Finishing up a few little things

I spent the day today finishing up some things around the office. In the morning, I worked on a box for a ceremonial pipe that I will be cataloging tomorrow. I also learned how to enter appraisal values into ANCS+ and entered in the values for several objects that I have already cataloged. Then, Colleen had me enter the results of our accession inventory into ANCS+.

After lunch, Colleen gave me and John a researcher's request of photos and negatives to pull from storage and scan. The list was lengthy and it took us about an hour to pull everything. Afterwards, we started scanning each one, which I hope to finish by the end of tomorrow. I can't believe that tomorrow is already my last day of work. It has really snuck up on me!

Installation of Fort Yellowstone Case

Today, John and I installed the last of the exhibit cases. Our fellow intern Jake had done all the work for the case, but his last day was last Thursday and he did not have time to install it. We used the photos Jake took of his mock up as our guide throughout the installation so the exhibit would be as true to his vision as possible.

After looking at Jake's mock up, we realized that we did not have all the labels we needed. Although we distinctly remember mounting them last Thursday, they were nowhere to be found. After a long search, we finally decided to reprint and remount them.

Like me, Jake had made his own mannequin for his case. His displayed an army uniform from Fort Yellowstone before NPS was created. Although his mannequin looked amazing, we ended up putting the uniform on one of the new mannequins that Colleen had ordered that came in yesterday. The new mannequins have very sturdy bases, whereas Jake's had a pole through the leg that would fit into a base that he made out of block ethafoam hidden under one of our wooden platforms. Jake's mannequin and base were probably more than adequate, but we decided we might as well use one of the new mannequins just to be sure.

Getting the uniform onto the mannequin proved to be quite challenging. The pants and jacket to the uniform belonged to different people and were very different sizes. The pants were too small to fit on the male manneqin, but fit perfectly on our female mannequin (we were thinking about padding the stomach of the female mannequin to make the coat fit). The jacket was way too big for the female mannequin but fit perfectly on the male mannequin. Our solution was to use the male mannequin but not to button up the pants. We found that they stayed up on their own without being buttoned and that this did not put any stress on the pants. After finishing the mannequin, we started installing the case.

We put the mannequin into the case first. Then we worked to arrange the labels and photographs the way Jake wanted them. We did have to reimagine the exhibit a little bit, because some photos were mounted larger than they were in the mock up.

Jake's case after installation

After finishing Jake's case, we finished up the platform in the corner between my two cases. John put two small metal hook and eye's into the wall behind each ski. Then we attached the skis to the hook and eye with fishing line. This will make it more difficult to steal the skis and will also ensure that they stay standing up and do not fall over.

Stove and skis with photos behind

My two cases and the platform with skis and stove

After attaching the skis to the wall, I put up my last photos and labels on the walls in that corner area. Now, the exhibit is completely installed and it looks great!

Installation of Poaching Case

Today I concentrated on installing the "Poaching and Army Scouts" exhibit case. In the morning, I worked on mounting a few labels that had not been printed last week. I started installing the exhibit in the afternoon and it took the rest of the day to complete. For the most part, the case stayed true to my mock up, but I did decide to put four photos on the wall outside the case rather than inside so that they would not be crowded. I finished installing the case, but did not have time to finish installing the stove and skis on the platform outside the case or to put the photos and corresponding labels on the walls above the platform. Hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow I will be completely finished installing!

Poaching/Army Scouts Case

Installation of NPS Case

This morning, I finished making exhibit mounts, including a stand that will hold Peter Holt's diary and one to hold an assortment of NPS badges, patches and pins. Both of these mounts will hold the objects at a slight angle for better viewing.

Next, I finished mounting and trimming all of my text panels. When all the mounts and text were finished, I was able to begin installing my "Creation of the National Park Service" case. I began by installing the mannequin that I made a few weeks ago to display the early NPS uniform. As the top of the mannequin is a coat hanger, I needed a pole to run along the top of the case to hang it from. I wrapped a small metal pole in muslin and then Colleen helped me secure the pole inside the top of the case with pins. Then I was able to hang the mannequin from the pole.

