Hello friends!
Congrats on completing your proposals!
Now that we move into a more active phase...I am looking for volunteers!
What would qualify you?
- you use a mobility aid
- you feel the need to express concerns over physical limitations and public offered events/activities
Feel free to text me! (if you have my number) & if not, email me - ars3575@g.rit.edu
Thank you!!
In other exciting news, I gave my final presentation on my MUSE 340 (Introduction to Archival Studies) Honors Option project yesterday afternoon and it went incredibly well! My project was centered around developing an evaluation framework for different forms of accessibility in archives at institutions in Hawai’i. Although I’ve completed this semester’s commitments to the Honors Program and to MUSE 340, I am planning on continuing this project into next semester (and probably after graduation!) with the encouragement of my advisor, Landyn Hatch, and MUSE faculty and staff. I received great feedback on ways to improve this project, which I’ll be integrating into a more usable product I hope to share with a larger audience sometime next year. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more or get involved with this project in any way, please email me at ram3077@rit.edu.
Over the break, I’ll be working on planning my exhibit and selecting objects from the Susan Greene Costume Collection as well as getting some much-needed rest. I’m very happy to be going home, but I’m so excited to see what the next semester holds for all our theses!
I hope everyone has a wonderful winter break and a happy holiday season! :)
Riley
As this semester ends, I wanted to give some background into my project, highlight some of the work I have completed over the past semester, and look forward to my upcoming project plans.
My whole life has been surrounded by trinkets, collected from my family members over many years. When I was about 10 years old, my sister and I were rummaging through the random contents that filled the basement and found a gallon-sized plastic bag filled with vintage Ray-Bans. After taking turns trying each pair on, we put the bag back where we found it and didn't bother to touch it again until years later, but it was a constant thought in the back of my mind. Around this time last year, as I began to prepare ideas for my thesis, my dad was going through a bunch of the stuff in our basement and told me the story of his father, Jerrold B. Smith. It turned out that those glasses from all those years ago, and most of the random trinkets that were floating around the house were his. This was the spark that set off my project. I knew I wanted to tell his story as an artist, and my family was excited to finally have someone with knowledge of museums and archives to tackle this project.
After the first few months of this project, I recorded three oral history interviews of people with various relationships with Jerrold B. Smith. I have dug through the collections to form a concise history and story about who he was. And I have begun cataloging and photographing most of the pieces. I began some preparatory exhibit work, such as selecting my space and date, University Gallery from February 12 - March 8, and roughly drafting what I hope the exhibit will look like.
Collections strewn about while recording Catherine Smith-Cole's Oral History Interview.
Over the winter break, I am going to work with my dad to clean up and fact-check some possible loose ends I have in my research on Jerrold's life. With the help of COLA Student Research Funds, I will also spend my time purchasing some supplies I will need to continue this project such as protective containers and sleeves. I will also spend my time drafting together my exhibit, and if time allows I will also read new sources for my paper to prepare for the spring semester.
I hope everyone has a fantastic winter break!
- Gabriella Smith
Hello, Everyone!
I hope the end of semester is wrapping up nicely for you all, especially as the holiday season is rapidly approaching. It has been great to work alongside my peers as we have developed our literature review and thesis for review in the spring. Everyone has worked hard, gained a lot more knowledge, and are track for success as we continue into 2025.
Having submitted my final draft of my literature review, I am especially excited to begin the recreation process over break and finalizing plans for my experiments against agents of deterioration. I am currently in the phase where I am looking and planning on buying materials in order to begin (I have many trips planned to Rochester's Fine Art Supply Store downtown)! What I plan to do over break is rest, but also get a jump start on my process and documentation. This is where the fun part seems to start.
I know we are all looking for some well deserved rest, and I wish the best holiday wishes to you all!
Hello all!
Today is the last day of MUSE 489! I am sad but thrilled to finish this class up for the semester. I am so thankful for my work with Dr. Decker and her support. Because of this class, my writing skills have improved significantly. Countless essays and research throughout this semester have taught me much about the process of creating an exhibit and working with a community. Although I have not done much hands-on work with this exhibition, my research has shown that I wish to work in community outreach.
For this post, I want to brush up on a potential project idea for the exhibition. The head curator of the James F. Montpelier Gallery in Ogdensburg, NY, Dianne Drayse-Alanso, asked if we could collaborate on an interactive for the exhibition. One of the many ideas we had was an Adirondack Lean To. Adirondack Lean-tos are a three-sided structure that provides shelter for campers throughout the Adirondacks. For those who do not know, Ogdensburg is located slightly outside the Adirondack Park. So, many students are familiar with Adirondack Lean-Tos and have camped in these structures. Because of this, Dianne and I believe that creating one with students out of cardboard and recycled materials would be perfect for our exhibition- Finding Balance; Exploring our Relationship with Nature. Below is one of the photos we are using as inspiration for this project.
It honestly scares me how quickly this semester flew by. Originally I was thinking this semester would drag on because of all the things I had to do but before I knew it we were at the end.
I'm putting my last few edits and fixes on my proposal before it needs to be submitted on Friday. I'd like to believe I'm on a good path and doing well with everything so far. The subject of my capstone is very important to me and I really want to do a good job and I'll keep working hard over break and into the next semester. There's only a little bit left at this point.
