Museum Musings

​I started working in a local history museum a little over a year ago. I was history obsessed and needed something to keep me busy so museum work seemed fitting.

I took a tour of the museum a week before I applied to volunteer, just to know what I was getting into. I was dazzled. The museum - a very old house, was gorgeous and full of everything you’d expect a rich historic family to have.
The house was built in 1836 and was occupied until the early 1970s’s so it covered all of my historical areas of interest, and was all-around interesting.     
When I started working I was very nervous - I didn’t know what to expect -but somehow I felt like God wanted me at that specific museum for a reason.
    It was really hard at first, getting acclimated to new things, but I ended up loving it.

The museum isn’t about heroes - the family didn’t do anything the history books take note of. But they were influential locally, and they owned a lot of things.
    Working at the museum I first learned about the concept of material culture. It is, essentially, learning about history through objects. Though our museum is about people, the objects are the things that bring light into the era. In fact, the artifacts are what people come to see. To me, it sometimes seemed silly - for these things aren’t significant at the end of time - but the items were the things that keyed me into life in the 19th and 20th centuries. 
    A piece of dishware reveals a soft spot in the collector, a dress is an important piece of a women’s story, and a pipe hearkens back to late-night conversations and hazy air.

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In my time working at the museum I have learned about the value of good, hard work. Sometimes my work is a joy - curating a display, setting the dining room table accurately, guiding tours, and working on projects. But more often than not they are mundane - cleaning, archiving records and objects, digitizing information, and matching tea cups to their saucers. 
    Even though I don’t always love the jobs, there’s still great value in them. I’m making history more accessible to future generations, I’m making someone else’s job simpler. And that’s a joy!

All along I’ve felt that maybe - somewhere in the museum lies a story - between the dresses and the dishware, the attic and the archives there is a story.
    Maybe it’s about the romance of the family’s middle daughter with a local school teacher, maybe it’s the father’s life as a Yankee peddler, or maybe the story is hidden in an artifact, like a newspaper clipping or the player piano.
    Maybe it’s about guests who make a point to tell me that the air conditioning isn’t historically accurate or guests who just have to know the age of the wallpaper. Maybe it’s just about my experiences. 
    I don’t know where it lies, but I’m on that watch.
    Working at the museum has also been a bit of a culture shock - it was the first time I was working closely with people who weren’t followers of Jesus. They talked about things I would never talk about and cared about things I just didn’t care about. I learned more and more about what it meant to be light - letting my words, actions, and smiles show that Christ has made me different. 
    I also learned about early American pressed glass goblets, gained insight into corsetry, and learned that vintage player pianos have the capability to play Bohemian Rhapsody (it’s truly epic). I learned that Aldi Macarons are so good people will think you bought them at a French Patisserie, and that hosting tea parties is one of the greatest joys in life. I read 90-year-old copies of Life Magazine and 150-year-old editions of Dickens. I learned about typewriters and Jello, World War II Christmas decorations, and mustache tea cups. How can I go back to the days when I didn't know about mustache tea cups? Trust me, your life will never be the same.
    I have found that I love museum work and that there is meaning in everything and in every life. Every mundane task can change the world, every life lived has a story to tell. Especially yours.​

Belle Thomas

​Belle is the writer behind An Old Fashioned Girl. She is passionate about Jesus, good books, and living a beautiful life