An Awesome and Productive Thursday!

Hello Everyone!  Liz and I (and our Board Members) have been working hard cataloging the collection and developing policies and procedures!  Everything seems to be coming together and we've had such a productive day, I thought we'd share it with you!

This morning we finalized our volunteer program! We are looking for volunteers in all aspects of museum work.  If you are interested in volunteering for us please email us at daaha.inc@gmail.com or call us at 815-756-8737.  All volunteers must be willing to submit to a background check.

In exhibits news, I've been brainstorming all morning on a new DeKalb Ag exhibit, highlighting the history and the major accomplishments of the company in celebration of the 100th year of the DeKalb Brand.  I also ordered materials for our new children's exhibit, SPROUTS, this afternoon.  I cannot wait for all of you to see it and I will blog about it soon.  We are  also looking to do exhibits on major agricultural innovations developed right here in northern Illinois including the Marsh Harvester, the John Deere plow, the McCormick Reaper, and Barbed Wire.

We've calculated that Liz is approximately two to three weeks away from completing the object inventory of our Original Collection.  (YEAH LIZ!!)  From there she will move onto cataloging our paper documents.

Looking around, its hard to believe Liz and I have only been here for about three months!  We've turned this place upside down! But we can't wait to get it back in shape and ready for our new exhibits!  We'll keep you all posted!

Jenn

COLLECTIONS CORNER:: Embosser

The featured artifact for this month is an embosser.  Embossing is a technique of creating an impression of some kind of design, lettering, or pattern on another surface like paper, cloth, or metal to make a relief. Embossing can be used for aesthetic purposes or, as in this case,  functionally. 

This Corporate Seal Embosser was used by the DeKalb Ag Research Incorporation of Delaware in 1938.  This is an important piece of the company’s history because the DeKalb Agricultural Association, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware during this year.  An employee would have used the embosser to mark legal papers to certify or cause to become certified through a notary public or bill. 

COLLECTIONS CORNER:: Organizing the Collection

     Since beginning in mid-August, one of my biggest tasks has been to re-organize and re-store the object and archival collections.  The picture on the right shows how the storage area in DAAHA looked before I began on this project.  This is only one out of five shelves in the storage area, which has boxes stacked all the way to the top.  Most of the boxes are filled with documents pertaining to the DeKalb Agricultural Association, but what was a surprise to me was the collection of objects housed in these boxes as well.  The first step to take was to determine if the objects or the documents were more important than the other.  With help from the DAAHA Board members, cataloging and rehousing the objects became the top priority.  By knowing what types of objects DAAHA has I will be able to establish what needs to be collected in the future to expand our collection.

     Many interesting objects have been found so far – from a modern day corn hook to an embosser used by the DeKalb AgResearch department in the late 1930s.  We even have numerous DeKalb jackets and shirts. Though I am only halfway through the process of cataloging the objects originally given to DAAHA in 2005, I have documented over 260 artifacts, most pertaining to the DeKalb Company, and I still have many more to go through.  Not only do I have the original collection to record, but also I have over twenty donations consisting of multiple objects in each donation from generous DAAHA supporters that I need to examine and arrange within the existing collection.

     While I catalog the objects, I also work on storing these items in an appropriate manner to preserve for future generations.  When I began, boxes held both documents and objects.  This should not be done because either the object or document could be damaged if left inappropriately stored for a long period of time.  In addition, some of the boxes contained many objects, which caused the container to become too heavy and damaged the box and storage material.  As an example, in the above left picture,  you can see the jackets were not hung in a correct manner.  Thus, I had to find a solution and institute a new way to store the collection.  The picture on the right demonstrates the new system I am following, which is a standard for museums.  Each box contains a certain amount of objects that can fit properly within and will not harm each other from deterioration or damage.  Once the box is filled, I place it on a temporary shelf in the storage area since that space will be reorganized once I finished cataloging everything.

     We have had to rearrange many things around the museum that it almost appears as a tornado has hit DAAHA.  One thing that has been taking up a lot of space in our work area, is the sorting of archival material that our curator/educator has been working on.  Though it looks like a cluttered mess in the picture on the left, Jenn is separating each document so she can determine if documents are new, similar to each other, or duplicates of those documents already in our collection.  Jenn needs to spread the documents out on the tables to get a good look at everything as well as to determine its condition. After her assessment, documents are placed in appropriate folders and each new folder is placed in an archival box so that when it comes time to catalog the archival collection everything will be in order and easier to go through.  

     I hope that in a month from now, I will have a new update for you on this project and that the storage and exhibit space of the museum will be coming together in a cleaner manner.

