Eat. Sleep. Immerse Yourself.

Week 3: June 27 - July 1, 2011

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:24:00 -0400

Monday, June 27 (10:00 - 5:30)

labeled a diving helmet with its catalog number while it was still in the “Commercial Diving” exhibit
attended my first staff meeting from 10:30-12:30; i appreciated being included in the meeting, as I want to be on the same page as everyone else during my time here; we had a “rundown” printed out and each staff member shared important information and gave progress reports; I talked briefly about why I am here and what I’m doing (the other staff members knew surprisingly little about that); it was interesting to see the dynamics of the interpersonal relationships in full-swing; it seems at this point to be that the less people you have on your staff, the harder it is to have an idea approved by the “majority”; it becomes too personal if something doesn’t go your way
permanently mounted the HOBO data loggers to the walls in the library, collections storage and exhibit galleries; always love an opportunity to use power tools!
filed away various completed items from last week into the “archives”
went on a search for 12 missing diving hoods in the collections storage; found 11 of them (and I think the other is installed in an exhibit); labeled their boxes with their accession number and grouped them together so they aren’t lost again; consequently, this eliminated some “Found In Collections” material, which is always a good thing
sorted through a bunch of books intended for the library; determined which ones were relevant to the mission of the museum (a lot weren’t); started a “rummage sale” pile for the ones that aren’t going in the library (an excellent fundraiser idea floating around the museum)
plugged in the data loggers to the computer for the first time since Thursday; MASSIVE fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity; it changes as much as 10 degrees every single day; it is actually warmer at night (getting up to 83 degrees) because the air conditioner is turned off after the museum closes

After-work activities

Erin has me hooked on coffee (after only one day) thanks to the amaretto creamer at the museum; I immediately went to the store and bought some after work, as well as coffee grinds; this turned into my first ever coffee making experience; my first batch was a miserable failure (I put the water in the wrong place in Mr. Coffee), but after watching a Youtube video on how to make coffee, I was good to go!; I can’t believe I spent 26 years of my life not drinking coffee

Tuesday, June 28 (10:00-5:30)

this was the first rainy day in the Keys (torrential downpour ALL day) and it had a fascinating effect on business; most of the staff members couldn’t believe how many visitors we had (75) and think it may be close to the all-time one day record; goes to show how difficult it is for the museum to compete with all the natural splendors of the Keys
sorted more potential library books; when I finished, I assigned catalog numbers to those books destined for the library, took their pictures and created PastPerfect records for all of them; there were also several magazines and videos that I performed these same tasks on, although they are considered “archives” and not part of the library; they were included as part of the same accession however, and are linked to the other books in PastPerfect
one of the cool features of PastPerfect when you are inputting books is a link to the Library of Congress online catalog; it allows you to find all sorts of infromation on a particular book and is especially helpful if you are creating a library, as it tells you the call # and basically what order to put your books in; I copy and past a lot of information from that website right into PastPerfect (and find it strangely satisfying)
updated a loan file in PastPerfect, as it was recently extended for another year
started creating exhibit labels for the “Art McKee and the Treasure Hunters” gallery; this particular gallery suffers from a major lack of information and continuity, so Erin thought it would be a great idea for me do some research (on both history and the collections) and come up with some labels that tell the story that is missing; last week’s blog entry that I wrote on Art McKee’s dagger handle was the precursor to this, so I have enough background knowledge to get started; I’m already finding it difficult to be both succinct and informative (not to mention interesting), especially as I write them by myself; I’m having flashbacks to Dr. W’s exhibit seminar, but am very glad I took it before attempting something like this (real exhibit labels in a real museum!); Erin has some of the important literature available for me, much of which I read in Dr. W’s seminar

After-work activities:

I have no television here, so I had the pleasure of watching the Gator baseball team lose the national championship game on my tiny computer screen tonight; oh well, there’s always next year!

