Embracing Opportunity when It Appears

 . . . and knowing when to make a move.

I so try to believe the sentiment every. single. day. (And this is my SaTC moment!!)

About a year ago, I got an interesting job offer. Okay, you may know one, but this other came out of the blue. It happened in late 2023 when my hairstylist wanted to know if I could be available so she could do my hair and someone else could do my make-up and a third person take studio photos of me?? Umm, sure?! Why not? What's it for?? So I could be one of their hair models for a bus campaign. OMG, CRAZY. It was so fun to do the 'work' but it is even MORE fun to see my image - which is not one I think of as typical me - drive by at random times. And why is this important when talking about working in museums (or anywhere)? Because opportunity is kinda-sorta all around us in very interesting places and ya have to be ready to say yes if it comes up! And the opportunity may or may not work out, but you should try it out when it sits down next to you and says hello.

My other opportunity from 2023, the museum job I worked very hard to get, just came up on its first anniversary. Going back to the place I had worked before to the position I held for 6.5 years had lots of ups and a couple of downs. I tell people that I am okay 95% of the time with what happened in July 2022 and have come to terms with the ego hit of not-quite clearing that hurdle to a manager level. That 5% of frustration does come up once in a while and I deal with it in that I acknowledge wanting a little more for my career at this institution; I say hello, feel all the feels for a short time and then I shoo it along. I do not dwell there, and it does not define me or my work.

The position I hold now is my current opportunity, and I lead from where I am. I have also learned to let go of what is not my purview by telling myself what I am responsible for is doing excellent work in my department. There are two associate registrars who report to me and I do my best to mentor them AND learn from the newer generation coming into museum work. I support and I guide and I oversee the responsibilities of what needs to get done for the permanent collection, exhibitions, loans in and out of the museum as well as play a pretty decent role in getting the collection ready to move to the new research centre. The days can be so tiring but my spirit is restored doing this work, and I get joy in a full day, especially if there's hi-viz involved on the loading dock. (What can I say? I think it's a fun part! And something I missed when I was a manager!!) I am busy and engaged and so when the 5% of yuck comes up . . . I realize that every job would have that little bit of wariness, and I let go. 

I have also come to the realization - and I don't think this is a negative thing at all, I think it shows growth - that the extra energy I have for museum work perhaps could be spent elsewhere. I am working on diversifying my deep need to be of service; I am not sure where that may lead me, and that is sort of exciting. I am also avoiding narrowly defining what has to come my way . . .  but also mindful of what I really, really want to do. For example, I didn't follow up on how badly I wanted to see a concert (I am pretty sure you can guess who!) and I only realized how much this annoyed me right as it was happening. I ignored the fact that I would have to spend some real $$ to go and I was pretty down and not wanting to hear anything about anyone else attending. But then something happened - I acknowledged the thought, and on the weekend it was all going on, I went with a friend to the city just to enjoy the vibe of all the other people who liked the same artist as me. Of course I tried - like many, many others - to see if I could get tickets without spending thousands of dollars and failed . . . missed opportunity, perhaps . . . but I fed my soul by just sharing in the excitement of others going. Partial win, for sure, and I gladly take it.

Swiftcouver, December 2024

So on the note of being open to new opportunities and knowing when to make a move, I am wrapping up this blog musing about museum work, the last show of my museum eras experience. Oh I have loved it so, and have learned a lot by exploring and writing on how to find ways to work with collections and what museums can do for their communities. I absolutely intend to find another place to keep writing and thinking aloud my ideas and passionate calls-to-service. It excites me to open up to all sorts of opportunities to engage, to have fun, to join the party however new adventures may arise. I look forward to the future and all that comes my way. 

And of course I wish you the best too, whether it's museum work-related or not. 😊 As ever, feel free to drop me a line at MsCarolineDavies@gmail.com if you'd like to connect!

Feelin' pretty swish at the Museum party this year!

What is Old is New

What is New is Old Again!

Also known as . . .  I have just started in the role of . . . 

Senior Registrar at the Royal BC Museum (Caroline Davies version)

(compare to the 2015 version!)

Yes, after 510 days on the hunt for my next position, after 18 applications and 16 interviews for local non-museum jobs and distant senior museum gigs, I rejoined the orbit of the RBCM, in my dream job. As of December, I am now a part of the team of registrars who will be actively processing new acquisitions and accessions (on a new database!), installing and taking down exhibitions, working with loans coming in and out of the institution, and planning and moving the collections to a new facility. It's going to be insanely busy. The RBCM is also working to reframe its core being, decolonizing and engaging with community to find out how the museum can best serve British Columbians. This is a lot of work and I will be participating in many of these discussions. Bottom line, I am beyond thrilled to be a part of the organization again, and looking forward to meeting challenges together.

