• Casey Salinas
• Kaitlyn Barnett- Curator & Supervisor
• Work Hours 9am-5pm

Left: Image of my computer set up, I enjoy standing while working so I have it propped it up on a box. Middle: Sticky note of my notes for the folder I was working on. All my worksheets were missing the location. Right: Me at work, its chilly inside. This was taken after everyone upstairs left for the day and I was trying to not be scared.

Not every day at a museum is strictly archival work. Instead of going straight into cataloging, today kicked off with cleaning the education department’s large popcorn machine.

The bulk of my time is still going toward the Belford Lumber Company collection. Four days in, and I’ve been finding little efficiencies that help me move through the PastPerfect input more steadily. A volunteer working on her master’s degree in museum studies came in to help with scanning, which is one of the most time consuming parts of cataloging each object alongside writing descriptions. I had her rename all the files in a specific format so I can go back and upload everything into PastPerfect without any confusion. It was also a nice chance to chat with someone with similar interests, she also had plenty to share about ghosts. Which, in turn, made my time after she left feel somewhat spooky.

With the extra help, I was able to finish a folder ending in 2821-2836, which mostly consisted of letters from various lumber and shingle companies, along with several product quotes. Having someone to split the scanning workload made a real difference in how much ground I could cover.