Kid in a Candy Shop

I have had a very "Willie Wanka-ish" experience over the past couple of days. Or maybe better termed "Kid in a Candy Shop." Call it what you want, it has been amazing.....in a nerdy way of course. I have been stressed with getting exhibits together and getting things looking professional before the premier of our new exhibit on Friday night. There has been a lot of design, altering, stapling gluing, and pulling together projects in a matter of minutes. I have to say that all of our hands on stuff looks amazing and I can't wait to let people experience working with projectile points over 8,000 years old. What has been so amazing though is going through all the pictures and artifacts that the museum has collected over the past 60 or so years. Everything from full pots, human remains, and ceremonial weapons to projectile points showing evidence of use, pictures of the original excavation, and pottery that looks like it was made yesterday. Trying to decide what needs to be brought back into the public view, what can't be brought back in public view, and what we have that needs to go untouched to preserve them (we walk a fine line). I have seen so many amazing things over the past couple of weeks that it really makes me remember why it is that I do like archaeology and explaining things to people helps me realize the amount of knowledge that I have gained along the way. I have had some experiences with children in the archaeology lab recently and being able to engage and excite them on archaeology and past cultures really makes me feel accomplished. It has been a great couple of weeks and a great experience and I look forward to sharing more as it happens.

This is what it is like to be a museum GA.