I am not sure it is typical to return to a workplace but I am finding out it is not totally uncommon. I have seen people who retire and return. And it is not without precedent, either, for staff to spend some time in acting or permanent management roles and then return to a unionized job, the one that got them to fall in love with the work in the first place. So there may be questions for me as to WHY I would return . . . the foundation is that I am really good at the work I am privileged to do in museums and I want to do more of it. I have confirmed to myself that I need to be in a large institution, as complex and difficult as they may be in this day and age, to help bring forward change. I wish to be part of the 'buzz' of it all and, honestly, I want to stay in the city I am established in, one that I adore. Part of me wonders why it took so long to get back and another says I had lessons to learn and work to do to make really, really sure that this is what I want. And yes, yes it is. So I am going to give it my all and, when time allows, write about this next chapter in museum work. Stay tuned and stay in touch!

Also me, once I found out
99 days after I applied for RBCM Senior Registrar!

Working in a Large Museum

The Dream Job: Senior Registrar . . .

Shipping exhibition crates in January 2020

Yes, it finally happened! After my time at Royal Roads University, I at last got the job I had been training for my whole career, the one I was seeking for so long: I became the Senior Registrar at a large museum, the Royal BC Museum to be precise, in January 2015. My career journey had brought me to this point through my education, my experience, my interests and my professional development. I was ready to be a super-star registrar!

I began the job joining an exhibition installation that was well under way, and tasked to bring in loaned objects from all over. Loan agreements, shipping logistics, insurance, couriers . . . it was all mine to facilitate. And I loved it. I had documentation to organize, emails to send, people to call, arrangements to make. I was collaborating with curators, collections managers, exhibits colleagues, conservators, museum management, museum executive, lenders (and their personal assistants), government representatives, shipping companies, customs agents and security inside and outside the museum. All this work was to be completed within the deadline of the exhibition opening in mid-May. What a rush, what a feeling to get it open, and to have played a part in all of it. THIS is exactly what I had in mind when I set out to work in museums.

My desk during an exhibition installation. Weeee!

I was also responsible for organizing the Collections Committee meetings, which were in need of a review. I began by speaking to colleagues about what they thought worked, and what they thought needed changing. In a collection of natural history specimens, human history objects and archival holdings, there are many different perspectives. I visited each area - botany, entomology, palaeontology, vertebrates, invertebrates, modern history, Indigenous collections and archives - and began to gain an understanding of both the diversity of the collections and holdings and how it was important to create clear universal and simple policies and procedures for the intake and dispersal of these items. The Collections Committee was the place where all new acquisitions are reviewed, deaccessions are discussed and repatriations are documented. It also reviews / is the time for discussion if there are areas where policy should be updated, including thoughts on rapid-response collecting. These quarterly meetings were quite the event to coordinate and orchestrate - having the right amount of paperwork (but not too much) and knowing which items require attention and which others are routine acquisitions was a learning curve, but it was so important to the legal and ethical obligations of holding a collection in trust for the public at the provincial museum.

Registering new objects and specimens in the database, working on temporary exhibitions, managing loans in and out for both research (from the natural history collections) and exhibition (mostly from human history), as well as Collections Committee meetings kept me and the associate registrar very busy. We also worked to improve all process and procedures through the creation of workflows, and suggested policy changes. It was so very busy that I really didn't have a lot of time for writing here on the blog, or volunteering outside of the work I was doing at the RBCM. There were also challenging issues during this time, including navigating COVID and working from home, and the very difficult work of discussing colonialism / colonial practices and racism in the organization. There were interesting times as well, such as the announcement of the new Collections and Research Building . . . which meant even more work of preparing to move the massive collections of seven million objects, specimens and archival holdings to a new location. 

Although the Senior Registrar position was - and in many ways, still is - my dream job for museum work, I found that I was wanting to continue to grow professionally. I was so excited with the idea of moving all the collections and I wanted to play a key role at the management level, being at the meetings to plan for the move as well as, hopefully, the building of a whole new museum at the current location. I also wanted to really be a part of those hard, thoughtful discussions around colonialism and the changes that we needed to make. And so I took a leap of faith and applied for - and won! - the position of Director of Collections, which I started in October 2021.

Next Step: Daring to Lead . . .

My leadership / support / management style is largely based on Brene Brown's "awkward, brave and kind" philosophy of showing up to be the front person of a team with vulnerability and courage. I knew I was taking a pretty big risk stepping out of a unionized position, as there was a new CEO to start soon . . .  it was a time of change and upheaval. But I also share Brene's admiration of the Roosevelt quote below: I was ready to step up and get into that arena!

In this director role I was responsible for work plans for the natural and modern history collections managers as well as the registration team. We had to do all the regular work and plan for a new collections building on top of that. I was tasked to run competitions to hire four permanent staff as well as a team of technicians to work to get the collections ready to go (there were 99 applicants for one competition!!). And I thought I was busy in the Senior Registrar role . . . some pretty long days were had, with a team of nearly twenty on the roster.

Among all this work came the official government announcement that there would be a new building on the site where the museum stood, closing the exhibition galleries for years during the rebuild. I won't put a link to the day's events but, as you may have guessed, it did not go over well. Less than two months later, the downtown project was cancelled, and public opinion was low of the museum, despite the fact that it used to be such a beloved institution. The way the project was launched and how quickly it was pulled back made for even more stressful times within the museum.

