It's been a busy couple of weeks. I've been meeting with lots of community members and identifying and dating photographs. I've also been pulling together pictures and captions for when I travel to the communities of Nain, Natuashish and Cartwright later in the month and in March. I have been updating Them Days' social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with weekly photos for #MysteryMonday/#MilitaryMonday, #WhereIsItWednesday and #FlashbackFriday. We have been getting some response through social media which is great! The more photos identified the better.
I am currently going through our miscellaneous section and deleting the duplicate photos which belong in other sections of our photograph collection. The collection is broken up into regions of Labrador which have been given letters of the alphabet. It is funny how almost everything in an archives is more complicated than it initially sounds. Deleting a few files for example can take up most of a morning. We had a computer program scan the 22000+ photos and find duplicate files. I am going through the duplicate photos and deleting the second copy. Once I delete this copy I must also delete the entry from our electronic database and remove the card from our old school filing system. Then I have to go in the back room and physically remove the duplicate negative and refile the negative in the correct region of Labrador. So while I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday "deleting files" I was doing a little more than pressing a button.
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| #ArchivesShelfieDay, Aimee's hair leg sealskin boots, Amy and Linda at the Town Hall. |
This week we celebrated Heritage Day on Monday. We took a trip to the town hall where the mayor signed a proclamation to celebrate Heritage Day in the community. We also shared photos on social media for #ArchivesShelfieDay. I enjoy that while the archival work at the office can be tedious at times we also have a lot of fun working together!
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| Heritage Proclamation for Heritage Day. Photo from the town council. |
On Thursday Aimee and I went to the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador's (
MANL) workshop on preserving and displaying textiles. In the morning we learned about the fibers that make up textiles and the environmental and physical threats to museum and archival collections such as light, humidity, temperature, physical stress, etc. In the afternoon we had hands on activities where we practiced how to correctly roll textiles for storage and how to sew labels onto textiles without damaging the artifact. It was a great way to spend the day and will come in handy when storing and displays textiles in museums, archives, and in the home.
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| Sarah Wade demonstrating how to roll a textile for storage. |
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| Participants trying their hand at rolling textiles. |
There has been lots on the go around town. A couple a weeks back my roommate Martina who is an engineering student here on a work term was asked to host the open mic night at Grafter's uptown in Goose Bay. A group of residence students went to listen to her and another student Greg sing the night away. They have beautiful voices and sing really well together.
For pancake day CBC's
Labrador Morning hosted a huge pancake breakfast in the college gym and the proceeds went to support homeless shelters. It was a packed event with everyone from babies to seniors enjoying pancakes. Another event I've been attending is the Tamarack Camera Club's bi-weekly meeting. There are presentations about photography styles, and techniques, and discussions of cameras, developing film, and using photo editing software. We are doing a project in the club where all the members are making folios of their photographs. The folios have 10-12 printed pictures in a folder and the folio follows a certain theme. It is hard to narrow down the pictures and decide on the theme but the supplies for the folios where brought to the last meeting so I'll have to get in gear and finish choosing and editing pictures.
It seems like the time is flying by and I'll be back in St. John's before long. I'm sure I'll miss Goose Bay and Labrador but I'm sure I'll be back - hopefully next time to see the big land in the summertime.