From there, I arranged all of the other objects inside the case and then lined up all my text panels the way I wanted them. Then I began attaching text panels to othe back and left side of the case. Please note: as the side of the case is clear glass, I made two each of the photos and text panels that I attached to each side of the side panel. That way, I could utilize the sides of the case. I finished the case at the end of the workday, and will have to install my other case on Monday.

Mounting text panels

The finished product

Photo Mounting and Label Issues

This morning, the entire staff of the HRC went out to breakfast at the Roosevelt Hotel. As it is nearing the end of the summer, it was nice to get out and spend a little down time together before we all leave.

When we returned to work, I finished mounting and trimming all of my photos. After I finished, Bridgette and I figured out how to put a photograph behind each of my group labels. We "washed out" the photographs so that they would be very light, yet visible behind the text. As our labels will be printed on white paper, this will eliminate an overabundance of the color white in our exhibits.

I also scanned and printed two pages of Peter Holt's scout journal for the exhibit. As the journal was wrongly stored open in the past, it lays flat naturally and does not close. When I exhibit the journal, it will be open, but with a layer of acid free paper on top of the open pages and the printout of the scanned pages laying on top to protect the pages from light damage.

Peter Holt's Diary (right) and reproduction (left)

By mid-afternoon, I was ready to print my text so that I could begin mounting it. Unfortunately, we did not have a standard text size for the exhibit. It has been very frustrating that I have had to change my text size and layout several times in the last 3 days because none of the interns could agree on a text size for each of the types of labels. Bridgette and I finally decided on a standard size for the cases, and as soon as everyone else has finalized their labels, I will standardize their text to make sure they are all the same. Although I had changed my own text to the correct size and layout, we had some printer issues which kept me from printing them. To say the least, this was incredibly frustrating. Eventually, I walked away from that to do some exhibit mount making.

We are making very simple exhibit mounts. Basically, we are making stands for the objects we are exhibiting out of the materials we have on hand. I made a stand for the megaphone by covering a square of block ethafoam with muslin, secured with pins. I also made a small stand to hold a photo of Peter Holt up on the platform at an angle. I cut the block out of ethafoam, and again pinned muslin over it.

Exhibit mount

I am hoping that tomorrow I will be able to print and mount my labels, finish making exhibit mounts, and start installing my exhibit.

Wolf Skulls and Mounting Photos

This morning, Erica and I worked on gluing wolf teeth back into their skulls. The Yellowstone Wolf Project collects the skulls of all of the original and descendents of the original wolves that were reintroduced into Yellowstone in 1996. Researchers remove teeth to extract DNA and to collect other infromation about the wolves' health and lives in the park. When they are not being studied by the wolf project, the wolf skulls are stored in the HRC and belong to the museum collection.


Erica and I used Fixodent Free (water soluble/no dyes) to reattach the teeth to their skulls. Most of the time, we had to attach only one or two teeth to each individual skull, but sometimes there were multiple teeth to reattach. In these cases, it seemed like putting together a puzzle as we had to use trial and error to figure out which teeth went where.

Before attaching tooth

After attaching tooth

After gluing in all the wolf teeth, Bridgette taught us how to mount photographs onto foam board for the exhibit. Basically, we cut pieces of foam board that are a little bigger than the photos. Then, between the photo and the foam board, we placed pieces on dry mount adhesive paper that were cut the same size as the photographs. We placed these into a dry mount press, which closes over the photograph, adhesive paper, and foam board and heats them at 250 degrees to attach the photo to the foam board. I finished this process for about five photos and will finish mounting my photos tomorrow.

Dry mount press

Mocking Up My Exhibit Cases

This morning, I did some final editing of my exhibit text before handing it over to Colleen and Bridgette for editing and approval. They made a few small changes, but overall thought they were great.

Afterwards, I concentrated on mocking up my exhibit cases to make sure everything would fit and to get an idea of how big I should print out my photographs. I mocked up the "Creation of NPS" case first. I set aside half of the case for the mannequin I made last Thursday with the early NPS uniform (represented by the boots in the photo). Please note: the back of the cases we will be using in the exhibit have wooden backs, rather than the clear glass backs in the mock up case.


In the other half of the case, I set up a platform for some smaller objects. There, I set the revolver and holster and megaphone I had selected for the case earlier. I had originally planned to set the NPS hat on this platform as well, but it ended up being too big. Instead, I decided to exhibit a selection of early NPS badges, patches, and pins.