I was soldiering on with the plans for the move of the collections and supporting the Collections team by providing a safety net and a hand-up where I could. But, as someone in the arena, I was vulnerable . . . and the new CEO wanted to make organizational changes. Sometimes, if you're in a leadership role, you make a hard decision; sometimes you deliver a hard decision; sometimes you receive a hard decision. That last one was where I found myself, along with two other museum directors (research and learning), as we were walked out of the building, our positions eliminated, released without cause. After over seven and a half years at the museum, this was the abrupt end to my dream I had pursued with my whole being . . . and it has been very long, hard road to recover from that moment.

In my next post, I delve into the lessons learned from my museum work journey thus far, which have been mighty! One thing remains certain about this latest walk down my path: I have no regrets about taking on that management role. I know museums as a whole are going through tough times, and we all have to be courageous and stand up to say we are going to be a part of the solution, not sit it out. I don't know what my future holds, or where or how I will serve museums next, but I remain brave, I remain passionate, and I remain strong.

Museum Consultant, Part 2 . . .

Well, I have caught up in my career review to when I first started this blog in 2010, just after I finished my work at the University of Victoria. It was a prolific time for my writing, and I hesitate now to write over or revise those posts of how I worked during the year-and-a-bit I was focussed solely on being a consultant and a writer. I also want to make the experience of this post more than 'check out this link!' . . . it's a fine balance. I am hopeful though that through this post (and the entire blog, really) I am able to showcase that every step is one that pushes me a little bit more, to my next level. And so when I come to reviewing the work I did as a consultant in the early 2010s, it makes me proud to know that:

1. I was the volunteer coordinator for the 2010 BC Museums Association conference in Nanaimo. Collaborating with an amazing committee, I conceptualized the theme, initiated a call for session proposals, evaluated the submissions, set up the conference schedule, secured keynote speakers, finalized agreements, and then worked to make sure everything went swimmingly on-site. It was quite the undertaking but the results were immensely rewarding.

Ya, I even organized OWLS to come to the conference!

2. I won a contract to be the the tour coordinator for a 2-year travelling exhibition for the Royal BC Museum. I promoted the exhibition Aliens Among Us, which was about invasive species in the province. I set up a tour route, helped facilitate the contracts and ensured the shipping, installation and promotion was coordinated in a manner that worked both for the host venue and the RBCM. I organized curatorial visits to these areas as well. I was able to attend the first opening and saw just how cool it was to have the provincial museum represented in a community outside of the capital of Victoria.

Parksville Museum as host of Aliens

3. I worked with a small museum up-Island in Mill Bay to set up all their inventory and collections management policies and procedures. I lead five workshops that instructed volunteers how to inventory their collection, document it on a simple spreadsheet, organize their paperwork and photograph each object. I also created their collections management policy booklet and template forms. I was able to do this all a shoe-string budget, bringing foundational concepts forward to achieve organizational excellence, which in turn would help them build to their next level. (This project was the inspiration of my most popular blog post, An Inventory Project in a Small Museum - nearly 4,000 reads!)

An identification photo of an object in the
Mill Bay Historical Society collection

4. In working with a colleague who was the primary contractor, I contributed to the creation of updated policy manuals for a museum in North Vancouver. Specifically, my role was to review and update collections management documents and all their forms as well as their collections policy.

So I had a busy calendar! As I review my notebooks and see just how many projects and deadlines I had on the go, I am impressed with my multi-tasking capacities. It was an exciting time professionally, for sure, even if it was not super-lucrative for me at the time (uh-huh, I need to be honest in this career adventure story!). But the wealth of experience and people I met along the way proved invaluable. Learning to balance all the demands of multiple clients and all that goes with it - insurance, contracts, billing and of course delivering everything on time and (more than) what was expected - was formative experience that significantly contributed to my development as a museum professional. And would I do it again? Without a doubt . . . it could well be essential to my continued engagement within today's museum and collections sector. So yes, I remain open to work, eager to contribute - please drop me LinkedIn message or an email to BCMuseumRegistrar@gmail.com if you want to connect!

Life as Heritage Officer for British Columbia's Government House . . .

Heritage Officer Caroline, circa 2005

After such an amazing time in California, my next museum career chapter began in a new city (for me) back in Canada: Victoria. We moved in 2003, and I spent the first while getting the kids settled in elementary school as well as really joining a community of parent/teacher groups, hockey teams and softball fun. I was lucky enough to have this time as I was not the primary family income earner. But it wasn't long until collection work called me . . .

I began my search as I always have - networking with other professionals, researching local organizations and finding out if there were any open opportunities out there. I also dug pretty deep into what it is I needed and/or could do at this time in my career and family life, this was that I wanted part-time work and any sort of long commute was going to affect childcare needs so I had best stay local. Additionally, I investigated volunteer opportunities to sort of test-drive places that I thought might be interesting to work. And I really really looked at my museum studies degree in collections management - were there non-museum places that needed their treasures organized? How could I find them if I was not able to work in a museum, specifically?

