Twin sisters Jasmine and Morgan volunteered to help work with the collection and move this summer. Part of their assignment was to write a "What I did for summer vacation" report. They were enthusiastic, but have not decided to change their career plans. Morgan plans to be a Chef when she grows up and Jasmine plans to be a Veterinarian.
Hi, my name is Jasmine, and this summer my sister and I volunteered at R.J Haney Heritage Village. We did a whole lot of things over our time there; shelving old artifacts, vacuuming books, and writing down catalogue numbers of magazines and books. One of my favorite tasks was reading writing down the catalogue numbers for ‘The Modern Priscilla’ magazines. Looking at old magazines gives you a glimpse of what they did for fun in the past, instead of watching TV or playing electronic games. When I wasn’t sorting magazines I was looking at chicken prizes, vacuuming dusty, old books, and desperately trying to avoid spiders in cardboard boxes.
I painted some boards, but part of my effort was scraped off because I was a little too enthusiastic and painted over the sides. My sister Morgan re-did that board and all the others, with help from Grandma. So, instead, I went back to cataloging the Priscilla magazines. I loved to see the back covers of them, because there was always an ad telling you to ‘buy this’ or ‘buy that’. The old Sun Maid ads were especially fun to read, because they so dramatically re-enact how it felt to sink your teeth into one of their raisins.
I also looked through and sorted old chicken prizes won by a fellow townsperson back in the day. Me and Mo took down all the binders and cookbooks from the Archives room and took them down to the Montebello Building. After we’d finished, I cleaned the dust off the top and middle shelves. A volunteer named Lise did the bottom unit. In conclusion, I believe I’ve learned a lot about how life was in the past, and how to work in the Archives of a Museum. Have a nice day!
Jasmine
My name is Morgan, and I volunteered with my sister and our Mom at R.J. Haney Heritage Park this summer. We wanted to help Grandma at her job as the Curator and Archivist. It was a great learning experience, seeing all the old artifacts, most of them near or over 100 years old! I did a ton of things at the museum. One of the things that I liked doing was looking through chicken magazines! I found it kind of weird that there would be so many magazines about chickens.
I also had to vacuum dust from the old encyclopedias. Sometimes I would look through the encyclopedias and read what was in them. While I was there I painted boards, and it wasn’t very exciting, but it was work and it had to get done. I helped shelve books, sort records, and put stuff in boxes. It was fun to hang out and look at old artifacts!
My sister and I would take turns going to the Museum with our Mom. Our Granny also volunteers there. We met and worked with the other volunteers and we really liked going for lunch at the Tea Room. We both enjoyed the desserts especially. One time another volunteer gave us a Mentos, and most afternoons Lise shared her Werther’s. Ted liked to ask both of us if we were “the good-looking one”. That’s a twin joke.
One thing I didn’t like was the fact that almost everything was dusty. By the time I had to go home, my mouth would be dry from all that dust.
But I liked volunteering at Haney Village. It’s cool to see how things were in the past, and how different things are right now. What will the future be like, I wonder.
Morgan