblogs it with a comment, and the OP artist will have no idea it's been seen by that many people.

It's killing blow to the community we've built here, by someone higher up who doesn't understand that being able to see all the comments and reblogs is what makes this site the place I keep coming back to.

That's what sucks.

I encourage people to go to tumblr's support page, select contact support, and then in the dropdown menu select 'Feedback' and leave polite and constructive feedback (for those of you who enjoy 'emails worded politely but are a strong 'are you an idiot?', try that way of wording it). They're more likely to listen to you if you're not an asshole about it. I've already gone and done this, and I hope others will too.

[kamreadsandrecs]

It’s official: Research has found that libraries make everything better.

Science has backed up what many of us have long been saying: the library rocks. A study from the New York Public Library surveyed 1,974 user

[itberice]

Some top-line statistics from the study:

– 92% of respondents reported feeling somewhat to very “calm / peaceful” after visiting the Library – 74% of respondents reported that their library use positively affects how equipped they feel to cope with the world – 90% of respondents reported that their Library use positively affects how much they love to learn new things – 88% of respondents reported that their Library use has supported their personal growth

[sarroth]

@official-library-posts Stats aren’t surprising but good to hear!

[official-library-posts]

official library post

[historicity-was-already-taken]

I (unsurprisingly) follow a lot of museums, archives, and historical societies on social media. And today I am truly enjoying watching the social media managers scream about ICE without actually mentioning ICE.

When I handled social media for my old org, finding ways to use materials from the archive to passive aggressively address the Trump Admin without directly addressing the Trump Admin was my favorite thing.

[anartificialsatellite]

I do kind of think all the people acting like everything in any museum absolutely must be looted are sort of revealing how long it's been since they like, went inside a museum

[myfootyrthroat]

One of the museums near me has an entire Native American exhibit... that was created by Native American artists, specifically to be in that museum.

[longseasons]

[elljayvee]

when I was in college in the 1990s I took a document design course and we had to go talk to an archivist at the university library

the library had a single page from a gutenberg bible (the bible had been damaged by fire and the remaining undamaged pieces cut apart and sold) and a CD sitting next to each other

we looked at the bible page, marveling at this 500+ year old page with its neatly set type, carefully kept under a sheet of glass to protect it

and then she held up the CD and pointed out that in 500 years, if a CD could even last that long, it was unlikely we'd possess the technology to read it

and we all got very quiet and look at the book page for a long time

and is evidenced by the fact I'm telling you about this almost 30 years later, I have never forgotten that blank-looking shiny piece of plastic sitting next to a beautiful, ancient piece of paper that someone pressed words into with a machine and left for me to read, hundreds of years before I was born.

[wizardarchetypes]

when i was curating the marine science museum i was up in the archives looking for something and when i walked out i had to go through the main museum hall and i heard some kids speculating something about a whale skeleton so i walked up and started talking to them about it. they started asking me follow up questions and then another and another and another and then their parents came over and immediately zeroed in on my "curator" nametag and told their kids i was probably very busy and i said no not at all keep asking me questions. soon their parents asked some questions too (after a few more apologies, because somewhere along the line they learned shame that i want to undo) and in the end i talked to them for like 30 minutes as a few more people joined.

a few months later one of the parents wrote me a letter that i still keep with me and in the letter they asked the kids what they learned at the museum and one of the kids said, "i learned i'm special."

choked up just typing that now LMAO. they didn't mention the whales or the squids or the seals or the tides or the seaweed i told them all about. they learned that their questions matter so much that even the person in charge should stop and answer them. they learned they don't need to apologize for not knowing and for asking questions. they learned that they're special!!!!!!!! what could possibly matter more???

[ashstfu]

[lakecountylibrary]

LIBRARY WRAPPED

You checked out... probably some stuff? Thanks for doing that :)

Used our wifi maybe? For something?

Look we actually don't know what genres you read or how many times you renewed Gender Queer.

