Week 6 Blog

As we approach the middle of the semester, we continue to go on field trips to further our ideas on the options of what we can do with our history degrees. Going on these trips, my confidence in my path grows for preservation. This week, we visited the Orange County Regional History Center and explored its exhibits. Starting off, we visited the conference room and discussed the paths that the employees took towards working at the center. Neither of them has had a background in studying history. However, over time, they discovered their passion for education, among other tasks, and used this newfound passion through the center. After the conference room visit, we were given a tour by a fellow student who works at the history center. I have never visited the history center before, but it was interesting to go through and learn more about Florida's history. My brother and his wife live in Maryland, so when we visit them, we always go to D.C. and go to the Smithsonian. As I was going through the tour, I picked up on the methods of display between the two locations, and this gave me ideas of how I would plan an exhibit in the future. 

Today, we had a meeting with our team lead to discuss the next steps for creating the exhibit. We went through each display, collected ideas of what objects would go where, and discussed the general theme of the exhibit as a whole. We decided on showcasing how UCF students came together to create the collection during the bicentennial. The displays will feature everyday items someone would use, strange iconism of the founding fathers, food, and celebrating diversity throughout the community. Outside of the display cases, we discussed using the tablet access to create a game in which people can fill in the blank or do a multiple choice quiz for a bicentennial joke book that we found. For the TV display, we have a DVD of an interview that Dr. Crepeau gave in 1976 to be played during the exhibit. There is a possibility to use the wall hangers to add more around the walls pertaining to the cases below. Although the beginning of the project had its moments of adversity, I believe we are now going in the correct direction, and everyone is on a similar page. I know we will be able to create something special.