Wednesday, June 29 (10:00-5:30)

I spent the entire day working on exhibit labels for the “Art McKee and the Treasure Hunters” gallery; so far, I have 4 different labels, each with 2 brief paragraphs; one is basic background on McKee (who he was, why he is important and how he got into diving); another is his contributions to the diving world (his inventions, innovations and “firsts” in diving); another is about the role the Florida Keys played in defining his life and “career” (discussing the important historical shipwrecks he found in the Keys and linking certain objects in the gallery to them and McKee; ties in local interests); and the final one is about his “larger than life” persona and status as one of the world’s first “celebrity divers” (appearances in Time, National Geographic and on television; also about being known for his museum of sunken treasure, the first of its kind); all of these labels are going to be placed near relevant objects or pictures, but it will be difficult for the visitor to determine which “direction” to go upon entering the gallery and which labels to read first; we will need to work on this further to make it successful

After-work activities:

I had some sort of flatbread pizza with duck on it for dinner at Taster’s (spared no expense), but it couldn’t compare to dessert, which was a pineapple bourbon cobbler topped with cinnamon ice cream —- amazing; oh, and I had MORE coffee (this time from a french press, thank you snarky Facebook friends); wine by the water; what a fun night! I need to sleep more though (and maybe drink less coffee)…

Thursday, June 30 (10:00-5:30)

organized a collection of Jacques Cousteau books
created my third blog entry for the museum, this time on the HOBO data loggers; I wanted to make it fun and interesting (it’s pretty simple and boring in reality, at least to most people) and really get across the importance of monitoring a collection’s environment; some of the people at this museum don’t seem to think it’s all that important (or at least I get that impression), so maybe this will open some eyes; I used some information from the paper I wrote in Fall 2010 for Dixie’s Museum Registration seminar
worked on editing the exhibit labels from yesterday
cleared up some discrepancies in paperwork for a few objects on exhibit

After-work activities:

watched the Ed Harris movie Pollock for the first time; great movie, better acting!; what a tortured soul; it made me wish I brought my painting supplies to the Keys!

Friday, July 1 (10:00-5:30)

was on my own today, as Erin has most Friday’s off
went through all the Deeds of Gift from 2010 and printed out the associated accession and catalog records for them; the DOG’s were then filed away in the donor files, while the other records will be put in the accession files
created labels for folders that will eventually contain information about important figures in the diving world (and the museum); they will be “research files”
something really awesome that I did today was created a “donations inquiry form” from scratch!; the idea is to link a PDF from the website for those people interested in donating an item to the museum’s collection or library; this helps avoid unwanted donations and formalize the entire process, something the museum has been struggling with in the past; we used a form handed out at the June 2010 FAM Collections Care Workshop as a template; I’ll have to see what Erin thinks of it next week, but I’m pretty proud of it; hopefully it’ll be “live” on the website soon so I can post a link!
on an interesting side-note, Erin was actually at the very same workshop as me in June 2010 at Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki!; there is a picture of us standing pretty much right next to each other in the FAM newsletter; neither of us remembers each other that well; I am obviously a great networker; anyways, I guess the museum world is a small one!
finally, I created a preliminary display label/poster for the “how long can you hold your breath?” interactive; currently, there is no sign at this station, only a “start” and “stop” button to time how long you can hold your breath; I felt like the museum really ought to have something visitors could compare their breath-holding times to and give themselves some way of evaluating their times; my idea was to have a poster with the average breath holding times of marine creatures/divers and compare them to humans (seals, dolphins, sperm whale, etc.); I also want to have to record times of humans (currently at almost 20 minutes!) somewhere; my initial poster is pretty simple and just has pictures of animals next to their times, with an underwater background and the title “Nature’s Breath Holders”; the animals descend in depth on the poster according to how long they can hold their breath, with humans up near the top of the water column in the background; I really appreciated them letting me attempt this, as it was completely my idea and it had been bugging me since Day 1; I hope they like it enough to put it up!

