I spent the last week working at the Oneida Nation Museum with my site partner Mary Wise. As a student specializing in archives – I was attracted to the practical experience, learning about a culture that I am not familiar with, and the chance to get out of the university setting and into a community. I expected to learn more about working in archives and museums, but I did not fully grasp the education I would get through daily interactions, community events, and collaboration. There have been so many amazing events and opportunities this week, but I would like to focus on our archives projects because they are putting so much of what I have learned in school into action.
In the Stacks! Getting our Hands on Photograph Collections
Under the supervision of Assistant Director Sara Summers-Luedtke, Mary and I are working on improving access to the museum’s photograph collection. We need to get the photographs put in order and make sure that they are findable. This is the main project and tests our organizational skills daily! We have other tasks like scanning photographs to create digital images, creating new records of photographs, and (my personal favorite) adding subject headings and search terms to existing records. All of these actions will make it easier for staff and the community to find photographs of people, places, and events in Oneida history. It is another chance for me to learn about Oneida stories. From photographs documenting the lives of Oneida students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, to Miss Oneida Pageant photos from the 1980’s, to current day Pow Wows, many moments in Oneida history are represented from painful to joyful.
Archives Outreach
Another project we hope to accomplish this week is to assist the Museum Educator, Jake Metoxen, in creating ways for the community to engage with the photograph collection through social media. The museum has a very active Facebook page already. We hope to add an album of photos in the collection that need to be identified. People in the community will be able to comment on each photo with much needed details about names of people, places, and dates. We also hope to develop an album of “Then and Now” pictures – images of buildings and locations in the past juxtaposed with the current day image. These ideas came about after Jake happened to recognize the name of his great grandfather as I was digitizing some old photographs. He looked through the folder and saw pictures of his relatives that he had never seen before, and took pictures back to his family. This powerful feeling of discovering your family history in the archives is something that I have experienced as well, and I hope we can bring this feeling to the community in a small way by reaching out with social media. It will be a great chance to just get people interested in the museum and collections.
Last Thoughts
In closing, I could not have found a better opportunity than working at the Oneida Museum and learning from such passionate supervisors and coworkers. The values, size, and goals of this museum are exactly what I am seeking in a future career. Thank you to everyone at the museum for being so welcoming! I know that this experience is making me a better archivist and lifelong learner.
I would also like to extend my sympathy to the Oneida community – we learned that Maria Hinton, a respected community member and Oneida language teacher passed away at the age of 103. I have felt grateful to learn a little bit about her life, you can read more about Maria Hinton in the Oneida newspaper Kalihwisaks. Find out more about Oneida history, culture, and events on their website: http://www.oneidanation.org/.
-Lotus Norton-Wisla