Well, as you may have guessed, I did happen to hear of one place that needed help with, of all things, a landau, and found out that it was smack in the middle of Victoria at Government House, the Office and Residence of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, the representative for the Crown in the province. With all my gumption, I sent a letter, saying I would love to help. To my surprise, there was a response, with an additional ask of how to care for their collection of artwork and antique furniture, which was either on loan from local museums and galleries, or had been presented by the public after the a fire had burned the (second!) Government House to the ground. Oh my goodness, yes, I could absolutely help them out with that!

I created a proposal that described what I would do to photograph and inventory the collections they had, and to put it all on a database. I knew it would be a big job, and so I asked them what they wanted most: a couple of completely inventoried rooms (as in a 'piece of the cake') or all the inventory done of one kind of object - say their loans (a 'layer of the cake'). Well, it turns out the wanted the whole cake, but first they would try me out on a four month contract. I was thrilled.

Much like what's described in my inventory post, I first walked through the whole building and saw what was ahead of me. I found out about the objects on loan, the furniture with the donation stickers still on them as well as closets full of gifts presented to the Lieutenant Governor during official events. The building is four storeys which included a very large dining room, a ballroom - both for large, official celebratory events - a sitting room, staff offices (some converted from old servants' rooms!), of course the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor as well as the suites that are made available for visiting dignitaries. It's a big place, and very interesting, filled with artwork by British Columbia artists as well as portraits of former Lieutenant Governors (LGs) and, of course, the monarch.

After the visual review, I set out to understand the documentation available and reviewed the government files they had on the donations and loaned works as well as any commissioned paintings of the LGs. I thought the best way to set up the information on the collection should be readily accessible to any staff, and decided to work with Microsoft Office Access. It's not a perfect manner, but, at the time, other areas were using the database to track events and people, and so I designed what fields were required and another staff member worked with me to make it happen. I also lucked out and was able to use code to be able to add images so I could upload a photo for each object. I created a worksheet for each object and gathered materials to photograph, measure and document and number them in a system I devised. I was set!

I mapped out a logical way to inventory, choosing to go room by room. I worked with a Government House summer student, which was very lucky as an inventory project is exponentially faster when there is more than one person working - one writes up information, the other can set up a photograph and its numbers (I always like to put the number right in the photo, with the object!). We had a make-shift 'photo studio', using a white tablecloth over a collapsable table, and a whiteboard background. We set that up in a corner of each room we were inventorying. And when the intern was not available, I entered the data into Access and uploaded the photographs. We had a good system going!

I was keen to show my worth, and how the collection information could be used for the tour guides and others. And so when I was able to get the photographs to reproduce in Access reports, I cartwheeled down the hall in excitement. Well, no I didn't, but I sure would have if I could have! It meant so much to be able to provide these details in any sorted manner - by lender, by object type, by room, by artist. If you don't know what you have, you can't share that knowledge, right? 

With the inventory under control, I was brought in on a project to rehabilitate an 1872 building onsite as a teahouse with an area for information on the site. The building, known when I was there as the Butterworth Cottage, was once used as a home by the head gardener. There was also evidence that animals were kept there, as written on the walls there were notations of pigs born, with a date. Pretty cool, for sure.

Butterworth Cottage, south side

My job was to write the interpretive panels on the House and site, and use photographs from both the Government House archives as well as from other sources (with permission, of course). I wrote up a timeline of LGs as well as mentioned the house history, who had visited and of course information on the gardens. I worked with a designer to get the best layouts. This whole project ended up with a Hallmark Society award, and it was a great experience. Find time to visit if you haven't already! 

Inside Butterworth Cottage, with interpretive panels

Well, what else can I say? I have gone on a lot longer than I thought I would about this experience as Heritage Officer at Government House. I was fortunate enough to work there four years and four months, which is pretty good for just having pitched an idea too them! And I do need to also describe what it was like to work at such an important place, and how hard the Lieutenant Governor works for the province. There's a lot to celebrate in BC, and this institution and the position is all about that. The LG visits all over the province, attending large events and small, and gets to know a lot of people. I cannot tell you how much of an honour it was when the Lieutenant Governor would drop in at staff coffee time in the servery on the main floor (complete with a really long table). I said to a colleague outside of Government House that it was like talking to a historical figure; I was corrected to say, no I *AM* talking to a historical figure!  The people in this role - while I was there, Honourable Iona Capagnolo and Honourable Stephen Point - are truly remarkable British Columbians. 

Oh, and I DID get to meet a prince, who said he wished he had someone like me on staff, one who could look after collections and the items presented to him on official visits (I wrote a policy on gifts to the LG during my time there). Maybe I should follow up, and that's where my next adventure could take me . . . ?!

 A California Dream . . .
From Volunteer to Grad School to Exhibitions Registrar

I wasn't long in Edmonton before an opportunity came up to go to California as spouse on a Free Trade visa, moving there to follow the (first) internet boom. We thought we'd go for just a year or so, to see what it was like, and ended up staying for ten. In these years I volunteered, went to graduate school and then worked in California museums, all the while we had two kids and bought a house and made great friends. It was an amazing decade with a lot of unique experiences for this Canadian gal, one that was very formative along my museum path.

