Memoirs of an Intern - Building My First Exhibit!

June 7, 2013

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My name is Lauren and I am a summer intern at the Museum of World Treasures. My first project is done and ready for viewing! It was educational and exciting to see the process of creating an exhibit, from organizing ideas to setting up the display. The process involved designing posters, choosing artifacts, writing signs and coordinating cases with the theme. Now I know how much work goes into it an exhibit.

 

A team of two curators, a volunteer and I drove to Winfield, Kan. to put artifacts on display at the public library. World Treasures placed minerals, fossils, tools, artifacts and photos of excavations in five cases. The display coordinates with the library’s “dig into reading” theme for the summer reading program.

 

One month before, the library staff contacted the Museum of World Treasures about some empty cases and asked if the Museum would use them for an exhibit. To match the digging theme, my partner Kate and I chose artifacts that were dug out of the ground along with fossils and minerals. The Museum and the Winfield Public Library now have an established relationship due to the project.

 

“It was great working with another institution whose passion for educating youths matches ours,” said Timothy Howard, the Museum Curator of Exhibits.

 

The Library staff was friendly and helpful during our visit. If our group ever needed anything we just let the library staff know. It was a pleasure to work with another educational institution.

 

Looking through old artifacts was one of my favorite parts of the project. It was amazing to hold bowls and figures that were over two thousand years old! Items in the exhibit include artifacts from Pre-Hispanic America, Rome, Greece, Egypt and Ancient Middle East cultures. The artifacts are jewelry, pottery and figures. The Museum and library hope to educate and entertain the guests, as well as introduce children to history in a new way.

 

The project itself took several weeks, but the set up took only a few hours. Before we finished setting up some kids were looking at the fossil exhibit and showed enthusiasm. I enjoyed seeing one of the kids say “wow” when he looked at the two shark teeth.

 

The exhibit is only up for this summer. Coming soon to the exhibit will be a Egyptian mummy hand!