Photo

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 20:36:00 -0400

Week 2: Work Photos

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:36:00 -0400

The ballast stone, after labeling.

Opening the Smithsonian case.

Not an easy thing to label.

I gave it my best shot though.

Handling the handle.

Excuse me pal, your loan is expiring.

Week 2: Work Photos

Week 2: June 20-24, 2011

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:36:00 -0400

I have just received word that weekly blog entries are a “go,” and it couldn’t be more welcome news. I’ve found it maddening to try and update this thing every day and the inundation of entries is surely a turn-off to anyone trying to follow this blog. I’m too invested in Tumblr to change now, but I regret not going with a different service. Anyways, once a week I will do one entry with all daily summaries from that week. Same style, less entries. I’ll post photo sets and other media separately from the summaries for those of you who could care less about how many artifacts I labeled on a given day.

Monday, June 20 (10:00-5:30)

Took down a t-shirt hanging from the ceiling of the museum store; it was mistakenly placed there and is actually a part of the collections; I photographed it, documented it in PastPerfect, wrapped it in acid-free tissue paper, placed it in an archival box (which I printed labels for) and put it away in storage
Probably the most difficult thing I’ve done to date: labeled the proton magnetometer (see picture) hanging from the ceiling in the “Art McKee and the Treasure Hunters” gallery; it looks like a big yellow missile and its location (and lack of mobility) made it extremely awkward to apply the B-72, paint and gloss to; I stood on a ladder bent at a strange angle and tried to write on it delicately without moving it (it was hanging from wires); very frustrating work, but it had to be done; then I measured it, photographed it and entered the data into PastPerfect
Labeled assorted objects, including a ballast stone (see picture) and CD’s; also assigned the ballast stone an accession number, catalog number, took its photo and created PastPerfect records for it
Discussed the Flickr account I created on Friday; talked about how best to use it and how to get people to want to use it; agreed on the idea of a community “pool” of pictures taken at the museum, but are unsure on how to “peddle” it at this point; remains “live” but the museum has yet to promote it
Photographed 9 books from the library and added their images to PastPerfect; also updated their records in more detail

Tuesday, June 21 (10:00-5:30)

Tracked down a dagger in the exhibits from its’ certificate of authenticity that was floating around the office; finally found it, noted location and associations to certificate in PastPerfect
Created an object record for a dagger handle on display in the “treasure room” in PastPerfect; took its photograph and updated provenance information (it was salvaged from a 1733 Spanish shipwreck!)
Adjusted accession records, photos, location, etc. for a C’Cat Rover on exhibit
Worked on blog entry #2, which is about the dagger handle I worked on earlier in the day; I’m going to tie together the handle, the Spanish treasure fleet it was recovered from and its discoverer (Art McKee), hopefully in a way that is fun and interesting for the museum’s “online visitors”; will finish this tomorrow

Wednesday, June 22 (10:00-5:30)

After a lot more research on a subject with surprisingly few credible sources of information, I finished my second blog entry; the museum advertised it immediately on its Facebook page and we got a decent amount of “hits” today; their blog has been inactive for a while, so they are happy with any attention at all
Photographed all objects currently on loan to the History of Diving Museum; catalogued and created PastPerfect records for all of them as well

Thursday, June 23 (10:00-5:30)

Printed out catalog records for all objects from 2009 accessions; created accession records for any objects that had no “official” accession record in PastPerfect; fixed a variety of errors and problems from previous entries in PastPerfect; completed the 2009 catalog and accession files; filed the 2009 Deeds of Gift away in the donor file cabinet
Removed an old photo of an unidentified man and Art McKee from the exhibit gallery; scanned it for the purpose of posting it to Facebook and asking museum visitors who the unidentified man was; McKee was a big name in the Keys for a long time and a lot of people who knew him are still here, so it’s definitely a great idea; so far the answers have been anything but conclusive, but its definitely a way of making the museum more “participatory”
Opened the new HOBO data loggers that just arrived!; helped install the new computer software and explore its features; decided on locations for the five data loggers: 1 in collections storage, 1 in the library, 3 in the exhibits distributed evenly; placed them in these locations temporarily