Unfortunately, these patches, buttons and pins have very little documentation in ANCS+. None of them had dates of use so I wasn't sure which ones would be from the early NPS era. Bridgette showed me a great NPS website about early uniforms, pins, hats, and badges that I could use to find out which ones from the collection would work in the exhibit. I selected a small assortment from the early NPS era for the exhibit, which I arranged on foam blocks. In the exhibit, I will have them slanted slightly forward for better visibility.


After finishing my mock up of that case, I photographed it so that I would remember the layout and then removed everything from the case so I could mock up the "Poaching and Army Scouts" case.

In that case, I used a platform on the right side of the case to display smaller objects, including a small trap, camera and diary belonging to Army scout Peter Holt, and book of rules and regulations for soldiers and scouts. Between the diary and camera I put a small photograph of Peter Holt, which will be propped up at an angle. The camera opens up, so it will be displayed open if possible (we have to figure out how to open it).

The left side of the case is empty in the mock up, but in the exhibit it will contain a stuffed baby black bear that is standing on its hind legs. Beside it (if there is room) will be a large metal bear trap. Behind it, leaning against the back of the case in the center, will be a rifle confiscated from a poacher. The photos and labels discuss the Army scouts who policed the backcountry against poachers.

The photos in the mock ups are not the size that they will be in the final exhibit. Most will be 5x7 inches or 8x10 inches. The mock up also helped us decide to print the group labels larger than the object labels so that they stand out from them. Originally, the group and object labels were 26 point font, so we will increase the size of the group labels.

All in all, I am very happy with the way my mock ups came out, and am hoping I will have time to install them before I leave next Thursday.

Making a Mannequin

I spent most of today constructing a mannequin for the early ranger uniform that I will be using in the "Creation of the National Park Service" case. The HRC does not have any mannequins, but will be getting some in a few weeks, so this one will be temporary.

I began by attaching a padded coat hanger to a large, torso sized piece of block ethafoam wrapped with batting. I attached them by tying them together with twill tape. Then, I covered the whole thing with muslin, which I pinned into the block ethafoam.

To hold the pants onto the bottom of the ethafoam, I made a makeshift belt out of a strip of muslin. Then, I made "suspenders" out of twill tape to hold the pants up. I rolled pieces of sheet ethafoam and tied them into tubes, which I used to "fill" the legs, and later, the arms. Next, I placed the coat on the hanger and used a little batting to fill the extra space between the jacket and the hanger and block ethafoam. I "filled" the arms the same way I did the legs.

The finished product will hang from a pole across the top of the exhibit case. Making the mannequin was definitely a process of trial and error, and I had to be creative to make it work. In the future, I will certainly appreciate the convenience of using a mannequin!

Label Writing for Creation of NPS Case

Today I concentrated on label writing for the "Creation of the National Park Service" exhibit case. I also picked out a few new objects for that case. Here are some of the objects and labels I worked on today:

Group Label for case:

In the first decade of the twentieth century, internal and external forces pushed Congress to transfer power in Yellowstone from military to civilian administration:

• Poor discipline and morale among the ranks at Fort Yellowstone
• Soldiers’ general lack of park knowledge due to frequent transfers
• Numerous government agencies were responsible for separate areas of park management, which was expensive and unwieldy
• As WWI approached, it became hard to justify a military presence in the park when soldiers would be needed overseas
• The problem of poaching was being replaced with the need to guide and police tourists

On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act into law. This began the two-year transfer of power from military to civilian governance under the newly formed National Park Service. The Army and the park service administered Yellowstone together until the last soldiers left in 1918.

Object Labels:

Ranger Boots, Circa 1925
YELL 106496

Revolver, Circa 1915
Smith and Wesson .38 – Special
YELL 134032a

Two Automobiles with Rangers and Visitors, Circa 1920
M.P. Skinner, Photographer
YELL 87186 (Reproduction)

Beginning in 1915, the new popularity of the automobile brought record numbers of visitors into Yellowstone. Updating the park’s infrastructure would be a major challenge during the early years of National Park Service administration.

Vehicle Decal, 1923

YELL 129070 (Reproduction)

Megaphone, Circa 1920
YELL 14124

Early park rangers in Yellowstone used megaphones to speak to large audiences during interpretive programs.

