Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Collections Management and Williams House

This morning we didn't have anything to do until 11:00, so I was able to finish up the homework from last night this morning and stop by the library. I will definitely be researching a lot this evening. At 11:00, we met with the collections manager, and he explained his responsibilities at Historic Deerfield. It was very interesting, and it was nice to hear the difference between curator and collections manager/registrar. Most of us didn't really know what each position entailed exactly, so having it explained was nice. The afternoon was spent shadowing the guide in Williams House. Williams House is the most accurately renovated house on "The Street." The owner built the house in the 1730s, but her great-nephew expanded the house in 1816. It has 14 rooms! It is a really neat house, and anyone interested in wallpaper would love the interior. Each room has reproduction wallpaper (well, except for one, because we don't know what wallpaper would have been in there), but it interesting to see the colors and designs on mid-19th century wallpaper. I will guiding in this house through next week, I believe. There were three tours this afternoon, so while I didn't give a complete tour, I did the upstairs rooms of the last tour. This whole guiding thing isn't as bad as I though it be. I mean, I figured I would get nervous exactly, but I now know how much the guides really have to go through to learn a complete house. Studying all the objects as well as everything else; so while I'm not as informed as they are, I can still manage to give a tour, which is a good feeling.

Let's see, I don't think there is any other news. I will be researching tonight. A field trip tomorrow to the Hancock Shaker Village will be fun, I'm sure. I'll post pictures tomorrow!

1 comment:

  1. Humm... mid-19th century wall paper sounds interesting indeed.

    Now, if you want to see mid-19th century tile all you have to do is look in one of the bathrooms in the Quads. :)

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