The Internship: The RCR Museum

First, I must apologise for the delay in creating this next posting.  Not only was starting a new job and Christmas a distraction, but there was some procrastination due to the complexity that this subject would involve.  My internship under a great mentor, the director and curator of The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum involved such a wide range of activities that my abilities of succinctness will be stretched to the limit (not only that, but my memory, also) to cover everything I did in my short, but productive time there.

Wolseley Barracks - London ON

I did not actually realise it at the time of my arrival in London ON, but Wolseley Barracks was practically across the road from my first childhood home on Gammage Street and I could easily walk over there on my lunch breaks.  I was given my own office, adjacent to the curator's.  My office included the computer, the only air conditioner in the offices, and the only printer and scanner.

The desk in my office with at least 3 separate projects visible (I could have included a photo of me sitting at the desk, but I think we've all seen enough of me here already.)

Included in my ongoing projects was creating an individual exhibit file for each exhibit space in the gallery.  To do this, I photographed each exhibit, created a catalogue list of each artefact, made up a number with the matte cutter to put in each case, and made up a folder for each one to go in the archives.  Some of the photos I took and photoshopped are used on the museum's website to this day.

The archival folders and the matte cutter

Another project I was given right from the start was to go through a pile of old biographical files that were recently sent down from the Dept. of National Defence.  I was to create an individual folder for each person and assign it an archival file number and enter each one into the computer database.
At the beginning of the internernship I was allowed to create my own display that would be a part of a larger RCR temporary external exhibit at the converted pump house building at a park downtown.  Since I was already assigned a large collection to accession, that of the CO of the barracks during WWII who was also in WWI as a soldier, I took his helmet and field cap and centred the exhibit around those two artefacts.  This exhibit can be seen in a previous entry on this site.

Along with various other side projects and tasks I was asked to perform, my other main project was writing and external and internal survey for the museum.  Along with composing the surveys I had the internal ones set up on a table in the museum lobby with instructions for the attendants for receiving them and for the external surveys, I personally visited shopping malls and walked the streets of downtown London asking people to fill them out.  Finally, when I had the required sample number of surveys filled a wrote up an analysis of the results and bound them in a fancy coil booklet.

A couple of these side projects I was asked to carry out was finding a place to have a security camera repaired and get an estimate.  For this, I had to take the camera there in person, finding the business in a city that was still a bit strange to me.  I was also asked to find someone who would be able to convert a commemorative RCR LP record to mp3 format.  Calling all the local radio stations, I was able to find someone in a nearby town that would do it for us.  On a memorably hot southern Ontario day with my mapquest printout I drove out there and sat in this man's computer room office in his house while he labouriously ran through the record on his computer.

What I saw when I looked up

After my internship ended, I continued to work there as a volunteer and assisted in a Remembrance Day external exhibit.  One of the things I'll remember the most is special things apart from my actual work.  For example, the museum board chairman, a retired general told me that he remembered my grandfather, who I must brag was commandant of the barracks at one point, but also said he was a great man.  I could only agree, but was beyond proud when he said this to me.  I'll also always remember how kindly the museum curator treated me, inviting me to his house a few times for dinner and watching movies.  Even more, he took me out to lunch when we were out around the city for various reasons.  I really was proud to carry out every task and project and assist the curator wherever I could.  I believed this work and with the mentorship of the curator of The RCR Museum, I would be well set on the road to my museum career.