Ranger Petting Deer, Circa 1920
M.P. Skinner, Photographer
YELL 87091-1 (Reproduction)

Stephen Mather, Circa 1920
Photographer Unknown
YELL 7713 (Reproduction)

Working as assistant to the secretary of the interior beginning in 1915, Stephen Mather led a campaign to establish a federal agency to manage all of the national parks. When the National Park Service was established in 1916, Mather became the agency’s first director.

Horace Albright, 1925
Photographer Unknown
YELL 7634 (Reproduction)

As Stephen Mather’s secretary, Horace Albright attended meetings and discussions throughout the summer of 1916 about the National Park Service bill until its enactment in August. Named assistant director when the National Park Service was created, Albright served as acting director when Mather fell ill later that year. In that role, from 1917 to 1919, Albright set up the organizational structure and procedures for the National Park Service and urged Congress to appropriate money to run the new agency. Albright later served as superintendent of Yellowstone National Park (and of Yosemite briefly) from 1919-1929 and as director of the National Park Service from 1929-1933.

Rangers on Horseback, Early 1920’s
Photographer Unknown
YELL 10116 (Reproduction)

“I am convinced that with a properly organized civil guard the administration of this park could be brought to a higher and better standard, in two or three years, than could ever be attained by the successive changes of troops detailed by the roster from the Army... Cost of protection by a civil guard would be less than one-third of the cost by the present method.”
–Superintendent Young, Superintendent’s Annual Report for Yellowstone National Park, 1907

Label Writing for Poaching Case

This morning, I met with Bob Flather, a retired park ranger and historian who has spent years researching army scouts and snowshoe cabins. He was able to provide me with a lot of useful information and clarify some important details for me. Bob recommend that I concentrate on the difficulty, hardship, and danger of being an army scout.

After meeting with Bob, I concentrated on object labels for the case on poaching and army scouts. I was able to come very close to finishing my labels for that case. The only label I have left to write will summarize the case as a whole. Here are some examples of labels I wrote today:

Skis, Date Unknown
YELL 1956
YELL 1957

Army scouts patrolled Yellowstone’s backcountry on cross country skis, called “snowshoes.”

Mud Volcano Cabin in Winter, 1913
F.J. Haynes, Photographer
Courtesy Haynes Foundation Collection, Montana Historical Society, Helena, MT
YELL 127295 (Reproduction)

Before the first snowshoe cabins were built in 1890, army scouts slept outside with no shelter from the elements. Equipped with stoves and mats for sleeping, the tiny cabins provided limited comfort and protection from the weather. On occasion, unfortunate scouts would arrive, shivering and exhausted, to find their cabin burned by poachers or the roof caved in from the weight of the snow.

Scouts on Patrol Trip to Fall River, 1897
Photographer Unknown
YELL 7147 (Reproduction)

“I never knew until I had seen the Park itself in all its immensity, its impenetrableness, its forbidding and awful regions of forest, precipice and crag, until I had traversed with weary feet some of those endless miles of bottomless snow; until I learned how utterly small, lonely and insignificant a man looks and feels in the midst of solitude so vast, so boundless, so tremendous and so appalling.”

-- Emerson Hough, reporter for Forest and Stream magazine

Capture of Poacher Ed Howell, 1915
Photographer Unknown
YELL 1659 (Reproduction)

“When I saw him he was about 400 yards away from the cover of the timber. I knew I had to cross that open space before I could get him sure. I had no rifle, but only an army revolver, .38 cal. the new model… Howell’s rifle was leaning against a dead buffalo, about fifteen feet away from him… I thought I could maybe get across without Howell seeing or hearing me, for the wind was blowing very hard. So I started over from the cover, going as fast as I could travel. Right square across the way I found a ditch about ten feet wide, and you know how hard it is to make a jump with snowshoes (skis) on level ground. I had to try it, anyhow and somehow I got over. I ran up within fifteen feet of Howell between him and his gun before I called to him to throw up his hands, and that was the first he knew of anyone but him being anywhere in that country.”