We don't want to know.

Our gift to you is privacy.

Take it.

Be free.

[criminalizegolf]

> read library book

> it's good

Thank you library

[fiercestpurpose]

> read library book

> it's bad

Thank you library for saving me from buying it :)

[official-library-posts]

official library post

[victusinveritas]

Most hoard images from Wikipedia.

Found with the rest of the hoard, the handaxe pictured above was probably found either while digging his own hole for the treasure or maybe earlier in a precious bout of hoarding by some Romano-Briton who thought it was cool enough to bury along with all of his coins and Juliane's bracelet, because cool rock. This was absolutely the correct move.

Article here from Smithsonian Magazine.

[postpunkindustrial]

Download 30-gigs of lost cassettes from the 80s underground

Archive.org unleash a windfall of lost music

Archive.org deliver a windfall of lost music.

If you’re looking for a good way to spend the rest of your week, Archive.org have unearthed a gigantic collection of cassettes from the mid-eighties into the mid-nineties. According to their notes, the collection was saved from the archives of noise-arch.net and donated by former CKLN-FM radio host Myke Dyer in August of 2009. Due to the size and obscurity, the collection hasn’t been properly notated but is said to include cassettes ranging from “tape experimentation, industrial, avant-garde, indie, rock, DIY, subvertainment and auto-hypnotic materials”. Head to Archive now to download the free collection.

[gothiccharmschool]

I know that some of you will lose your minds over this. 

[queerliblib]

8 Important Collections of LGBTQ+ Literature and Archival Materials You Should Check Out

June is Pride Month, a time to honor and celebrate LGBTQ+ communities across the country

👀 QLL spotted

[queerliblib]

Happy Pride, QLL community! We’re asking you to give what you can to keep QLL growing this Pride, and we’ve got a fun incentive to encourage you to ask your people to join you.

Have you ever wished you could choose a book to add to the QLL collection? Well, this Pride Fundraiser, you can!

This year, we’re introducing Fundraising Teams! If you’d like to be a team leader, you can click "Start A Team" on this page to create a team. Then, you and your friends can work together to pool your donations to the fundraiser and win the ability to choose a title to be added to the QLL collection.

There are three requirements for the book choice:

The title must be available in OverDrive for us to purchase

The title must align with our Collection Development Policy

Your team must fundraise $300 to select a title

You get to choose the title and the format. You could also opt to add another copy of a book that’s already in the collection. If your team manages to double it and get $600 - well that’s a second book you and your team get to select!

Team Leaders will be contacted in July/August to make their selections on behalf of their team.

The vibrant, flourishing queer future we’re building depends on all of us, and we are so grateful to be in community with you during Pride and always.

[hexjulia]

found out about inupiaq baleen baskets today. i really like them! a lot of them remind me of animals popping their head out of the water

Nicholas Makalik, Barrow, Alaska, 1963

Coiled Baleen Basket by Abe Simmonds Barrow, Alaska, 1954

by Andrew Oenga, 1981.

[carys-the-ninth]

Fun fact: baleen basketry is a modern art form, one of the youngest basketry traditions in North America. It was innovated by an Inuk from Utqiagvik (Barrow) Alaska named Kinguktuk, following the collapse of the American commercial whaling market and subsequent crash in the price of baleen. Inupiaq men traditionally worked with wood, ivory and baleen, and women worked on furs and skins--but the far north whaling communities had no pre-existing basketry culture. He started making these baskets in the 1910s, on an initial commission from an American whaler to mimic Bering Strait willow root coiled baskets, for sale to the tourist market. Kinguktuk added the ivory starting pieces, initially plain, but quickly adding more elaborate carved finials, and innovating shape and weaving styles. The baskets are still made today, primarily made in Point Hope, Utqiagvik, and Wainwright, Alaska. (Source: Baleen Basketry of the North Alaskan Eskimo, Molly Lee.)