A little history goes a long way. In the Archives world, we always have multiple projects going on and sometimes things come across our desks that donāt take top priority. It may be months, and in some cases years, before time is allotted to focus on these low-priority items. Over the past year, Iāve been dedicating time here and there to go through the āto doā boxes on the Archives shelves and have come across some really cool stuff.
Recently, I was able to sort through a massive amount of old exhibition labels and hand-written object cards that were found in a trunk that is believed to have been owned by Stewart Culin, the Museumās first Curator of Ethnology. There is an identical trunk in the Archives that we know belonged to Culin, and many of the labels note that objects came from numerous Museum expeditions led by Culin. I think itās a safe assumption that this trunk belonged to Culin! In addition to the trunk, I also went through similar items from the Department of Decorative Arts that came out of a shopping bag I came across on one of the Archives office shelves.
As the Museum building has evolved over the years, there have been many changes in our galleries presenting both permanent installations and rotating exhibitions. As these spaces are changed the didactic information about what was on view is removed and eventually deposited in the Archives. It is our job as Archivists to determine what the materials are and where they came from, and figure out where they fit in our collections. In this case, we decided to keep a representative sample to capture how we have interpreted art to the public through time.
I tried to retain the labels and object cards that are in the best shape. There is a lot of deterioration that can be attributed to the way the materials were handled, housed and stored over the years. Most of the object cards are hand written or photocopied, which tells me they were used for reference purposes. The labels are mostly printed on paper or a heavy card stock, but there are a couple of fragile hand-written labels and a few that are made of wood. The next step is to consult with Keith DuQuette, our Library Preservation Associate, regarding cleaning and rehousing. As you can see from the image, I had to wear a dust mask while working with the materials. Today the Museumās didactics are applied directly to the wall and saved in electronic format. This representative sample of historic signage provides a fun way to see the various ways labels were created, and the different types of materials used over time.
Posted by Jennifer Neal
Photo by Brooke Baldeschwiler
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