Virtual Exhibitions

Week four has come to a very soggy end, however it has been unbelievably educational as well. This week I focused on inventory, mainly on that of the shelving units located in our back office. There are 15 shelving units, each with 4 or 5 shelves on them, and on each of those shelves there are boxes upon boxes of different items. My task has been to help the staff locate all these items, figure out where they are supposed to be, and update the inventory list with what is missing or has been moved.

Needless to say, it is a very hard process. Each box can have anywhere from 10 pieces of silverware, to 200 individual photographs, and it is our job to go though each and every item and make sure it is in it’s right place. At times it almost felt that the shelving units had it out for us, there were so many of them. The unit I was working with yesterday was dedicated to Bridgeport, CT. Two of the shelves were filled with items made in Bridgeport that could be found in homes anywhere from 50-150 years ago. These items consisted of old “Underwood” typewriters, “G.E.” toasters and even a fluting iron. The other shelves on this unit contained boxes of old sewing machine parts, photographs of the “Wheeler & Wilson” sewing company, along with some pictures of historic Bridgeport.

It is definitely an experience working with all of these historic items, creating an inventory, just going through them all and realizing that people took these pictures or used these machines, decades ago. It is a feeling that I won't forget. 'Till next week!