The US didn't need people with History degrees (I know, right?!) as much as they required those with Computer Science and so I was back to my volunteer world as I was not able to obtain a work visa under Free Trade. Lucky for me, I found two amazing places to give my time, and grow my museum experience. For the first year, I was able to dedicate a day a week each at the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology on campus at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as at the Oakland Museum of California. Both experiences were so thought-provoking, with a lot of learning, and each had staff and fellow volunteers that were very welcoming. At the Hearst Museum, I worked with the Native American basket collection. This was until I said I was expecting a baby . . . and then I was promptly moved to a Japanese netsuke collection as there were a lot of concerns about pesticides used to 'preserve' the baskets. (This was the first time I had really understood what museums did to many Indigenous objects, and I was pretty shocked. I had much more to learn.) At the Oakland Museum, I worked in the History department, and was taught on their database how to properly catalogue and complete data entry. I worked in the storage rooms, and remember how one time I was given a big sheet of foam-core and asked to build a box with a glassine window, so the object could be seen without opening the box. (Oh, how to learn to think in multiple dimensions!) It was a great experience.

As mentioned, I got to work with amazing people. I met an intern at the Oakland Museum from John F. Kennedy University who told me all about their Museum Studies program, specializing in collections management. I was blown away that such a thing might exist! I was given information and an application form and applied when the baby was just a few months old . . . and got accepted (and so I applied for and got a student visa). I started just before she turned a year old, and it was a balance for sure. It was a program designed for working professionals, though, and so classes were in the evenings which meant I had childcare. AND the baby loved to nap, so I had great amounts of time during the day to do my readings and coursework . . . totally doable for this great program of amazing conversations, hard assignments and INCREDIBLY cool field trips, meeting fascinating museum people all over the San Francisco Bay Area. I was in dreamland in this program. 

For my first assignment at JFKU, I had to visit a Bay Area cultural entity
so I took the babe to the the SF Zoo
and wrote about a family visitor experience.

Part of the program was to complete a bazillion hours* of unpaid internship. I worked at two very different museums, getting two unique experiences. My first one was at the Provincial Museum of Alberta, working on a project to reorganize, rehouse and inventory a military cap badge collection. I went back to the PMA because my mum could watch my daughter while I worked full time for a couple of months. It was a balance (again) but we made it work . . . I just wish the supplies had come in sooner because it was such a stress to wait for these very-precise boxes to show up! But they eventually did, phew. The other was at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, where I completed paperwork to prepare arms and armour from the collection for deaccession and supported the registration department wherever I was needed. I completed this internship over a longer period of time as I was back at school by then, and I had to commute from the East Bay. I learned a lot there . . . and I found out how interesting it was to work in an art museum. (*may not be an accurate number!)

The final stage of the degree was the masters project. Incredible. So much work. So much angst to find the topic then narrow it and have the topic approved. Once narrowed down, I sent out a survey to make sure it was a topic that made sense for museum professionals in the field. Through that survey, I uncovered that the donor's point of view was rarely part of the information gathered when an object was being considered for the collection. I therefore further researched and then wrote my project and called it "Honoring the Spirit of Donation: Documenting Donors' Perspectives in Collecting Museums". This was a fascinating story to me as it involved not only the documentation of the physical object but also the story behind why a donor thought an object was so important to them that it belonged in a museum. My product from this research - because we were not just supposed to talk about a challenge, but to provide an answer to it - was that I developed a form to facilitate a conversation with the donor at the time of donation. This simple step added a personal dimension to the value of the object, and brought in a way to share the authority of the object's documentation. (If you're interested in a template of the form, please send me an email that you can customize to your collection's needs.)

After graduation, I was able to get a work visa and worked in a few places in the Bay Area, including a children's toy museum and contract work for some small history museums. I also got back to the Oakland Museum of California, this time in the Education Department, where I was responsible for obtaining permissions for historical images that were to be used in their Gold Rush curriculum guides. Later on, I was the OMCA's Art Department registrar for exhibitions, which was an amazing experience that deserves its own blog post, it was just so cool: I managed logistics, I went to an artist's home, I oversaw couriers and of course organized the paperwork of the temporary exhibitions for the art department. It was a challenging role but it allowed me to use all the knowledge and skills I had gained throughout my museum experience and education. 

And so after a decade of working with / through visa requirements while balancing family needs, we made a decision that it was time to move back North. My museum journey in California was such a valuable and memorable experience that has stayed with me: I learned so much through my studies and my work in the rich museum environment in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was a time that shaped my career and continues to inspire me as I move forward . .  you might say it was a dream come true!

Well, I certainly kept my documents from California!
Daytimes, planners, portfolios and master's project.
Oh, and journals. Don't forget the journals. 

