Outreach

Special Event: Conservation in Action

While working on the Magazine Project at Colonial Williamsburg, I had the opportunity to create a public program in the Historic Area. Once a month my coworkers and I set up a table with a reproduction flintlock musket and an array of tools I typically use in the lab daily. Visitors and the general public were able to come up and speak with us about firearms conservation, the Magazine Project, and conservation in general. This was a very rewarding experience - we spoke to many people, some days over 100 visitors. It was great to see how engaged the public was with our work and learn about conservation.

Big Horn Radio Network

Throughout my time in conservation so far, I have had several opportunities to share my experience with the general public. While in Cody, Wyoming my supervisor and I were interviewed for an hour on the local radio to explain what we do in the conservation lab at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. While we did send a short description to the radio station of potential topics to discuss on the show, the interview was mostly off-the-cuff and developed organically. This was a promotion for the museum and one of several interviews across different departments to engage the local community. It was exciting to share what I had been working on in an approachable way since the audience most likely did not know anything about conservation.

Recording: https://soundcloud.com/user-939526834/2021-07-27-syp-bbcw

Dispatches From the Field

While interning with the Arms and Armor Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art I also wrote a short piece for their “Dispatches from the Field.” This is a biweekly newsletter that is sent out to various donors, friends, and colleagues of the department. Since arms and armor is a small field, many curators and conservators from around the world subscribe to the Dispatch in order to learn more about what the Met is currently doing. The members of the department take turns writing about recent research, acquisitions, and treatments. I featured a treatment that I had completed on a pair of Indian arm guards (here).

Dispatch from the Field 2022 #25: https://mailchi.mp/5abe60dafc17/dispatches-from-the-field-2022-15543163?e=a995c94456