After-work activities

Tonight I volunteered to hold up one of the pilot whales that beached themselves back in May at the Marine Mammal Conservancy; we were giddy with joy until the humbling and sobering orientation speech, during which we were told pilot whales are the among the most intelligent and aggressive of all whales and are “1200 pound marine mammals than can kill you if they want to”; we got to pick out wetsuits (40% of the reason I wanted to go) and then very carefully, arms crossed, got in the water with the whale (it didn’t have a name and simply went by #300); 4 people held her at a time, trying to keep her level and the blowhole above the water; she was sick with pneumonia and had a major cramp in her tail, but was still extremely strong and hard to hold at times; every time someone entered the water, she got excited and started bobbing her head up and down, making adorable whale noises; the skin was rubbery and felt very fragile (we had to trim out fingernails beforehand); also, I got pooped on by it, as I was in the back behind the dorsal fin; not many people can say they’ve been pooped on by a whale, so it’s a story I will be relaying to my kids and grandkids for many years; a truly surreal and amazing experience that I will never forget

Friday, June 24 (10:00-5:30)

Organized a collection of library books; found their call numbers from the Library of Congress catalog (see June 28th entry); made “bookmark” labels for all of them; moved them to the library
Organized a collection of 23 objects that was originally only recorded as 8 objects in PastPerfect; renumbered, labeled, photographed, packaged with acid-free tissue, stored and reprinted the new PastPerfect records for all objects; this took up the majority of the day

Weekend Adventures

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 12:16:00 -0400

Bahia Honda State Park

The old bridge at Bahia Honda

Snorkel buddies!

Obligatory photo at southernmost point

Hemingway House...expensive!

On top of the tower at Shipwreck Museum

Sloppy Joe's for mango mojitos!

Blending right in...

Just another run-of-the-mill sunset

No Name Pub

Weekend Adventures

"Hello, we are the Endangered Speyches."

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:59:00 -0400

“Hello, we are the Endangered Speyches.”

- The Endangered Species, Full Moon Party Band

Day 5: June 17, 2011 10:00 - 5:30 Today was Erin’s day...

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:58:00 -0400

FULL MOON PARTY

Don't drop it...

So I don't misplace my beverage...

Moon party finale

Nice place for a swim!

Day 5: June 17, 2011

10:00 - 5:30

Today was Erin’s day off, so she left me with a list of things to do in her absence. Here’s what I did:

Photographed several large items on exhibit and added the photos to their records in PastPerfect
Created/completed donor files for a ballast stone and a magazine
Created, printed and affixed labels to all folders
Cataloged, photographed and completed PastPerfect records for a set of Skin Diver magazines
Created a Flickr user account and group page for the museum! The goal is to encourage museum visitors to share their pictures and memories all in one location. While it is “live,” it will likely be a while before the museum starts promoting it to its visitors. Erin will have to look it over before that happens! Here is the page I created: History of Diving Museum Flickr Page

After-work activities:

Dinner at Lorelei Restaurant and Cabana Bar: bacon-wrapped shrimp, grilled grouper sandwich, coleslaw and a Key West ale
Full Moon Party at Morada Bay Beach Cafe and Pierre’s! It’s a big deal around here.
Giant margarita in a jar, complete with giant green glow-stick.
Late night swim in a pool overlooking the ocean.

Day 4: June 16, 2011 10:00 - 5:30 Finished labeling the shelves...

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 23:39:00 -0400

A piece of the trans-atlantic cable

Mango timeout...

Sawfish encounter dust cloud!

Funny little beach critter...

Starfish, sea urchins, cucumbers, oh my!

