Hello Sanford Public History Center

Hello world! This is Shannon Leavey! I just created this new blog to share in the wonders of my amazing new internship at the Sanford Public History Center. (http://publichistorycenter.cah.ucf.edu/)

This is an educational museum with ties to my university, the University of Central Florida (Go Knights!) Here's a little background information on the Center, before we get into the exciting news of my actual job at my internship.

The Public History Center started out as a public school in 1902, before switching over to only being a grammar school in 1911. in 1916 they added on the east and west wings to the building, effectively tripling the size of the school. The building itself is considered Romanesque. In 1984 the school was shut down before turning into the Public History Center we all know and love today.

My internship focuses on the museum part of the Sanford Public History Center, instead of the educational aspect. I have been gifted with the assignment of being the collections archivist for the Turn of the Century Classroom. This is a classroom set up to look like an original classroom from when the school first opened in 1902.

Now, I am sure you are wondering, "What do they mean by collections?" along with "What do archivists even do?" Well my wondering blog readers, those are excellent questions! We will start with the first question. When somebody says they are working with/in collections, they are referring to (As my immediate superior, Professor Betty White, says ) "3-D" objects. This is anything from lamps, to toys, to machines. This is in contrast to archivists who work with papers, which includes documents, blueprints, maps, photographs, and more.

Your second question, "What does an archivist do?" has a two-fold answer. Archivists care for and accession the artifacts. To care for artifacts, they must be cleaned (mostly with just a dry dusting cloth) and properly stored in a container that will not allow pollutants or light in, and that is made up of materials that will not break down over time, and have a pH level around 7. My next post will tell about the wonders of dusting in fine detail. For now, I will give an overview of accessioning objects. The Public History Center uses a database called PastPerfect. On here you can upload pictures of the objects, give a description, ascribe the object a  number so it is easily re-found, and more that I have not even learned yet.

That's all for now everybody. I hope you had a wonderful weekend, and I will talk to you soon!