--Army Scout Felix Burgess on his capture of poacher Ed Howell

Army Officers with Buffalo Confiscated from Poacher, circa 1900
Photographer Unknown
YELL 7757 (Reproduction)

A cache of eight buffalo heads was discovered by Army scouts at Ed Howell’s campsite just before capturing the notorious poacher.

Camera, 1895
The Blair Camera Co., Model 2367
Used by Army Scout Peter Holt
YELL 7148

“an old camera that I carried for many years in my pack on snowshoe trips…”
--Peter Holt, Letter to Chester Allinson Lindsley, December 1925

I know some of the labels are a little long, but the exhibit is very small so I am hoping people will take the time to read them. The rest of the labels will be very short or "tombstone" labels only to make up for the length of the text in some of these. I think the first person accounts will make the exhibit a lot more engaging, especially Felix Burgess' account of capturing the famous poacher, Ed Howell.

Exhibit Research and Label Writing

Today I continued my exhibit research, concentrating on the "Creation of the National Park Service" case. I identifed the reasons the Army administration of the park prior to 1916 was inadequate and took notes to use later in writing exhibit labels. After researching most of the morning, I was able to begin drafting exhibit labels for that case in the afternoon. Here is what I have so far (that I am satisfied with). It may be a little long, but it is still in draft form:

Unique challenges during military management of Yellowstone made the creation of a civilian administration desirable for park administrators and members of Congress. Poor discipline, lack of park knowledge, and frequent transfers in and out of Yellowstone made soldiers ineffective. Several government agencies – the Army Corps of Engineers, the Secretary of War, and the Department of Interior – were all responsible for separate areas of park management, resulting in expensive and unwieldy park administration. After thirty-two years of military management in Yellowstone, President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act into law in August 1916, creating the National Park Service.

I also spent considerable time looking for copies of the original Lacey Act of 1894 and National Park Service Organic Act of 1916 for my cases. The Lacey Act allowed for prosecution of poachers in the park, while the Organic Act created the civilian-run National Park Service. I found related documents, as well as the text of the documents I was looking for, but was unable to find scans of the original documents.

The museum interns met this afternoon to discuss our progress on our cases and to determine where our topics (and objects) overlap. We want to make sure our cases compliment each other and are not overly repetitive.

Object Selection and Scanning

Today I continued working on the new exhibit. I pulled all of the objects that I have chosen so far for the cases. The three dimensional objects I have chosen for the poaching/civilian and army scout case include a bear trap, a small game trap, wooden cross country skiis, a camera used by a scout, a leather bound pamphlet of rules and regulations for Army soldiers and civilian scouts, a rifle confiscated from a poacher, and a pistol found in a cache which likely belonged to a poacher. I have also chosen several photos portraying scouts and the snoeshoe cabins they used in the winter. After pulling the objects from storage, I scanned the photographs so they will be ready to print and mount for the exhibit.

Mud Volcano Snoeshoe Cabin

Dead Buffalo, killed by poachers

Soldiers from the Soda Butte Soldier Station

Army Scouts

I am having a little trouble finding three dimensional objects for the "Creation of the National Park Service" case. So far, all I have an early NPS ranger uniform (including hat, boots, shirt, and pants). I have selected a few photographs for this case as well: portraits of Stephen Mather and Chester Lindsley, who were both very important figures during the transition from Army to civilian control of the park. I still need to select a portrait of Horace Albright, an early superintendent of Yellowstone and later, the director of the National Park Service.

Chester A. Lindsley

Stephen Mather

After scanning the photographs, I made identification, or "tombstone" labels for the objects I have already selected. Then, I went to the library to do some additional research for the exhibit text labels. I found some transcripts of scout diaries and a few articles, and proceeded to read them and some history books for the remainder of the day. At 5:00 pm, my brother (who is visiting) came by for an insider's tour of the collection and storage area. He was really excited to see all the objects and what I have been working on all summer.

Exhibit Work

I worked on the exhibit almost all day today. In the morning, I continued researching for my cases and looked for objects that would be appropriate for the topics I am covering. In the morning, I met with Chris, who I will be working on the "Creation of the National Park Service" case with. Chris is an intern at the archives here at the HRC. We spent about an hour looking for photos and documents in the archives and discussing our game plan for the exhibit. At first, we had different ideas about what the case should cover. Chris wanted to focus on animal management issues because he had uncovered some really great photos and documents from the early years of the National Park Service related to this topic. Some photos even showed President Coolidge feeding bears during a park visit in the late 1920's. I had a different idea of what the case should be about after reading through the book on the history of park management in Yellowstone. We discussed our viewpoints and decided to focus more on the administrative history, especially since another case will likely cover animal and tourist management during the Army years.

