Lessons I Learned Working in a Museum

It was a summer of hours spent scanning photo negatives, directing visitors towards the famous haunted doll, and trying to figure out how to relate to “the youths” on social media. This August, as my work term at my town’s community heritage museum came to an end, it was time to reflect on all of the things I learned:

Don’t judge an artifact by its glamour.

If you ask me to show you my favourite artifacts, some of them are pretty exciting; shrapnel that was removed from a WW2 soldier a decade after it hit him, the inaugural turban of the first Sikh RCMP officer to wear one as part of his uniform. The one that surprises people the most? The plain, off-white porcelain tub that nearly everyone passes without a glance. 

 

The bathtub in question had belonged in a local bank, open to the public since adequate water heating was hard to come by, and it sometimes became so popular that a schedule would be drawn up for the day! Most people breeze right by it, missing out on a genuinely fun fact.

 

Some things might be nice to look at, but some of the most innocuous things have the coolest history.

Sunshine is a necessity.

Summertime is for crop tops and days by the lake! Unless you work in a museum or any cold and dark building. In that case, summer is for sweaters and days in the dark. 

 

My job made me realize how important it is to take breaks, get a change of scenery, and appreciate how soothing the fresh air can be. When we’re working, we need to remember that we aren’t machines! We need breaks, and we need to feel the light of the day.

Not much has actually changed.

There was an era on the internet, not too long ago, where a saying was popularized: “I was born in the wrong century”.

 

After spending hours flipping through newspapers from the past several decades, engrossed in the drama exploding between different anonymous writers of letters to the editor, it occurred to me that nothing really changes. People argued in print media the way they do on Twitter, the stories in articles then are the same as they are now. Also, there was no hot water a century ago in my town, so… I’ll stick to 2019.

Youth in local heritage organizations – we need them!

If there’s one thing I saw that was missing this summer was a lack of engagement from young people in heritage. I totally get it, too! Sometimes the atmosphere and the language of museums can make it difficult to connect with or seem inaccessible. That can all change, and heritage workers want to change it. 

 

Next time you visit your local museum or heritage site, leave a comment in their comment box or on their guest book with the things you liked and what you want to see change. If you have the time, ask about how you can get involved. Small museums especially need volunteers to help them run the museum and fundraise to keep it going. 

So, I learned a few things that don’t really have so much to do with museums, and I hope they can be meaningful to you the way that they are to me!