So you can dance your Ph.D., Huh?

According to it's website, "That's the idea behind "Dance Your Ph.D." Over the past 3 years, scientists from around the world have teamed up to create dance videos based on their graduate research. This year's contest, launched in June by Science, received 45 brave submissions."

Someone even danced their Ph.D. on MODERN AGRICULTURE! Check it out!

http://vimeo.com/19758906

COLLECTIONS CORNER:: The Corn Husker

We were originally going to begin this feature in September.  We know it's not September yet, but we're so excited about our new feature we wanted to post early!  Our Collections Corner blog posts will feature a unique item from our collection every month.  Thanks to our intern Liz Horoszko for our September Collections Corner post!

Many people take technological advances for granted, especially farm equipment.  What many people do not know, is that many of our recent ancestors worked hard in the fields with their hands and farmed for their own subsistence as well as for cash crops.  In the late 1890s, a farmer would work 75-90 hours a week, hand planting corn using a walking plow and harrow in order to produce  just 2 ½ acres of corn. Come harvest time, farmers would have to harvest by hand, using a corn hook.

The featured artifact for this month is a modern-day corn hook.  Although this hook likely dates the 1970s or 1980s, it is very much the same construction as a historic corn hook.

The original corn hook, also known as a corn husker, was invented by W.F. Lillie in the 1890s. The hook, comprised of a metal point that looks like a church-key can-opener attached to a leather strap, was strapped onto the right hand. The metal point was used to penetrate the husk top and remove it.  When the hook was used, the best of corn shuckers could shuck 100 bushels a day! However, harvesting by hand meant farmers would work from late fall to early spring. To make the work more fun during harvest time, people would throw corn husking parties, where both men and women were involved. By the mid-1890s, other inventors were applying for  patents to create corn picking machines, which would assist farmers in producing more acres of corn and would reduce the amount of physical labor.

Today, the corn husker has been replaced by the combine equipped with a grain platform specialized for corn. The head of the platform has snap rolls that strip the stalk and leaf away from the ear, so that only the ear (and husk) enter the combine.  Farmers can now harvest up to 2,000 bushels a day, saving themselves time, money, and labor.

INTERNSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT

INTERNSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT

Internship Type:  General Internship

Supervisor:  Jennifer Abplanalp, Curator and Educator

About DAAHA:  DAAHA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich agricultural history of northern Illinois.  Our collection contains memorabilia, photographs, advertisements, and other documents from the DeKalb Agricultural Association.  We are looking to expand our collection to include items related to agriculture in general, including, but not limited to, pre-machinery farming tools, photographs, correspondence and personal yield records.  We are located in the Nehring Gallery at 111 S. 2^nd Street in Historic Downtown DeKalb.  For more information please visit dekalbaaha.blogspot.com.

Objective: Interns will gain an understanding of day-to-day museum operations, collections processing, collections management, and exhibit planning through hands on activities.

Responsibilities: Interns will assist with the following: cataloging and imaging of objects and documents; exhibit planning, development, and design; the development of collections based educational programs for all ages; and entering data into Past Perfect. Additional duties may be assigned as time allows.

Qualifications:  The candidate must be an undergraduate or graduate college student and be pursuing a career in Museum Studies, Historical Administration, Archives, History, Anthropology, or a related topic. The candidate must have completed their freshman year of college. This an internship for class credit and preference will be given to those who need an internship to complete their coursework.  The successful candidate will be self-motivated, innovative, creative, have strong organization skills, and have an interest in agriculture.

Time Commitment:  Candidates should be available 10-12 hours per week, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m..  These hours are negotiable based on the students schedule and the availability of staff.

Final Product: Interns will conduct an independent project of their choosing for the completion of their internship.  This project should be based on requirements for their school program.  Projects may consist of developing an exhibit or educational program, organization and cataloging of a collection, a research project, etc. and must be approved by the Supervisor.  The final product will remain the property of DAAHA.

Interns will be required to evaluate their performance as well as DAAHA’s throughout the internship.

How to Apply:  Please send a completed application form, a one page personal statement describing your reasons for seeking an internship with DAAHA, and a copy of your CV or resume to the attention of Jennifer Abplanalp at daaha.inc@gmail.com.  Please email us for an application form.

DAAHA's New Logo

We'd like to thank Alex Bauer for our new DAAHA logo!

Alex's design was chosen among the 15 entries we received for our Logo Contest.  We'd like to thank all who participated.

Alex is a Sycamore native, attending school for graphic design.  Alex received a $250.00 prize courtesy of Waterman Winery and Vineyards, in Waterman, Illinois.

Congrats, Alex!