What a difference a day makes...

Or, more accurately, what a difference a few days make. It's wonderful how far we've come with the exhibit. I know, I know...we don't have any photographs or labels up yet, but we've got them printed and mounted. (Thanks to Celina's fine, fine work.) So, really, it's just a matter of time. We're staying late tonight to try to mount the rest of the artifacts. Mickie or Chris will pick up the photos and vinyl lettering from the printers' later today, and we'll get that all up tonight. Which is probably for the best since the sneak peek is tomorrow night. We're closing the museum all afternoon tomorrow to ensure that we've got everything in place before the big unveiling.

We hosted our volunteer appreciation breakfast on Tuesday morning. It was nice to see everyone in a relaxed atmosphere instead of zooming past them on the way to my office or to the printer. We had pastries, fruit, juice, and coffee. Mickie handed out goodie bags and presented each of the volunteers with certificates of appreciation.

So, all that's left this week is the exhibit, finishing the hands-on area and the traveling trunk, preparing for the sneak peek and the exhibit opening (and lecture at the courthouse), and the live remote from the exhibit on Sunday morning. Luckily for me, Mickie and Chris will be here on Sunday morning to do that-- at 6:30 am.

Quiet Sunday

Yep, I'm here on a Sunday. I'm hoping that in the next few quiet hours I'll be able to finish up most of the exhibit labels. We're moving right along...getting artifacts, enlarging/printing photographs, and finishing up the painting.

Tomorrow I'm picking up the reproduction clothing from the donor. I had an appointment to do that on Friday afternoon, but with Austin traffic and the rain, I would have been about an hour late for the meeting even though I left the Museum an hour and 15 minutes before our scheduled meeting time. I should know better than to ever plan something on a Friday night in Austin! Lesson learned...we're meeting tomorrow morning.

Tuesday morning is the volunteer breakfast. Mickie has ordered some food, and she's also planned fun "entertainment." I think most of the volunteers will be able to attend, which is great. We're all looking forward to the breakfast and visiting with everyone.

Focus, focus, focus

Right now, most of our attention is focused on the exhibit, which opens on January 25 with a donor sneak peek event. The official opening is on January 26 with an opening and special presentations at the courthouse. Construction and painting of the exhibit area is all but finished. Mickie and I went shopping for some more supplies and artifacts yesterday. Today, I'll probably buy a tool chest and wooden bench I spotted yesterday at an antique store. So, now I just have to finish writing labels (and print and mount them), choose the photographs to get enlarged, and order vinyl lettering. Most everything else, I can print in-house.

But, the Swedish Texans aren't really all that we've been focusing on...Celina (the super intern/volunteer!) is coming in today to install the small exhibits at the courthouse, and Mickie's got Hands-On History. The presenter (Jan F.) and volunteers (Hopewell Jr. Historians) will be here to help. Tuesday morning we're hosting our first Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast of the year. AND, on Wednesday, our new administrative assistant (Candace) starts.

It's going to be a next seven days!

Construction

Construction on the Swedish-Texans exhibit area is in full swing. They gang came by on Thursday and Friday. They'll be back for an all-day run on Tuesday to finish up--and paint. On Tuesday, we're also flipping the Admin/Volunteer office and the Gift Shop. It's important to get all these changes done now, so we're settled in before the big exhibit opening (January 25 is the donor sneak peek). On Wednesday, we're interviewing two people for the Admin position. Hopefully, we won't be without that crucial position too long. It's such an important job!

I Love Books

In my typical how-hard-can-it-be fashion, I decided that we (the Museum) should start a book club. It began with something very simple. One morning on the way to give walking tours of the downtown square to second graders, I passed a board member (Cheryl) on the sidewalk. She said, "The Museum should start a book club." My thinking was this 1) it's not in our budget, so there's no funds, and 2) that's just one more thing to add on to my ever-growing list of things to do. So, for a few months, that was it. Then, I got an email from the adult services librarian (Richard) at the Georgetown Public Library saying something like, "Hey, we should try to do some joint programming."

Ah-ha! Museum + Library= Book Club. I've never been to a book club, much less ever started one. So, we got our little planning group together (Linda, Cheryl, Mickie, Richard, and I). Last night was our very first meeting. We'd had good publicity in the local paper, and we'd put the event on our website. I was thinking that Mickie's goal of 40 to 50 people would turn out to be more like 10-15. Boy, I was surprised! We had a total of 39 people, with more interested who couldn't make the first meeting. The group is so big that we can't meet at the Museum; we'll have to meet at the Library from here on out. Woo-hoo! (For those interested, our first selection is Goodbye to a River by John Graves.)

On a more sad note, Jeanne has put in her resignation and her last day at the Museum is Thursday. We'll certainly miss her, and I know the volunteers will be very sad to see her leave.

Construction SHOULD start on the exhibit area today...it was supposed to start last week...then yesterday...now today. Crazy weather has been holding us up. So, in preparation I've asked Celina to come back and help with exhibit planning and work. We've got to set up an exhibit at the courthouse, too. I think everyone's very, very excited about the upcoming Swedish Texans exhibit...I know that I've got a lot of work left to do before it all comes together!

Holidays

The staff has taken their holidays in staggered shifts to ensure that we all have our allotted time off for the Christmas holiday and that the Museum gallery is covered (and open). We'll do the same around the New Year's holiday. For me, that means that I'll be in the museum one day next week. I'm trying to get administrative things out of the way, since I'm sure next Thursday (my one day) will be overwhelmingly busy.

It's been busier than we thought today. People have been flocking to the newly-instituted courthouse tours. That's good news, since Mickie worked long and hard writing the docent training materials, holding training sessions, and recruiting new volunteers. She's been so successful that we're going to institute the first ever official docent/volunteer training program for the Museum. All new and veteran volunteers will have to complete the training. I'm excited; this is something we've needed to do for a long time. Plus, we need to give our volunteers all the training necessary for them to complete their tasks.

We've received bids for the construction necessary for the new Swedish Texans exhibit. The crew will start on January 2. So, between then and now (okay... on my one day next week) we'll need to move exhibit cases to the courthouse and install artifacts, move all extra exhibit cases and other stuff to our storage unit, and move all the furniture in Jeanne's area away from the walls so they can be built up and painted.

Happy Cataloguers

In November, my intern (Celina) and I decided to train interested volunteers in the fine art of cataloguing. This is very important work. Most of our catalogued artifacts have descriptions such as "blue dress." That's not nearly enough information. What I like to tell my volunteers is this-- I need to be able to look at the cataloguing description for a specific artifact, go to a shelf full of that type of artifact, and from the description pick out exactly what I'm looking for.

So, we've started by cataloguing the huge Southwestern University/ Mood-Heritage Museum collection we've received over the past few years. Every Tuesday afternoon, my dedicated volunteers work to catalogue and number items in the collection. We've already catalogued over 50 artifacts in the past few weeks. I'm so proud! Yesterday, while Cindy and Ed worked away, I caught up with entering accession information for all of 2007 in PastPerfect.

In exhibit world, I'm swimming in Swedish Texans information...photographs, letters, books, articles, and artifacts. Everyday we receive more historical information and meet people whose family came to Texas from Sweden. Our Memorials for the exhibit have been hugely successful, and we've created a page on our website devoted exclusively for the donors. Everyone has been very pleased.

Jeanne's on vacation this week, so staff and volunteers are working together to make sure the front end is covered and all visitors feel welcomed. Mickie thinks she'll have her first official courthouse tour.