Experiences at the Sanford Museum

 Assisting on projects This week has been filled with some great projects. One of my colleagues was working on digitizing some business directories for the old Sanford air base. This air base was significant to Sanford and America because it trained a lot of World War II pilots. The project was started a few months before I arrived at the museum. I helped with piecing together some missing details and labeling the binder to be stored correctly. I have also been digitizing other directories to help speed up the museums digitization of records.  County events  Besides that, I have been keeping up with the Seminole County summer activities at the museum. We recently ran out of the pamphlets for the kids to fill out. I had to print out the pamphlets and fold them so that the kids would be able to continue their activities. We had a few of them come in this week and I helped one of them understand the puzzle. This week has been quite calm but still busy with projects.  Mi...

Starting Busy Season       This week has seen an increase in the amount of guests that come in to the Sanford Museum. Last week there was also a good amount of people who showed up but this week we began to have official tours of the museum. There were multiple groups of guests that expressed interest in coming in and having the Curator or the Assistant Curator give them, a guided and detailed tour of the museum and the rich and complex history of Henry Sanford and the city he funded.  The first tour was one for Seminole County Public Schools. They brought a few kids from different age groups that came in and learned about what the Sanford Museum has to offer. Brigitte, the curator, did the first tour and explained things in great detail. I joined her and shadowed her throughout the tour to see how she explained the museum to the guests and what information she included that was not explicitly shown. Her style was fun as well as informative. She also did a great...

 Maintaining the pace  This second week of my time at the Sanford Museum has been relatively similar to last week. Maintaining the pace has been the most important thing for me as I sometimes tend to either go too fast on something and miss details, or go too slow because I am worried about covering every detail. I have done a pretty good job at maintaining a consistent pace when digitizing the Sanford directories as well as helping with some other projects when called on. I have around 7 pages to digitize and I have gotten through 2. Although I am going slower than I would like, my curator and other employees have reassured me that it takes time and their main concern is that it gets done with accuracy and in a clear manner.   Customer Service Since I am at the front desk I deal with plenty of guests who have questions or are interested in buying some Sanford Museum merchandise. On Friday we had a few people who were interested in buying some T-Shirts and other muse...

The First Week My first week at the Sanford museum was fantastic. Before the internship, I was a little scared at starting a new chapter of my academic career. I began to overthink and assume that I would maybe not be ready or fit for the position. After two days I feel confident in my position and am happy that Sanford Museum was where I ended up. The environment is very fun and laid back, but it still focuses on research and the importance of preserving Sanford's records. The staff at the Sanford Museum is amazing, they have all been welcoming and allowed me to feel comfortable at all times while still pushing me to succeed.  Initial Welcoming and Orientation      During my first day, I was given a lot of information about the system of the museum itself. Karen Jacobs was a fantastic helper on my first day. She helped me relax and learn how to properly greet the guests and explain the layout of the museum. Since Karen is retiring at the end of June, she explained i...