Artwalk turned into this...

Day 4: June 16, 2011

10:00 - 5:30

Finished labeling the shelves in the collections storage room
Entered new shelf locations into PastPerfect for all items in the collection that have already been completely upgraded and properly stored
Photographed all completed objects that had no existing picture in PastPerfect; uploaded the images into PastPerfect to complete their records
Edited a video of Jack Reedy’s seminar (from Wed.), including a title, introduction and transitions; the museum will offer copies of this video for $5 to those who missed it or want to purchase it
Also edited a separate video of Reedy removing his shirt in slow motion, which he then donated to the museum; this video will be uploaded into PastPerfect with the object record
Completed my first blog entry for the museum; the plan is for me to blog for them once a week; here is my first entry: Getting My Feet Wet

After-work activities:

Ate a mango on the beach at Anne’s Beach
I was tracking a small fish with my new underwater camera when WHOOSH…a SAWFISH no more than 2 feet to my right darted off into ocean! I can’t believe I didn’t see it! It made sure I did though, leaving behind a huge dust cloud. Since they are extremely endangered, I reported it to the FLMNH National Sawfish Encounter Database. I can’t believe I almost stepped on such a rare species! What a cool thing to see in the wild though.
Checked out Artwalk with a coworker. Within 5 minutes I had held several species of starfish, sea urchin and even a sea cucumber! There was some great local artwork, mostly of the beautiful landscape and marine life. We listened to a fun little cover band under a gumbo limbo tree and sipped Key West Ale.
Got a couple beers from the extremely swanky bar at Pierre’s Restaurant across the street. Hung out by the water and sipped said beers in the sand. I really like it here.

"Dude, you have really big hair."

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:59:00 -0400

“Dude, you have really big hair.”

- Male stranger at the O.V.

Day 3: June 15, 2011 1:00 - 9:00 Helped Tim, the museum’s...

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:58:00 -0400

1900 gin bottle from a shipwreck

Labeling bottles

Day 3: June 15, 2011

1:00 - 9:00

Helped Tim, the museum’s curator/exhibit designer/handyman, move the large and heavy new bookshelves into place
Removed several old glass bottles (recovered from shipwrecks) from an exhibit using nitrile gloves; labeled with catalog numbers (b-72 acryloid, white acrylic and gloss sealant layers), measured, photographed and entered the data/photos into PastPerfect catalog records
Applied new shelving unit labels (created yesterday) to actual shelves
Videotaped the 7:00 seminar by Jack Reedy, one of the original “aquanauts” who worked in the US Navy’s experimental SEALAB diving projects; the presentation was fascinating and Mr. Reedy literally donated the shirt off his back after the show! What an interesting character! About 25 people attended the seminar.

After work activities:

I again hit up the local nightlife scene to find out what “flip night” was all about at the “O.V.” (Ocean View Tavern). Apparently you don’t have to pay for beer in the Keys, as we won both of our pitchers for free on a coin flip. The gusts of wind off the Gulf made for a memorable experience as we sat by the fire and listened to the sounds of the Boston Bruins winning the Stanley Cup. More importantly, you could hear the waves being pushed around by the blustery winds between the drunken cheers…

"You have really really really nice hair."

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:15:00 -0400

“You have really really really nice hair.”

- Female stranger at the Green Turtle Inn

Video of Matthew on the Today Show, as seen in his exhibit at...

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:14:00 -0400

Video of Matthew on the Today Show, as seen in his exhibit at the History of Diving Museum.

Day 2: June 14, 2010 10:00 - 5:30 Labeled, documented and...

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:13:00 -0400

My cubicle!

Don't tell anyone the password!

Tuesday's sunset.

Tuesday's moonrise.

