Monday, October 6, 2008 Among the artifacts from the African American Museum were two mats woven by George Washington Carver. The mat pictured was cleaned in about 15 hours by myself using saliva and swabs. I began work on the other but it was so fragile and brittle that I decided to send it toContinue reading “George Washington Carver Woven Mat Cleaned”
Category Archives: African American Museum of Iowa
Training Under Helen Alten Continues
Thursday, September 17, 2008 Waking up in our dorm rooms, we went to work nearly immediately, as the lab was only fifty feet away. Caitlin and I began tackling the “George Washington Carver clay mess.” Clay had absorbed water in the flood, slid out of its storage jar and resealed itself, becoming moldy. We neededContinue reading “Training Under Helen Alten Continues”
Training Under Helen Alten
Wednesday, September 17, 2008 After the pretty drive over to Illinois, Caitlin and I unpacked the car–a load of baskets, the clay from George Washington Carver, some metal objects, a few gourds and some supplies Helen had recommended we bring. Although it was almost dinner time, Helen thought we should dive into some training, and thenContinue reading “Training Under Helen Alten”
Conservator Helen Alten Visit
Sunday, September 14, 2008 Helen Alten is teaching at the Campbell Center, Mt. Carroll, Illinois, http://www.campbellcenter.org this week and graciously agreed to stop in for a visit to assist with some of the African American Museum of Iowa objects. To our surprise she offered to train Beth Stone and Caitlin Moore on how to clean baskets,Continue reading “Conservator Helen Alten Visit”
David Muhlena Visits
Monday, July 28, 2008 One of the benefits of having a local institution like the University of Iowa help with flood recovery is the access we have to the curators of the museums. If these museums had to send their collections to one of the regional centers they would be much less involved in theContinue reading “David Muhlena Visits”
Cleaning CDs and DVDs
Friday, July 25, 2008 The DVDs and CDs from the African-American Museum are still caked with dirt. Most had been in plastic cases, and so Bill and I pitched the covers and dry wiped these. There was a stack, however, that were only in paper sleeves, and so in worse condition. Nervous about putting theContinue reading “Cleaning CDs and DVDs”
Czech LPs Debut
Thursday, July 24, 2008 The highlight of the day was listening to three Czech LPs that we had salvaged. The covers are wrinkled, tattered, stained, and still have a distinct odor about them. The records have a slight “scent” to them, too, probably from the paper label. CR Gazette Reporter, Alicia Ebaugh , made aContinue reading “Czech LPs Debut”
How to Restore LPs, DVDs, CDs Video Debuts
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 The Gazette was really fast in getting this video posted. It looks pretty good. Bill Voss and Elizabeth Stone did a great job demonstrating how to clean the discs. http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080723/NEWS/695592191/1002/NEWS We continue to make progress on flood recovery efforts. Bryan Stusse has about 1/2 of the Czech LPs inventory completed. Kristin hasContinue reading “How to Restore LPs, DVDs, CDs Video Debuts”
African American Museum of Iowa Update
Friday, July 11, 2008 I worked at home to get a little quality time and be a little more focused. Started with breakfast on the deck, caught sight of a humming bird checking out the red salvia, and then segued into working on my email on the deck. Very relaxing. I met with the AfricanContinue reading “African American Museum of Iowa Update”
Disaster Response Summarized
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 I continued to provide the disaster recovery coordination, coming home every night exhausted. The staff at each site — Czech/Slovak Museum & Library and the African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa — were phenomenal. They kept their cool. They followed all the disaster response steps — assess beforeContinue reading “Disaster Response Summarized”