Virtual Exhibitions

It's hard to believe that it has already been over two months since my internship began, and that it is already time for it to come to an end.  I have seen and done so much since I've come here and I've really gotten a chance to see the museum change.  When I first arrived there were still so many artifacts sitting in the main museum.  The mummy remained on the third floor, and most of the second floor exhibits were still up.

Now the third floor is completely barren.  I helped to clear it of mummies and carriages, and now demolition has begun on its tornado damaged walls.  The second floor too, has been much changed.  Over the course of the Summer we have slowly emptied it of artifacts: Civil War relics one day, old GE appliances the next.  Even its temporary walls have been removed, taken downstairs to be home to paintings (also from the second floor).  All that now remains is some of Barnum's furniture, chairs with gargoyle heads that we arranged by the elevator.  Someday soon they too will be brought down into the airconditioned exhition hall.

I've enjoyed the treasures that I've found at the Museum.  I've enjoyed getting to experience history through the diaries that I've transcribed (I finished the last of four yesterday), and I feel as though I've gotten to know a man who lived over a century before I was born.  I also loved playing detective, and using the internet to find the lives and stories of the owners of documents and artifacts that are housed at the museum.

Now it's time for me to say goodbye to the museum and join all those people who are eagerly awaiting the day when it will open its doors to the public again.