Week 5 Blog

This week, the Bicentennial exhibit team visited the collections for the first time as a group with Dr. Crepeau. Therefore, we were unable to join the virtual meeting that also took place on Wednesday at noon. I had a great time going through the collection and thinking about what would work for the exhibit displays. First, we started on the fifth floor of the library and took a look at their items in the Special Library Collections room, in the same location that the whole internship team visited last week. Most of the artifacts included files containing magazines, comic books, and calendars. Afterward, we went to the fourth floor of the library to visit where the exhibit will be located. It gave us a good idea of how much space there was, and we could start thinking about the displays, if that is the direction that the team will be going in. We were given a sheet with the dimensions of the room and each display case for our projects. At the end, we visited the history department in TCH to see the rest of the artifacts, and I was not expecting the number of items that the exhibit includes. The highlight of the collection would be the 7-Up cans that, when put together, create an image of Uncle Sam. It was definitely the main item that garnered the most lore and attention. The items portrayed a different time in U.S. history, a time in which the Founding Fathers were seen as icons that were to be displayed in a superhuman sense. As opposed to today, when we understand the true nature of the founding of the United States. 

Although we saw the collection, we have yet to begin individual work on the exhibit. I am gaining an idea of what we could be doing in the following weeks. Creating an in-person exhibit takes time and resources, and making sure everybody is on the same page. I will continue to review the readings from the past weeks in order to memorize the correct steps in creating displays. Hopefully, we can have a linear direction soon on what we need to be working on, but I am enjoying the in-person experiences. Next week, we will be going to the Orlando Regional History Center for a tour and to speak with the directors. I aim to look at the displays in order to gain ideas for our exhibit.