Coming Home . . . Part 1  

After my travels, it was time to come home to Edmonton, Alberta, and figure out my next steps in the museum working world. Of course wanted to find a paying job, and started by walking my resume around town and joining the provincial museum organization. I also continued on with the Air Force Reserve band on a part-time basis, both playing and researching the history of the band (see the article at the end of this post). I was open to volunteer work, and I found opportunities out there at a volunteer action centre. I gave my time to a community organization -- working bingos! -- and made two other commitments: one as a costumed interpreter at Fort Edmonton Park, and the other at the then-Provincial Museum of Alberta, the largest institution in town. 

The interpreter work was intriguing to me. I worked on 1885 Street, a 'pioneer' version of life on the prairies, and was given a costume to wear and a general script to work from. I could be in-character or not, as my job was to interpret life as it would / could have been in a farmhouse with a fire stove. I met visitors and worked on my cross-stitch, sometimes made bread or biscuits with another interpreter. It was a very interesting way to spend a few hours every week for the spring and summer months. (I do wish I had a photo of me from that time!)

My adventure at the Provincial Museum, however, was career-making. I remember wondering why I had to be interviewed - I was working for free, after all. It didn't really occur to me that they wanted ME to find my right fit as well. I went in, open to suggestions, but again, they wanted to hear from me and find out my interests and ensure I found the right spot, likely so I would keep coming back. I told them about my degree and my travels and my interests, which was primarily (at that time) around military history and why people serve. The museum's volunteer coordinator took everything into consideration and thought I might be a good fit for work 'behind the scenes' in collections, which I had never really thought of, or even knew much about. She set me up to connect with a collections person so I could be trained to work directly with the military history department. I didn't know it then, but this changed everything about what I wanted to do with my degree and also with my career. 

I was provided very solid training on how to inventory collections items, and walked through how to describe, measure and document objects. I don't quite recall how much time they took to train me but I do remember my first assignment: it was to fully document a soldier's kit box. It contained uniforms, medals, photographs, letters and other documents - a whole time of service. I remember his name as Johnathan Cave, and even confirmed it when I found my daytime from way-back-when, which said "Met Mr. Cave today!" (I know! I am my own best archivist and historian!)

I also applied for jobs throughout that year or so but it was through this volunteer work and training that I was offered a position to inventory a collection at a historic site. I was on a team of four people, and we learned together best practices, which have stayed with me to today (and were part of the creation of my most popular blog post,  An Inventory Project in a Small Museum). It even got a couple of pages in a scrapbook I put together a year or so later . . .

Doesn't look like much has changed in
museum storage, eh!

I will forever be indebted to the volunteer coordinator who took the time to talk with me about what I wanted out of my experience, and for the attention that the collections people made to show me carefully (and with confidence) how to document and handle objects in a museum setting. This experience truly made all the difference in what I thought I was capable of doing in museums . . . and how I would dedicate my working life to caring for collections. 💖

The Air Force Reserve article...

My Time at the Tower . . .

Cover of the souvenir booklet

As I continue on with my museum career journey, I come to the making-a-dream-come-true part: Living in London. I had always loved the city and had the opportunity to travel there a couple of times and really, really wanted to live there. So after I getting my undergraduate degree in history, I took it and my British passport (which I got through my father, who was born in Wales) and headed off to the place that captured my imagination so much history in just one place. I packed a HUGE bag - a hockey bag no less, how Canadian! - with a bunch of books, a stereo (!), my photo albums and some clothes in a suitcase . . . I was going to set myself up there and be part of the action!

My Welsh cousin met me at the airport. I do wonder what she thought of me and all my bags . . . and we took the underground subway (tube) to her place in east London. I arrived right around Guy Fawkes Day, and so there were fireworks and everything, I was so excited. I quickly got myself settled best I could and hit the pavement, looking for work.

I remember specifically going to the British Museum and the Imperial War Museum on my trek around town in my new and not-yet-broken-in pumps. Staff there were not overly-excited to see a young eager Canadian university graduate, I have to say! And, ya, as this was the time before easy internet (!!), it was tough to figure out where to look, who to talk to, how to get to work in a cultural organization. But I was not to be deterred! I went an employment agency of sorts and tried to understand the new place I was in. The positions listed there were more for odd-jobs and pubs, and I didn't come all that way to NOT work in a museum-like setting, so I decided to take more resumes to other places in person. My cousin was kind enough to put me up until I found a job, but time was pressing on . . . and that's when I got an interview and then awarded a seasonal position in the Tower of London gift shop!

for more awesome photos, check out here


Yeoman Warder

 

I was ecstatic. I would be taking the tube from Leytonstone to Tower Hill EVERYDAY, be a commuter in my big city. They also provided a uniform, which I later found out was a little bit too much like a school uniform, but that was okay - I would know what to wear. And it was a pretty intense schedule of 6 days on, 1 day off, with every fifth week a three-day break (not necessarily on a weekend, for sure). So I would be getting a LOT of experience working front-of-house at a World Heritage Site.

