Melissa A

an aspiring museums professional, museum tech at NARA

[Melissa A @msanolick]

actual picture of me trying to track down a donor to verify the authenticity of an object in our collection

[Melissa A @msanolick]

Second year in a row spending my birthday with @SUEtheTrex! 25, 68 million, what’s the difference?

[Melissa A @msanolick]

And I am so so thankful that I have found a career path that tasks which will one day be common place make me so excited

[Melissa A @msanolick]

I just accessioned objects for the first time and I’m kind of on a high feeling like I’m really doing something with my career!!!!!! I truly feel euphoric!!!!

[Melissa A @msanolick]

subject in the email to my boss: the Return of the Mud Wasp

[Melissa A @msanolick]

worst part of the day: finding a mud wasp nest inside a lamp that is impossible to clean (I’ve tried) because it’s wired down to prevent theft

Circled is the nest and the wasp.

Monday is gonna be fun!

[Melissa A @msanolick]

@sab_svp I really appreciated it! I thought it was so sweet!

[Melissa A @msanolick]

highlight of my day: the visitor who saw me sweeping and thanked me for my work since so many other historic sites are dirty and mine isn’t

[Melissa A @msanolick]

my internal monologue as I dust the birth place cottage: don’t sneeze on the collection don’t sneeze on the collection don’t sneeze on the col

[Melissa A @msanolick]

So today I was looking for bowling alley wax for when we clean our outdoor sculpture tomorrow. I found the bowling alley wax.

And also a preserved snake in a jar.

Finding one of these made me jump. I’m sure you can’t guess which one.

[Melissa A @msanolick]

Another day, another scroll through the Iowa 1870 census trying to find a connection between the donor of an object and the Hoover family

[Melissa A @msanolick]

life living on at a national park

[Melissa A @msanolick]

WELL I got my win for the day, I found a missing object!

Granted the object was a book that was sitting on a desk with other books so I’m not sure if it was really “missing” and instead “not noticed”

But I’m calling it a win

[Melissa A @msanolick]

NPS employee privilege: behind the scenes tour of the collections at the Lincoln Home (a HUGE thanks to Susan, the curator for showing us HEHO folks around)

[Melissa A @msanolick]

What an incredible idea! Nobody knows a museum the way security guards know the museum. I hope I’ll be able to check it out.

https://t.co/tTqpCrIYIe

[Melissa A @msanolick]

@sab_svp @GLAMDataCarol me: hey we have books that are cataloged as structures
my boss: well that’s weird you should fix it

And I guess there’s no story behind it!

[Melissa A @msanolick]

just discovered that many of the books in our database are, for some truly bizarre and unknown reason, cataloged as Built Environment Artifacts & Structures

[Melissa A @msanolick]

@GLAMDataCarol I doubt it! Every other book in the system is listed as being Communication Artifacts except for 8 that inexplicably are cataloged as structures, especially cause none of the books are about buildings!

[Melissa A @msanolick]

Is this collections research or training to become a private investigator? you decide.

[Melissa A @msanolick]

I still cannot find the donor of this object but I did find his phone number from 1977