Day 2: June 14, 2010

10:00 - 5:30

Labeled, documented and photographed all items in the Matthew Johnston collection/archives and updated their PastPerfect data; this is a very important collection, as Matthew is the first ventilator-dependent person to ever dive in the ocean (he has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy); he donated all of his materials to the museum (including his specially designed suit which is on exhibit) and I was honored to help take care of them; for more on his inspirational story click here
Organized and photographed the entire 1983 collection of Skin Diver magazine; added to PastPerfect
Created new folders and folder labels for all items in the museum’s “archives” (not many)
Entered location information for all archived materials into PastPerfect
Photographed all remaining archived materials that had yet to be photographed; entered into PastPerfect
Collaborated with Erin on ideas for a numbering system to organize the shelves in the collections storage closet (very exciting to start this from scratch!)
Printed out new labels for said shelves, will affix them tomorrow
Helped reorganize objects within collections storage into a more logical and friendly arrangement
Helped Erin decide what archival supplies to purchase from the Gaylord catalog (the supplies are understandably limited with the museum’s tight budget)

After-work activities:

I ventured out to a local establishment called the Green Turtle Inn for a beverage or two with the boss, who was there to promote the museum on a local radio broadcast. What an interesting crowd it drew! No shortage of quality people-watching here in the Keys.

Happy 17th birthday to my sister Angie!!!

Day 1: June 13, 2011

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:13:00 -0400

10:00 AM - 5:30 PM

As expected, my first day was a bit of a whirlwind. It began with the ceremonial “showing of the cubicle,” of which there are only two. My appreciation for the temporary ownership of half the cubicles in the office cannot be understated. Shortly afterward, I was given a personal tour of the exhibit galleries by Dr. Sally Bauer, one of the museum’s founders (her late husband is the other). Her knowledge of diving and its history was impressive and her enthusiasm infectious. I understood immediately how their dream of a diving museum came to fruition. The fact that they accumulated one of the largest collections of diving equipment in the world over the last forty years didn’t hurt either. After we finished our tour, I was encouraged by Erin to read the museum’s recent Museum Assessment Program (MAP) report, as conducted by the American Association of Museums. I greatly appreciated this, as it offered an unbiased look at the current state of the museum and really caught me up to speed. This gesture of transparency was also a great sign of things to come, as rather than trying to hide their deficiencies (every museum has them), Erin encouraged me to actively think of ways to improve on their MAP assessment throughout my internship. After finishing my reading, I took another self-guided tour of the exhibit to really soak it all in. Later in the afternoon I got my first view of PastPerfect, the collections management computer program that I plan on implementing in my thesis project. I was really impressed with the program and immediately saw ways in which I could manipulate it to fit the needs of FLMNH’s Seminole Ethnographic Collection. I spent the rest of my first day playing with the program and taking photos of objects, which I subsequently uploaded to the computer and plugged into the catalog record, stored entirely in PastPerfect. For those not familiar with the program, each object’s record has multiple fields to fill in (provenance, donor info, object description, history, important dates, etc.), including a place for photos that allows for better documentation and easier recognition. The image shows up as a thumbnail at the top of the page. I’m super excited about its possibilities for FLMNH! Now I just need to find the money to buy it. Welp, that concludes my first day! I’ll upload some pics tomorrow and give less detailed daily summaries throughout the week.

Sunday funday! I have one whole day to get comfortable and...

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:13:00 -0400

That's my window above the manatee :)

Sunday funday! I have one whole day to get comfortable and familiarize myself with the local environment before I start my internship. I found the nearest grocery store (Winn-Dixie is 7 miles away, Publix is 16…boo), the nearest laundromat and of course, the nearest beach. Anne’s Beach is a nice, quiet little spot about 6 miles south of here on US 1. I think I will be frequenting it after work. It’s a great spot to eat a mango and see some wildlife. I’m feeling genuine excitement for my internship tomorrow! Early to bed for me.

After helping Melissa and Karen at the Pineland archaeological...

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 23:55:00 -0400

Melissa's dig site.

Octopus chillin' on Pine Island.

The excitement builds...

