Just barely. Dr. V. indulged my whim to visit the assemblage of historic trains at New York’s Grand Central Terminal last weekend, May 11, 2013: National Train Day. For a moment there, I felt like we were part of a … Continue reading
Category Archives: Museums, Libraries, and Archives
Next Sunday, I will be speaking at the American Alliance of Museum’s conference in Baltimore, Maryland. The American Institute for Conservation’s Collection Care Network will be hosting a flash session, facilitating discussions with the audience about three important topics in … Continue reading
My personal research focuses on the dress of indentured and enslaved servant women from 1750-1790. While I was in DC for work recently, I was able to slip over to the Library of Congress for a couple of hours and … Continue reading
Hello Readers of The Still Room! I’ve missed writing posts for the blog, but have been putting my energies into some projects that may be of interest to you. Until I get through May, I’m going to keep my posts … Continue reading
Eddie Izzard puns on the Church of England: “Cake or Death?” For people found guilty of committing small crimes in England, transportation to the American colonies for seven to fourteen years of bound servitude was the cake option. Overcrowding in England’s … Continue reading
For a building built in 1984, I think the Maryland State Archives inspires. Maybe it strikes a chord with me akin to the library buildings of my childhood. Unlike it’s colonial and colonial revival ancestors further down Rowe Blvd in … Continue reading
Never use sad, crumpled up pieces of tissue again for object transport! Switch to Tyvek pillows. While this isn’t a new idea, I assembled at least fifty of these in the last couple of years. I work with ethnographic sculpture, … Continue reading
There was a thread on the Registrar’s Committee of the American Association of Museum’s list serve this week about the Ideal Registration Kit. By the end of the week, the whole discussion had become rather punchy and the list had grown to … Continue reading
They’ve been with us for years. The basket of white cotton gloves we were taught to use to handle objects, to protect objects from the oils and dirt on our hands. Many of us have moved on to using nitrile, … Continue reading
I was killing time before my talk for the Washington Conservation Guild on February 7. The old Patent Office serves as the home to two Smithsonian Institution museums, the National Portrait Gallery, and the American Art Museum. The Patent Office … Continue reading