I'm really thankful to everyone who has been supportive of me thus far. I'm thankful for the Museum Studies program, the faculty, my classmates and my mom. I'm excited to keep going into the museum world and growing as I go.
Here's the last Peachy pic from me for the semester!
Hi everyone! Here are more of my amazing finds at the Livingston County Archives.
The main thing I wanted to get was photos of the Castle on the Hill when it was operating. Below are some pictures! I am going to use these as memory aids in my oral histories.
Hello, I hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving break. Since I spent mine with a friend I haven't seen in ages and stayed at her family's house, we were often out and about–going to a concert, seeing Wicked, visiting the MoMA, etc! It was a very enjoyable time, but I am looking forward to some down time over winter break.
I have an exciting piece of news! The owner, Paige, of the Harajuku-inspired boutique Sweet Poison Cupcake has offered to loan pieces to the exhibition from the shop's collection, as well as her personal wardrobe. One of my friends that I interviewed reached out to her and told her about my exhibition, leading to her offer. I'm very grateful and appreciative of the people working with me and supporting me for this exhibition, I can't thank them enough.
Looking forward, I plan on revising my thesis with all of the helpful feedback Dr. Decker has given me and submitting the final version by the 6th. During winter break, I plan on coordinating with my interviewees the pieces that will be featured in the exhibition, as well as designing graphics that include their interviews.
Farewell, and stay warm!
-Carolyn
What a long crazy year it's been. I've changed so much during this past semester and the realization hit that I will not attend a fall semester again at RIT. This program has been so wonderful and welcoming, it truly is a little family. Everyone is so supporting and accepting and I couldn't have asked for a better college experience. Although there were its ups and downs, I will cherish every memory and grow from them. Compared to all the engineering programs, we are smaller in number, but while we may be small in stature, we are big in heart.
Thesis specifically has taught me so much and I've learned how to write more professionally. From putting together abstracts, literature reviews, and a proposal, I've really had the chance to hone in on an important subject to me and how to write about it. I've become a better researcher and still can't believe how far I've gotten. I'm proud of myself and everyone else who has gotten to this point and I congratulate half a year done!
Hello everyone!
The semester is almost over and I am so proud of everything we have accomplished so far. It is hard not to feel anxiety and pressure about upcoming final assignments, projects, and essays, but I find it helpful to remember how much we have done so far. We have developed topics, literature reviews, sources, and proposals, and we have nearly completed our second to last semester of college. Reminding myself that we have done all this, gives me motivation to complete the last stretch of the semester.
Only four short months ago I arrived in my first class for thesis with no clue what a senior thesis truly was or what my own could possibly be. Dr. Decker and my classmates guided me through the process and helped me find my topic. I could not have done it without Dr. Decker's support and will be forever thankful for the museum Studies Program as a whole for the way it has helped shape and guided me into the next chapter of my life.
For now, I will continue to revise, research, and study for my senior thesis to make it the best it can be. Throughout winter break I will work on my thesis and keep it in mind in what I do. I have also added my thesis topic to my resume for law school and believe I will be writing about my experience within my personal statement. This class has been eye opening and allowed me to develop and refine my voice as a professional and a student.
Thank you everyone and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the semester.
-Kaitlyn Troutman
Hello!
I want to share why I am passionate about my current project. If you do not remember, my project is creating an exhibition at my high school. Here they host art exhibitions for grades K-12 twice a year. In the fall they host an exhibition with no particular theme. Later in the year, they host a spring art show with a theme. My exhibition will be held in the Spring, with the theme, Finding Balance: Exploring our Relationship with Nature.
As my fellow classmates and others who are viewing this may know, the end of the semester is a whirlwind. Through all that stress the most important thing is to remind yourself what you are doing it all for. One of these little reminders was through visiting the Fall Art Show a few weeks ago. I saw all these smiling faces of children, pointing to their work exhibited. Parents would take photos of their children next to it. Ear to ear were smiling faces. One of these happy smiles was my little brother Dakson.
Dakson is a six-year-old artist. He made an art piece of a snowy owl he was excited to share with me and my family. He felt accomplished that he was considered an artist among the crowd. Not only that, but he said he wanted to be an artist like me. It warmed my heart to hear those words. This is an experience I wish to continue to be a part of creating for other families and children. Please make way for the little artist, Dakson Duford. Pictured below is him and his work.
These past two weeks I have begun an in-depth review of the materials I have acquired for my project. These objects have been collected over 40 years and consist of a range of materials. Currently, the objects are stored in one large tote bin, a shoe box, and a small storage bin. Some pieces of the collection do not have a home currently and are waiting to be placed into their spot in the collection.
The collection includes newspapers, photographs, art pieces (metal & wood), paper documents, books, and drawings. This allows me to practice handling and archiving different materials. I have found the hardest part of organizing this collection is that it is very easy to get distracted and go into a rabbit hole of the little bits of history each piece has.
My process so far consists of maintaining a Google Spreadsheet which I will be able to update regularly and easily turn access over to my family members that will take over. As of right now, my inventory list looks a bit like the spreadsheet below.
As I progress through the project, I plan to select some of the items in the collection and place them in a Collection Management System (CMS) to further the project's goal of being a usable archive. The main objects that would be housed on the CMS would be a part of my physical exhibit that is opening in University Gallery in February. Before I get too ahead of myself I have to finish up my review and re-organizing of the Jerrold B. Smith Family Archives Collections.