After lunch, I met with Maeve, an intern from the library who I will be working on my Army years case with. Maeve and I went into the museum storage area and examined all the objects I had found in ANCS+ that might work in our case. Yesterday, we had thought the case would cover both Army responses to poaching and animal management. Now another group will cover animal management and our case will cover how both the Army and civilian scouts fought poaching in the park. Some of the objects we will be using include skiis (used by Army and civilian scouts to patrol the park in the winter), bear and beaver traps, a gun confiscated from a poacher, a leather book of rules and regulations for army and civilian scouts, and photos of scouts, army officers, and poachers with their kills.

Because the library and archive interns have only a few hours every week to meet with us about the exhibit, today Bridgette gave the museum interns the okay to take the lead on the exhibit cases as we will be working exclusively on the exhibits from here on out. We will be consulting our partners for their opinions about things, to edit labels, and things like that, but we are now able to start making executive decisions and choosing objects to put in the cases and scanning photos for the exhibit. This will definitely allow us to make more progress on the exhibit and I am excited to get to work!

Exhibit Research

This morning I began doing research for the two cases I will be working on for the new exhibit about early park administration in Yellowstone. The two cases I will be responsible for are on the Army years (one of three cases on this topic) and on the creation of the National Park Service. I started by reading a chapter in "Managing the 'Matchless Wonders': A History of Administrative Development in Yellowstone National Park, 1872-1965." From that resource, I learned about the Army years, and the main issues the Army dealt with when they ran the park.

After reading a while, I took a break to rehouse a sign from the previous exhibit, which the other interns deinstalled on Thursday (I had the day off because my brother was visiting). The previous exhibit was about the fires of 1988, which burned one third of Yellowstone National Park. The sign I rehoused was a trail sign that was burned in the fire, but is still readable. I made a box to fit the sign and lined it with ethafoam. I secured the sign in the box with twine tape.

The rehoused sign from the '88 fires

After rehousing the sign, the three museum interns working on Army cases (me, Erica, Jake) had a meeting to determine the topics for the three cases. Since I had just read about that era, I suggested that one of the cases be about poaching and vandalism and another be about army management of tourists and animals. Jake and Erica liked the idea, and we decided that the third case should be about Fort Yellowstone, the army base in Mammoth that remains to this day.

Specifically, I will be working on the Army case about poaching and vandalism in the park. I started looking for objects from the collection that would be appropriate for that case, and came up with a list of objects and photos that might work by searching in ANCS+. I am going to wait to look at the objects until Maeve, the library intern who I will be working on the case with, will be available to look at them with me (she has the day off today).

I spent the remainder of the day reading and continuing my research for my exhibit cases. The exhibit is our priority for the rest of the summer.

Finishing the Black Albums

First thing this morning, I photographed each page of my second black album for the catalog record. After uploading all of the photos onto the computer, I continued cropping and rotating them one by one (between the two albums, about 320 photos). As you will recall from yesterday's post, I also had to save each photo in a high resolution TIFF file and as a much smaller file for the ANCS+ record. I finished that process in the early afternoon.

Photographing one of the black albums

After finishing with the photos, I was finally able to begin my catalog records in ANCS+. I pasted my catalog entry from Microsoft Word into the description field and uploaded photos of each page into the database for each of my two albums. When I finished the catalog records, the only thing left to do was interleave every page in the albums with sheets of acid-free paper. Upon completing this, I put the albums in their boxes and back into storage. The HRC was required to finish cataloging 10 albums by the end of the fiscal year (in September), and we completed 8 of them during these past two weeks. One of the interns will probably be cataloging one more because he will be here a few weeks longer than the rest of us, so the staff is confident (and extatic!) that they will meet their goal.

