Collections

As a class assignment we are required to write a blog. I brainstormed on some of the potential topics I could write on, and it wasn't an easy decision. My friends tell me that I'm funny (they could just be being nice), and I guess I can see that. I considered a topic that would be humorous as in a collection of humerous things I find online. I also considered writing a blog on music, as I'm very interested in finding new music and sharing it. I love to travel, and I'm always interested in finding new places to go, so the idea of writing a travel blog was also intriguing. Then I started thinking about a topic relating to my major (Art History) and I came up with a decision.

As an Art History major, my long-term goal is to apply to graduate school to become an art conservator. This semester I lucked out in getting two pretty awesome internships. One of the internships is working directly with the conservators at the Kelsey Archaeological Museum on campus to start getting some training in the field. My other internship is working at the Maps Library within the graduate library, where I'm working to put together some exhibits.

Before working at the Maps Library I had no idea that there were even exhibits! (Check out some of the current and upcoming exhibits and events) My director showed me the current exhibit and I started to get excited. One thing that really ignited my interest was that they were displaying the oldest known print in the world, here, in our own collection, in an obscure gallery space in the basement of the graduate library. Who knows what other hidden things there are within our collections at school? It struck me that these hidden gems are most likely unknown by a grand majority of people on or around campus. I decided to make some of these objects more apparent and work to promote the exhibitions so that they are not simply overlooked.

One idea that I had was to create some sort of daily calendar that would highlight different objects that can be found in collections throughout the museums and libraries on campus. I really hope that most people have visited the UMMA, Kelsey Museum, Exhibit Museum, and Botanical Gardens, as they are free and full of wonderful things. Maybe this is just me being a museum nerd, but as a person that has visited many museums, I can honestly say that the collections housed within these buildings are extraordinary. I'm hoping that by my research into these little known treasures, I will inspire people to pay closer attention to the resources we have on campus, and to be more interested in the exhibitions put on to highlight them.

When deciding a topic for my blog, I thought about the actual purposes of a blog. A blog is an efficient way to share thoughts and ideas. Blogs are continually added to, and old blogs will remain archived. In essence, a blog is a "collection" of thoughts. Why not use a blog to highlight different objects I find within the University's "collections?"