Where Did I (We) Go?

Last week my husband and I made a flying (figurative…we drove) trip up to Northern Illinois. The reason? My aunt and uncle had left money to the county museum and the museum used part of the funds to open a new hall which they named in their honor. So as family (3 siblings on my aunt’s side and one on my uncle’s side) we were invited for the opening.

My aunt had worked in personnel for IRS for many years. When she retired she looked for something to do and after volunteering with Easter Seals for a few years, she found a niche at the local county museum accessioning items.

What does accessioning involve? Measuring, describing, recording everything you can about a given object. What are its physical measurements? What materials is it made of? Who did it belong to? Who gave it to the museum? All the minutia that easily gets lost, but could be invaluable someday to someone who needs that object’s history as part of another project.

Every object that comes into a museum’s possession needs to be catalogued in such a way. And it is not something everyone is good at.

My aunt was very good at it. Attention to detail probably helped and dedication to showing up regularly so you could be counted on to do this particular job so the regular staff could get on with their jobs, trusting you to help in this way.

So although the dedication of a hall was because of a financial bequest my aunt and uncle had made in their will, I think the real reason was to honor my aunt for the countless hours she spent puzzling out the pieces of Americana that people gave to the museum. If the Smithsonian thinks of themselves and museums as the nation’s attics, you have to think about the fact someone has to figure out what the attic contains.

And on a lighter note. This is the backdrop for a ‘line-up’/’mug shot’ board. And I hate to point out that someone did not get their inches (“) correct on this board. My aunt would not be amused! She would have had it right. lol