Interleaving an album with acid-free paper

After finishing the album, I tied up a few loose ends before discussing the exhibit with Bridget and the other museum interns. Now that the albums are completed, we are going to be focusing on the exhibit for the rest of the summer. First we will take down the current exhibit (which they may be doing tomorrow, but I have the day off because my brother is coming for a visit). Then, we will be choosing objects for our new cases (on early park administration), writing labels, etc.

More Black Album Work

Today I finished cataloging my second black album in Microsoft Word. I completed this work at around 2PM. I wanted to jump right into photographing the album, but some of my coworkers were already using the camera, so I rehoused some glasses until they were done. I photographed all 191 pages of my album, which went pretty quickly despite having to upload photos frequently to make room in the camera's memory card. After, photographing and uploading all the photos, I worked on editing the photos and re-saving them both as TIFF files and as small files to be uploaded into ANCS+ when I make my catalog entry. The TIFF files will be kept in a folder on the shared drive, where people will have access to them in perpetuity (TIFF files do not pixelate over time). Tomorrow I plan to photograph my other album and work on cropping and resaving all my images so that I will be ready to create my catalog records next week.

Another Black Album Day

Today I continued labeling all of the uncataloged photos in my second black album. The labeling is a long and tedious process, which took all day until 3PM. I ended up labeling 502 photos in this album that had not yet been cataloged. When I finished labeling the photos, I began the catalog record in Microsoft Word, just as I did on the last black album. I was pleased to get through about one quarter of the album, and am hopeful that I will complete the catalog record by the end of the day tomorrow.

Here is a sample of what the catalog record looks like in Word. The photo IDs are other numbers used by others (usually the photographer's own cataloging system). As you will see, completing one of these entries for each of 191 pages is also a very long and tedious process. The point of these records is to make these photographs searchable by subject in ANCS+.

PAGE 54

SECTION TITLE: MONUMENT GEYSER BASIN;

EIGHT PHOTOS; YELL 40865; YELL 185320-171; YELL 40871; YELL 185320-172; YELL 185320-173; YELL 185320-174; YELL 40872-1; YELL 40872-2;

PHOTO IDS: 8039-2; 9497; 15106-6; 15174-18; 15174-19; 15174-20; 48-56; 48-57;

SUBJECT: MONUMENT GEYSER BASIN;

DATE: 1929;

PAGE 55

TITLE: NORRIS GEYSER BASIN;

EIGHT PHOTOS; YELL 185320-175; YELL 185320-176; YELL 185320-177; YELL 185320-178; YELL 35883; YELL 185320-179; YELL 185320-180; YELL 40874;

PHOTO IDS: 8047-3; 8038-2; 8001-2; 8049-5; 8047-6; 8038-1; 8001-3; 8048-3;

SUBJECT: NORRIS GEYSER BASIN; BLACK GROWLER STEAM VENT; SULPHER POOL;

DATE: 1929;

Cataloging All Day

I spent this morning finishing the catalog record for my black album in Microsoft Word. Then, I finally cataloged the blessing wand and an American flag with a picture of a Native American on it that were left as offerings in 2005 at the sight of the 1999 Buffalo Walk. An NPS employee removed the objects from the sight because of concern they might be stolen or tampered with by park guests. After cataloging those objects, I started in on another black album (I still need to photograph every page of the first one, but need help from the other interns who have already done that (apparently it is complicated). So I grabbed another black album (this one is even longer at 191 pages) and started labeling the uncataloged photos. I got about 20pages in before the end of the day, and will continue working on that Monday.

The flag I cataloged and the flag-shaped box I made for it

Black Album, Tour, and Library Issue

This morning I finished labeling all the photos in my black album with their catalog numbers. After I finished, I was ready to continue writing my catalog record in Microsoft Word. 

A page from my black album

A picture of Fishing Cone from my black album

At 10 AM I took a break from cataloging my album to give my first public tour of the HRC. I was responsible for the museum portion of the tour, which also covers the library and archives. The museum section of the tour starts out with an overview of the collection, what we are working on (cataloging and rehousing) and a quick talk about the dangers to museum collections (light, temperature, humidity)and how the HRC works to prevent them (temperature and humidity controls, and motion sensor lights in storage turn off if no one is in storage). 