I learned a whole lot in my time there . . . we had rotating assignments in the main gift shop, a smaller one inside, a booth at the Crown Jewels as well as selling tickets at the front gate. Oh the stress of a balanced till at the end of the day! And all those postcards and sweets and little soldiers and souvenir books. And answering a whole lot of the same questions over and over again . . . . it is true that visitors ALL want to know where they can get a good cup of coffee, where to grab lunch and if there is a public loo anywhere nearby. Oh, and what of these heavy coins, help?! Oh and WHY is everything so expensive? Can they use this ID to get a 'deal'? Also to see the student groups from all over the world as well as the walking tours with a guide who would hold their umbrella up high so they could follow them easily. And what it was like when either or both groups would descend on the gift shop at the same time!

The entry to the Crown Jewels. Once I answered the phone on duty

when at my booth there and it was a person wanting to talk to someone at
his bank branch . . . but he didn't think he was calling THE Bank!

I really liked my co-workers. We were of two sorts - permanent, local East Enders with benefits and temporary, seasonal students and backpackers from places like Australia and Germany. And as mentioned in a previous post, the security and tour guides were Yeoman Warders, which was pretty cool (although I got in trouble with them a few times for accidentally kicking the alarm in the ticket booth. "CANADA! Stop swinging your feet!!" they would say...). I also got in the groove of having a bacon butty and tea on break, and having great conversations . . . made my own accent kind of funny, living with my Welsh cousin and working at the Tower. One visitor actually said to me, "What are you, Irish?!" It was truly an international experience, lol. 

One of the shopgirls was a daughter of a Yeoman Warder, whose family 
lived on the grounds. She invited me to stay overnight once and I
got to sleep in the amazing (but very spooky!) place!

One bonus I had not earlier considered was that being in England also gave me an opportunity to travel easily, and this job situation made it possible to earn money, go on adventure, and return back to work. With the intense full-time schedule, I have to say it was tough to get even just laundry done - work was all I did when I was there, with an odd one-day fun day if my day off landed on a weekend. And so a friend from home and I took trains for a couple of months and we saw almost all of the western countries in continental Europe. It was awesome. It also made me realize that I wanted to do some more travel . . .  maybe I had done all I needed to do in London - for now! - and so another friend and I planned a great return back to Canada via Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. What an experience that was! (I HIGHLY recommend doing something that can combine work and travel, especially when you're young!)

Venice!

Sydney!

While working as a shopgirl at the Tower was not exactly what I had dreamed for my first museum-y job, it was amazing all the same. The reality of it - and I am grateful to this day for it - is that I gained a deep appreciation for people who sell admission tickets, work in retail, help visitors navigate a good experience at cultural organizations. Some things you need to do yourself to really understand all that needs to go into making a good first impression, be the first good contact, at a place a visitor has invested the time and money to explore. It was my privilege to do so at the Tower of London, and I took this visitor-centred learning and understanding on with me on to my next work adventures.

What can I do with a History degree?

Waaaayyyy back in 2011, I wrote For the Love of History. I am almost surprised how much the post resonates with me still - it actually might be my favourite. I especially like this part:

Ever since I can remember, I have been obsessed with history. Or maybe a better way to say it is story - his story, her story, their story, your story, our story. I have always wanted to know all the details of how we live our lives, from where your family is from to if you love your community down to what you had for breakfast (and if you ate it with your kin, or if you just grabbed a cup of coffee — no sugar — as you ran out the door). I believe I get a true connection with others through these vignettes, and I understand people better, as I get to see life through someone else's eyes.

Oh, and how I still love history. And although when I was growing up, it might seem more obvious that I should have liked English class in order to find and share these stories, it was actually Social Studies / History that drew me in. I wanted to understand how people have experienced life around them, especially people in the past. Needing to know more about this lead me to pursue an undergraduate degree in (primarily) Canadian History.

Pragmatist that I was though, I wanted to figure out how to use this degree. I had not considered a a graduate degree yet because I was really eager to get out and travel as soon as I finished my studies. I also knew pretty early on - and I am not sure why - but I did not want to teach in schools. So I started to look for examples of where this degree could be useful. I thought maybe a historical researcher for a movie? I could see in credits that this could be a thing. Or maybe for a book? How could I get into that? I had gone to the Provincial Archives and used primary resources to write a paper on muskeg and homesteading in northern Alberta . . . I also heard that yes, an undergrad degree like this could be a stepping stone for later, maybe getting a law degree or even furthering it so I could get into the diplomatic corp and REALLY see the world. But alas nothing quite fit . . . until it dawned on me: museums and collections, and the stories they hold. What would it be like to use my degree and work in a place like that? As so, as the second part of the quote above reveals . . . 

My love for museums and collections care grew from this love of history because, for me, it is objects that bring a tangible reminder of what has gone before, and how people have related to events, as the stories associated with those objects brings meaning to their experiences.

I decided I would use my history degree to tell stories - and history - through things. I would use this skill to help learn about and understand the world and our experiences around us and (hopefully) provide some relatable, common ground to meet and share our lives. And so in 1990 (ah, showing my history now, for sure!) I decided would take my history degree and find me a museum to serve. The adventure had begun!

Some real-live textbooks I used all those years ago . . .

. . . and a bonus grad photo. Oh boi!

