I started my first day by wandering through the museum on my own, reading all the available information for patrons and spending time with the interactive exhibits before anything official got started. I happened to start on a day when almost the entire staff was in the building, which made it easy to meet everyone. I also had an intern orientation alongside another intern working toward a bachelor’s degree in art history (if I’m not mistaken); her workspace is noticeably neater than mine.
The administrative side of the day involved setting up my calendar and creating an account in PastPerfect, the museum’s collections management software. My supervisor, who serves as the curator, walked me through how to use the scanner and how to enter object information into the system. The collection I’m working on is the Belford Lumber Company permanent collection — each object already has a cataloging worksheet filled out, and my job is to enter that information into PastPerfect.
I made some real progress on my first day. I completed a folder ending in 001-003, which contained building specifications for Mr. and Mrs. Swenson, and began a folder ending in 2837-2852, which included letters and lumber quotes dated between 1930 and 1938 from companies across Minnesota, Louisiana, and Texas.
Archive Diaries- Summer 2026 