After that, I showed the group a few interesting objects and gave them a brief background about them. Because some people on the tour were NPS employees from the GIS lab, I pulled an interesting map to show them. The map showed the park from a non traditional perspective: from north looking south at an angle so as to show terrain. Then, I showed them a drum that I just recently cataloged that was used by Native Americans in 1996 in a ceremony for the reintroduction of the wolves into the park. 

From there, I showed the group the museum's collection of wolf skulls, which are collected by the wolf project. These skulls belong to the first generation of wolves that were introduced to the park, as well as some of their offspring. The museum keeps the wolf skulls in storage and makes them available to researchers from the wolf project whenever asked to do so. 

The final part of the tour, I showed the tour group our collection of 22 original Thomas Moran field sketches made when Moran accompanied the Hayden expedition into Yellowstone territory in 1871. These field sketches were brought to Congress later that year, and helped convince Congress to set Yellowstone aside as the world's first national park.  

The tour went really well - everyone seemed really interested. I am sure my tour experience in the Art and Art History department at UF prepared me for the task. 

After the tour, I went up to the library to discuss a certain movie with the librarians. In the process of researching the blessing wand, I discovered that two documentaries were made about the 1999 Buffalo Walk. Although the tribal participants requested that all cameras be turned off during the flesh offering ceremony, one film crew secretly filmed the event for a major cable documentary (I will not name the movie or channel because I do not want to publicize their video). The Native Americans involved have every right to be upset about this surreptitious filming of their sacred ceremony. Another documentary, called The Buffalo War, was produced by Matthew Testa, who got permission from the participants to recreate the ceremony for the movie. 

I went to talk to the librarians, Jessie and Jackie, to see if there was any way they could remove the offensive movie from the shelves, to make it special request only, to include a disclaimer on the box, or recommend The Buffalo War instead to interested patrons. Jessie and Jackie agreed that something should be done, but hadn't encountered a similar situation. They are now in the process of contacting the University of Montana library to see if they have a precedent that could be followed here. Both movies are currently in VHS in the library, and they thought maybe they should purchase the Testa documentary of DVD so that people would more likely borrow that one. 

After speaking with the librarians, I worked on cataloging my album for the remainder of the day. I got to page 73 out of 131, and I hope to finish that portion of the project tomorrow.

Black Album Day One

Today I started working on cataloging a black album. For the black albums, we are all creating our catalog record on Microsoft Word, which we will cut and paste into ANCS+ when we are finished. The records are not typical catalog records, because if we included careful details about each photo, we would never finish them. Basically, we are making it possible for people to search ANCS+ for which page to look at to see photos by topic. As I mentioned in Monday’s post, many of the photos are already cataloged. These catalog numbers refer to the negatives rather than the photos themselves. The negatives are considered the objects, because they are the originals. Many of the photos, however, do not have catalog numbers. I am responsible for cataloging these photos. Also, many have other catalog numbers, such as those used by the individual photographers.

Black Album (all 131 pages!)

An example of a page in the album

A volunteer, Bob, spent a great deal of time filling out worksheets that detailed the information about each of the photos in the black albums. The worksheets list the photos on each page of each album, which are cataloged, other catalog numbers used to identify the photos, which photographs do not have assigned catalog numbers, a short description of what each photo portrays, and the dates the photos were taken when known. These sheets are very helpful when typing the information into the word documents that will be come the catalog records.

One of the sheets Bob prepared 

There were lots of sheets to enter into the catalog record!

After a while, I realized it would be helpful to label each of the photos in the album before typing in the catalog record. At the same time as I did this, I updated Bob’s worksheets (he had left the catalog number section blank in those that weren’t cataloged). These worksheets will be kept in folders along with printouts of our catalog records to be used as finding aids for the black books.

Numbered Photo (I used white pencil to make the numbers on the black paper)

Labeling the photos took much longer than I expected and it became a little frustrating. First, I went through the worksheets and labeled each of the blank catalog number areas with catalog numbers in numerical order (YELL 185319-1, YELL 185319-2, etc). A few small errors in the sheets, as well as missing photos in the albums that I had given catalog numbers to on the worksheets resulted in my having to renumber the sheets over and over again before I labeled the photos. It was a very time consuming process and I worked on that up until the end of the workday. I hope to finish labeling the photos and to complete the catalog record in Word tomorrow so that I can begin photographing the pages next week.