Week #3: September 25, 2011 – October 1, 2011

            This week was very, very boring.  All the shelves in the basement, which I had put boxes on last week, have to be lined with a kind of foam to protect the artifacts once they are removed from their boxes.  So… I had to take down the boxes I put on the shelves, and line them.  I had to cut the foam into the correct dimensions, which took SO LONG!  I did this all week and Chris felt bad about it, but I understand that someone has to do it!

            Another frustrating thing about this week was, again, the lack of organization!  I know it’s a new place and things aren’t organized, so I understand, but it’s still frustrating! I spent, literally, three hours looking for some doll stands for the permanent exhibition and never found them.  Urgh!  The museum has its first event this week in the new building, so everyone is SUPER stressed and Chris apologized for his lack of focus.  I feel bad for him!  So I left this week not feeling very accomplished or utilized! I’m smart… yet couldn’t manage to find some doll stands!  

Week #2: September 18, 2011 – September 24, 2011

            Today I got to meet some of the other interns.  Since there is so much work to be done before the opening, Chris said they have more interns than they normally need.  Holly is working in the library, Alyssa is working with the curator, Bethany.  Bethany actually has her master’s degree from Loyola’s Public History Program!  There are a few other interns who work days I do not, but I think there are five or six of us.

            This week I worked a lot in the basement organizing the mess of boxes, or attempting to at least.  I know very little about museums and the way they are organized, but I am a little OCD about my organization, and man, oh man, the basement is a mess.  All the artifacts are in boxes, many of which are unlabeled! And they are just sitting on the floor! My job was to put the ones I could lift on the fancy shelving units, to be organized later.  I asked Chris about the organization and he said that the museum’s collection has expanded dramatically over the last few years and he has a two-year plan to get the whole place cataloged and organized.  The shelves are pretty awesome and Chris said they are pretty typical of most museums.  They can all be moved several at a time to be able to access all artifacts. 

            I was a little frustrated that my job today wasn’t more “museum-y” but I know it was a job that needed to be done, and interns usually do the stuff no one else wants to!  I can tell that there is so much that needs to be done in the next six weeks that Chris and the other staff members don’t even know where to start! Chris said that these first few weeks will be a lot of boring, monotonous grunt work but that soon I’ll be working on some more interesting projects! 

            So far, I’m liking my internship! Chris is really awesome.  He’s 26 and likes good music and movies and we have a fun time working together.  I’m looking forward to getting to know some of the other staff members, too!

Week #1: September 12, 2011 – September 17, 2011

            I started my internship this week at The National Hellenic Museum.  The NHM is located in Greek Town, near UIC’s campus, on S. Halsted.  The National Hellenic Museum is the only of its kind, dedicated to displaying and celebrating the cultural contributions of Greek immigrants to America.  It was founded in 1983 as the Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center, with the goal of providing the Chicago community with a better understanding of Greece’s rich ancient culture and contributions to our world, but also of more recent Greek cultural phenomena.  It first became a museum in 1992, with a location on Michigan Avenue and then moved to Greek Town in 2004.  The museum recently moved from a small office space in Greek Town to a new, state of the art building that is getting a lot of nationwide attention just down the street.  It rebranded itself as the National Hellenic Museum with the new slogan, “The Newest Thing in Ancient History.”  Construction began in 2005 and the new building is set to be open to the public in early November of this year!

I am an intern in the Collections/Registrar Department, under the museum’s Registrar, Chris Helms.  His duties all have to due with the collecting, researching, cataloging and maintenance of the museum artifacts. The museum’s collection spans 1,000s of years and has a library of over 10,000 books and publications. 

There is TONS of work to do over the next month or two to get ready for the big opening!  Apparently construction was supposed to be finish a few weeks ago, but construction never seems to follow its own schedule.  I’m excited to help put the museum together!