Lovell-Kane Museum upgrades archiving system

https://www.lovellchronicle.com/content/lovell-kane-museum-upgrades-archiving-system

By: David Peck

The Lovell-Kane Area Museum took steps recently to upgrade and modernize their archiving and display methods, hosting a visit by Linda Sampson, a project archivist with the Roving Archivist Program of the Wyoming State Archives Department on August 28.

Museum board president Karen Spragg said the museum has needed a better inventory system for archiving collections, and Sampson paid a visit to help with the upgrade.

“When we get a donation or a loan, we fill out paperwork and it’s coded, and we need to get that in the computer on a spreadsheet,” Spragg said. “She was helping us be more efficient with it. And we don’t have anything in the computer. It’s all paper copy right now. She set up a whole spreadsheet.”

Spragg said Sampson also helped the museum board standardize display cards so they all look the same. The board had purchased a program for display, but it wasn’t user friendly and would freeze.

“She set up a whole program for us to design our labels and put on each (museum item),” Spragg said.

Added board member Bee May, “It is good to just have somebody professional come and tell you what other museums do and give you ideas. That’s kind of the other reason we wanted her to come. On the whole she was impressed with what we do.”

“Yes, she was impressed with what we’ve put together,” Spragg agreed. “She was really reassuring us that we were doing the right thing. We just need to get more detailed and organized.

“Each item in here will have its own code, so that, if you pick that item up and look at that code, you will automatically know (where it came from).”

May added that the archiving system will help the museum operate for years to come as board members change.

“So the idea is that, you know, obviously not one person has got all the information, but if all of us get run over by a bus, as we say in England, then somebody can take the reins easily,” May said. “You know, you could walk in and go, “Right, this is this, you know.”

Sometimes visitors will want to know which items a family member donated or loaned to the museum, and the archiving system will provide instant information. It also protects the museum in case there is doubt whether an item was donated or just loaned, May and Spragg said. Photographs of each item will also be taken for documentation purposes.

Spragg and May said State Archives can also loan the museum a scanner that can better scan old books without breaking the spine. The museum can borrow the equipment for up to three months, they added.

“She (Sampson) also advised us that they’ve got a lot of stuff in Cheyenne that we can borrow and have access to, including a people resource down there,” May said. “There’s other stuff we can borrow that we didn’t know about, which is useful, you know? I think they’re really keen to keep little places like this going.”

Trip to Cheyenne

In March, the museum received a Lola Homsher Endowment Fund research grant of $1,500 that will allow museum board members to travel to Cheyenne on Monday to perform on site research at the State Archives. The grant pays for motel rooms, meals, fuel and other research expenses. Spragg, May and board member Angie Hutzenbiler plan to attend, with room for one more.

The board is creating a list of topics to research such as sheep herding in the area (based on a question from a museum visitor) and/or the oil and gas and uranium businesses in the region, or, as May put it, “maybe just generally finding out more about what we already kind of know a bit about.”

Spragg said the Lovell travelers will seek information on historic former schools in places like Hillsboro, Crooked Creek, Crystal Creek and others, and they’ll look for photos of places the museum doesn’t currently possess.

“We’ll just divide our list up and work all day (on Tuesday),” Spragg said.

“Plus, we think it’s a good networking opportunity to meet the people down there that might help us in the future, too,” May added.

After the trip to Cheyenne, the museum board will look forward to an ice cream social and read event on Saturday, Sept. 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the museum.

“It’s like a sip and read,” Spragg said, and joked May, “A lick and read.”