That a curator update might be called for, since I haven't written one in a while.
Some of the more unusual items I have cataloged recently in my textile cataloging gig:
1) A B-17 bomber pilot outfit, consisting of what made me think of nothing so much as a pair of ski bibs and jacket. Except, of course, for being made of leather lined with sheepskin and weighing what seemed like 500 pounds.
2) A pennant from the U.S.S. Arizona, dated 1924, commemorating a cruise to the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal.
3) An assortment of souvenir hankies from the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909.
4) And today, a 1940 leather football helmet from the local high school, and the jersey that went with it -- both obviously well-worn and used. The blue paint? dye? was peeling and cracking on the helmet, and the jersey was, among other things, missing a chunk at the back hem I estimate at about 5x7 inches. Or a good handful [g].
I love this job.
Oh, and my other gig, the Lakewood Cityhood exhibit, will be opening in two weeks. I have been creating graphics all week (well, taking the templates I created earlier and filling in the photos and text), and I'm just about ready to go to the printer tomorrow. Hallelujah.
If you happen to be in Pierce County, Washington, on on Saturday, February 25th (or thereafter, until next February), come take a gander! It's at the Lakewood History Museum.
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I'm not much into collecting, but admire those who do and I know those items you and others collect are so important to history and I appreciate the opportunity to look at them, especially if doing research for a story, but I can't do it. For some teason it gives me the shivers just to think about collecting things...unless it's books.
ReplyDelete[g] My golden rule on collecting by individuals is that everyone gets three categories of stuff that aren't clutter by definition. Mine are books, garden plants, and quilt fabric.
DeleteBut I think most collecting should be left to museums. Of course, if no one saved things to give to museums, that would be awful, too.