At the beginning of this week I inputted some cards into Past Perfect . Between the three of us working on the cards this summer we are almost done the years from 2000-2019. Judy has been working on the cards from the 1980s and 1990s.
We have also started something new and exciting on our social media front!
Every week we are posting an #artifact of the week and we post a photo of an article in our collection that we think is interesting and not something you see every day and your challenge is to try and guess what it is.
Last week our artifact of the week was a 1940’s breast pump made of glass.
At the museum this week we have been doing some revamping of some of the display cases. We think the new colors will be a nice update and make the cases look more modern.
Before…
After…
Also, as Alex mentioned last week, lately we’ve been working on the inventory in the lower level of the museum. There are 28 cabinets to go through and so far, we have sorted through 14 of them, we found many neat things that could be used for our #artifact of the week and have taken over 200 photos of accessioned items!
I can’t believe we are already midway through August; the summer has gone by so fast!
We are so grateful for all the community support for our “I ♥ Mattawa” mask fundraiser, and we can’t wait to share our new fundraising ideas with you.
At the start of the week, I input some more cards into Past Perfect. Since Mia and Mariah started helping me input catalogue cards, I have noticed some great progress.
On a more creative note, I painted a rock for our upcoming community rock garden. If you have time or want a fun activity you can participate. Just make sure your rock includes this year’s date and a clear sealant for after it has been painted. I wasn’t sure what to paint, but that was part of the fun. My picture is definitely not geographically correct but I think it turned out decent.
For the rock garden…
Organizing cabinets…
One of our big tasks is taking inventory of our museum collection. I helped install additional shelving in our lower level storage area to help organize things a bit better. In the picture, you can see some of the items we have located. For each cupboard there is an inventory sheet and every item with an accession number is recorded. Then each item is photographed. The pictures will be entered into the Past Perfect system so we will have a more complete description of the artifacts.
Moreover, we set up a table for people to come and pick up their masks. Thank you for all of the orders so far! We are still taking orders for masks and we are now offering t-shirts like the ones we are wearing in the picture below with the Mattawa Museum logo or with the “I ♥ Mattawa” design. Contact us for more information or stay tuned to this website.
Masked troubadours ???
Furthermore, we brainstormed some interactive content to post on our museum’s social media accounts and website.
We created a Mattawa crossword that you can find on this website and the Mattawa Museum 2020 FaceBook page . Some of the words hint at future online exhibits. Maybe you can guess what they will be.
How well do you know Mattawa & things related?
As well, we posted a mystery item on our Facebook page for you to guess. We will give you the answer in a few days, so check it out and let us know your answer. We will post a mystery item weekly so there will be more to come.
Refreshing…
We also found some old cookbooks with some interesting recipes we think you may want to try. This week we posted a recipe for Aunt Susan’s Lemonade which I am going to make (I will let you know how it went).
While we are remaining closed for the remainder of the season, we hope you appreciate our efforts to engage you through our weekly blog posts, social media posts, new interactive content, online exhibits, and future projects.
This week we spent a lot of time finishing a bunch of little projects.
We continued painting the front door and it’s nearly done. All that’s left is a second coat on the outside. I believe it will look very welcoming to the public once it’s finished.
What do you think of the chosen colour?
We also did a few mini “scavenger hunts” to try and find items listed on the cards so we can take pictures of them and document them in Past Perfect. This will aide anyone who is attempting to find an artifact in future with their search.
We have also begun organizing and cleaning the cupboards downstairs. Along with that, we have been making a list of all accessioned items and keeping tabs on where to find them after we come across their cards.
Also, we have begun our “I ♥ Mattawa” masks fundraiser for the museum. We are selling them for 10$ each and they come in red, black, white and blue. If you are interested, please contact us!
Place your order now…
Thank you for your support and stay tuned for next week to hear more from Alex on what she’s been up to!
To start my week, I sorted through the hundreds of photos I have taken of exhibits and items, labeled the files, and organized them into folders on a USB flash drive. The sorting and organizing was quite tedious (the “scavenger hunt” for items connected to catalogue cards last week was more fun), but it will help in the future when we are trying to locate particular images for the community, visitors, or our own work in the museum.
The museum’s computer has now been fixed, so it runs much quicker and in turn allows us to be more efficient when using it. You would not have wanted to use the computer before the fix because it would freeze up after a few minutes of use (maybe you have already experienced this frustrating feeling yourself). Since the fix, Judy has pulled out 99% less hairs from her head. Thank you to the person who fixed it.
Additionally, we dismantled an older exhibit so there is room for a new exhibit. We have been tossing around ideas about what we should showcase in the new exhibit and are sure that you will appreciate what we have come up with.
Moreover, I have input the catalogue cards from 2000-2007 into Past Perfect. I am currently working on inputting 2011 which is quite a thick stack of cards (pictured on the left). Mia and Mariah are working on inputting 2008-2010 which I appreciate very much since it can be challenging to sit down for multiple hours to input a stack of cards.
If you are interested, the process of digitizing a catalogue
card includes:
entering the accession number,
entering the source information,
entering the received date,
adding a catalogue record,
determining an object name from a huge
standardized lexicon (pictured on the right),
and adding an object description.
Finally, I have been working along with Mia and Mariah on a project that will be interactive, creative, and accessible from home (I won’t say more on details yet). We are still in the early stages of the project and I am currently working on the project charter to describe the project, our objectives, scope, roles, etc. .
Stay tuned next week for Mariah’s post about her week at the museum!
