Week 13

This week I only worked on Wednesday. I repaired a few of the books that had pages coming out or spines no longer attached to the pages. Kyle showed me how to re-attach the pages using an inert glue. She also demonstrated how other books could be fixed, such as if they needed new spines or needed to be placed into individual boxes for further protection. It was interesting to see how to fix the different problems each of the books had. The ones I fixed for instance only took a paintbrush and some glue, so the pages reattached to the bindings. I had no reading this week.

Week 12

This week I finished the last seven books, placed the last LoC stickers on the last stack of books, and have begun the organization process. Most of the books have been organized according to their LoC numbers, or have at least been placed in a general place based on their numbers. Only those with the letters T and E have yet to be organized fully. I was beginning on the E books when I ran out of time on Wednesday. Next week I think we are working on fixing the books that require doctoring. I had no reading this week.

Week 11

This week I basically finished entering the books into the computer. There are a few left that I have questions about, since I was told not to enter magazines or some of the museum publications not pertaining to Wake Forest. The stack of books has gone from hundreds to just seven, which I am going to ask about at the beginning of next week. All of the rest of the books have been entered manually or have LoC numbers and have been labeled accordingly. There is another stack of books that are those that need to be fixed, which I was told would be happening in a week or so. I had no reading for this week.

Week 10

This week I continued to enter books into the system, and finished another LoC sticker sheet. I also took all of the books and organized them onto a single stack of shelves so that they are all in one main place. The number of books is slowly decreasing as I am entering them. Pretty soon, I should be finished with entering them into the computer, and then I can begin organizing them by their LoC numbers. I had no reading for this week.

Week 9

This week I continued to enter books into the system. There are fewer and fewer books on the shelves as I continue working through entering them. I also had a reading in Museum Studies in Material Culture by Susan M. Pearce. I had to read chapter 9, entitled "Material Culture Research and the Curation Process." It was about two different exhibition styles, the aesthetic and reconstructive. The aesthetic pertain to art, or primitive art where the reconstructive is more informative and ethnographically meaningful. So, both contribute to the overall understanding of the material culture of the past but in different ways. One is the artistic materials left behind where the other is the preserved items that show a primitive culture. The chapter continues to discuss the need to document and preserve all of the artifacts so they can be understood, referenced, and provide further research in the future. The artifacts that are restored pose a problem. They are restored to their previous glory, but yet the art of restoration detracts from the authenticity since sometimes the artifact can actually be made better than it would have actually been in the past. This chapter covers multiple issues faced with the exhibition, restoration, preservation and documentation of artifacts.