I made it!

Le kitchen.

Conch Republic, represent!

After helping Melissa and Karen at the Pineland archaeological site until lunch time, I took off across the Florida Everglades along “Alligator Alley.” I was super excited to catch my first glimpse of the Keys so the drive seemed like it took forever! I made it to the museum at around 6 p.m., where my supervisor Erin was just getting off work. She showed me around my awesome apartment (which is on top of the museum) and then took me out for a delicious dinner on the beach, where I saw the first of what I can only assume will be many sunsets on the water. Margaritas and fresh mahi mahi, yum! So far, SO good.

Made it to Pine Island safe and sound! What a long, hot day of...

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:55:00 -0400

Gamble Mansion, we meet at last.

I could get used to this!

Mango country.

Ms. Ayvaz, coy as ever.

Made it to Pine Island safe and sound! What a long, hot day of driving. Oh, did I mention that I have no air conditioning in my car? Keys tomorrow!

Leaving today for the Keys! This is my route from Gainesville....

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:00:00 -0400

Leaving today for the Keys! This is my route from Gainesville. Stopping first at the Gamble Mansion for exhibit pictures, then spending the night at Pineland and helping a FLMNH friend with her archaeological excavation. Tomorrow I drive across the Everglades and finally make it to the Keys!

Great Expectations

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:00:00 -0400

Hi everyone!

I’m Austin and this is my 2011 summer internship blog. I am a Museum Studies graduate student at the University of Florida and am interning at the History of Diving Museum in Islamorada, Florida from June 13^th to August 12^th. As a disclaimer for the potentially boring subject matter of my blog (and to let you know that I’m not completely self-involved), a weekly journal is required in order for me to receive academic credit. I’ll chronicle the highlights (and lowlights) of each of my 57 days in the Keys, both in and out of the museum - for entertainment’s sake.

As a preface to my blog, I should explain my reasons for choosing the History of Diving Museum over a couple other internships back in April.

1. The Manager of Collections & Administration at the museum, with whom I conducted the interview and will be working closely with, laid out an explicit plan from the start, with many tasks in mind that complemented my personal interests in photography, video production, social media and collections management. She also is a recent graduate of a Museum Studies program, so I was excited to interact with an actual professional of a similar mindset and background (this whole Museum Studies thing is relatively new to academia).

2. I felt that this was an excellent opportunity to prepare myself for “real world” working conditions. Most museums are small museums and it’s easy to forget that after working for the past three years as a faceless drone at FLMNH, one of the largest museums in the Southeast (if not the country). I love working at FLMNH, but the realist in me wants to be prepared for a paltry job market upon graduation, where I may not have any choice but to work at a small museum with limited staff, budget, space, etc. Exposing myself to these issues now will prove valuable in the future, as I will have a much better idea of how to handle them.

3. As the aforementioned faceless drone, I sometimes feel…insignificant…in the grand scheme of things at a large museum. With only a director, collections manager and gift store operator on staff, my impact will be much more immediate (and hopefully appreciated) at the History of Diving Museum. Hearing the plethora of responsibilities handled by my supervisor during our interview almost obligated me to help out. They truly need it and I am happy to provide whatever assistance I can, if only for a measly 2 months. Since they only opened to public in 2006, it’s also a chance to see a museum in its infancy, just getting its legs under it. I’m excited to do whatever I can to help it grow.

4. Finally, before you claim to see right through me all the way to the crystal clear water and white sandy beaches of the Florida Keys, just remember: I am staying loyal to my home state AND getting free housing…on top of the museum no less…where my daily commute will be about 15 steps. Add that to the other reasons mentioned above and I think I’ve got a reasonable case for being here. That being said, I fully intend on exploiting all the thrills and luxuries the Keys have to offer. If you are in need of a break this summer, please feel free to stop by! I’d be happy to have you!

PS - Sorry in advance for the tropical nature of my photographs.

Namaste