Memory Lane

As I begin to write the next chapter in my career, I have been thinking and researching how I should update documenting my skills, my resume, and my LinkedIn profile. I have completed a LinkedIn course, and am working with a coach. One idea that I am beginning to understand is there are different ways of expressing my work. For instance, a LinkedIn profile isn't a resume (which should be tailored to each application) and so documenting all experience - even the really early stuff - can count. Every moment is an opportunity to connect in unexpected ways, ways I may never have recognized previously. And so naturally, this got me musing once again . . .  how did I get here in my museum career journey? What is my story? How have I / how may I in the future connect with people? 

I started breaking down my story, going through my memories, thinking about adventures and even bringing out photographs (with all 'dem crazy hair dos / don'ts!). I do see how everything has built on the last experience to make me better, more prepared for the next career step. I am also beginning to understand, in hindsight, where I could have slowed down a little, and how I can still learn from those experiences. I am now taking the time to explore my privilege, uncover what I found out along the way, what took me to the next phase . . . This review is all very therapeutic for me right now, helping me see how everything changes. It may seem self-indulgent, but this realization is giving me an understanding that these transitions are what makes life interesting, and is how I learn and grow.

So, briefly put (ha!), my steps and stops along this road have included . . . 

 1.  What can I do with a History degree?
 2.  Canadian Forces Reserve adventure (in music!) There's No Life Like It
 3. (Tower of) London: Dream / Reality (My Time at the Tower)
 4.  Finding Home: Edmonton volunteer & work experience (Coming Home, Part 1)
 5.  California: Volunteering, Grad school, museum work (A California Dream)
 6.  Return to Canada: Heritage Officer at BC's Government House
 7.  Making Connections: Cultural Program Coordinator at a University
 8.  Museum Consultant: Work & Challenges
 9. Being an Archivist in a Library at a University in a National Historic Site
10. Senior Registrar at a large museum & Daring to Lead: Director of Collections at a large museum 

12. Lessons learned (so far!)

I will come back to this post and link to the above when I have written a 'chapter'.  I may also bunch/group posts - write a couple before I send out a link to my Twitter account @Owl_ (rather than flood my LinkedIn feed with this written therapy). 

A couple of caveats here: I have written about a few of these experiences already in this blogspace, and will be linking back to a couple of posts (and review all hyperlinks -- ouch, many don't work any more!). Also, these may be my memories, but I share them with a lot of people. If you are reading this and you recognize that you were there in that chapter with me, please jump into the comments below and add in what I may have missed. 

A laneway in Wales,
visited with my dad, mum and daughter in 2013

Blogs Galore Four

Sometimes . . .

. . . the Universe just knows what to say, lets you know you're not alone. Marlow Hoffman wrote a great post, Will Work for Food: Curatorial Position and Cake Preferred, for the Western Museums Association blog. It speaks about the challenges of finding employment in the museum sector. I hear you, Marlow, I hear you!

Museum Succession Planning / Planning for Museums to Succeed

So you're thinking about retiring after a career in museum work . . .

Congratulations! What a gorgeous amount of service you have given to museums for the past 35 + years. I bet you have had some great accomplishments and opportunities during the course of you career. How much I want to hear about all of them!

I truly hope you never worry that the next generation of museum workers aren't interested in what you have built over the years, and that there is no one ready to receive your baton. I assure you that it's likely there are actually more people wanting to work in museums than ever before, both from academia and through museum studies programs. Many people have been eager to join in your conversation way before this time of your retirement, but maybe have not had the chance due to limited hiring and/or just being the wrong place/age to land that permanent job to work alongside you.

And . . . I don't want to make any assumptions here, so please correct me if I'm wrong. I am thinking that although I bet it's exciting to retire, I'd imagine it's hard to get your coat and hat and walk away from what you have been doing for a lifetime. This must be especially true if you have spent most of your career in one institution. I literally can't imagine working at the same place for years and years (although I would like to!). Your job must have seen you through relationships, having and raising kids, buying houses; it must have been with you during all life's adventures, and must equal a big part of who you are. Through this, I know if I were you, I would want to know what will happen to my life's work when I am gone, and get assurance before I leave that it mattered. So I am here to say right now not only will your efforts and accomplishments not be forgotten, but I promise to take up the mantle of the solid foundation of work you laid upon your predecessors'. This is the reason I really want to know all about your experiences.

Here's the thing, though. For me to fully understand the work you have accomplished during your long and varied career, I need you to talk to me. A lot. Work with me, have lunch with me, and include me in the discussions and meetings on the projects you are working on now and in the immediate future.  Right now I want to 'pick your brain' not as a job vulture simply eager for you to move along, but as someone who wants to learn from you, really learn. I want to take in your wisdom and experience apply it to my current work, and note it should I ever be as lucky as you to be in the position you are in now.

I am not asking you to step aside, for I respect you too much to forget what you have contributed, and how you did so. I am asking that you let me walk with you, as a trusted equal, because I want our museum work to be cumulative, and complementary.  I also believe we are working toward the same goal: for museums to be successful, engaging, relevant institutions that tell the story of the past with respect to the present moment. Let's also work together to plan a fabulous future. Now can I buy you that cup of coffee . . . ?