Week 6: September 23rd and 25th

   Good afternoon, everyone! This week, I spent my time at the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse continuing to work on the Pacetti Hotel's newest exhibits. However, we spent this week researching and writing about the items on display in these exhibits, working to write accurate text panels for each exhibit to give them context and inform visitors of the pertinent details of the items. 

    As you can imagine, this process involved good, old-fashion historical research to properly date and describe the various items. This process consisted first, of locating the objects that needed text panels in PastPerfect. Then, we checked what information about the items were already on record. For most items we just needed to know what it was and what time period it came from since not every item needed super detailed descriptions. For certain items however, it was important to write notes about what the item was and what it did. For instance, in the Pacetti Hotel's Living Room, there is a small hunting case featuring a hand loading shotgun primer press used to reload used shotgun shells with powder. In most cases, PastPerfect had the necessary information, but when it did not, in the case of the the primer press, it was the job of the interns to research the items and learn as much about them as possible. 

    By using the names of the items, and any distinguishing maker's marks or brand-names, we spent both Monday and Wednesday of this week researching various items throughout the Pacetti Hotel, giving them context for visitors, and dating them so that they have an accurate idea of when these various items would have been made and used. 

    While not the most glamorous week of my internship so-far, the process of writing accurate text panels is undoubtedly one of the most important elements of the museums development process I have seen up to this point. It is one thing to showcase historical artifacts in a museum, but if the people paying to see your museum don't know what they're looking at or if they cannot trust that the information you are giving them is accurate, then how is your museum supposed to continue functioning? Overall, this week was quiet, but it was no less important, and it was proof as to why good research-analysis skills are so important.

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