Throughout my semester of working with the May Weber collection I have been able to broaden my understanding of museum studies and engage in particular tasks that are not only incredibly time consuming and difficult, but in general just really fun. Most of my efforts were spent archiving what seemed to be an interminable array of papers and photographs. My first thought when beginning to archive was, “What is the point of keeping all these papers?”. But eventually it dawned on me that I was able to take a glimpse into the amazing life that May Weber had. From looking at the beautiful photographs of places she had visited all around the world, to extravagant restaurant receipts, you can see that her life was the antithesis of ordinary. It was really exciting to be able to sort through her past and learn from her in a way that I didn’t know was possible.

Aside from archiving, I also briefly dabbled in the art of cataloguing and rehousing a few pieces within the collection. One was a West African wooden mask. It was designed with simple carvings and was completely painted in black pigment. The other, more elaborate artifact that I catalogued was a storyboard from Papua New Guinea. This piece was also made out of wood but it depicted these intricate engravings that are meant to tell a particular story, unique to the tribe in which it was made. I attempted to rehouse three shadow puppets, but after about two hours of constant cutting and measuring I called it quits. I soon realized that archiving was my much preferred task when working with the collection.

Although I specialized in a particular study, working with the May Weber collection offers a wide variety of tasks that each have their own unique appeal. I have now opened my mind  to the possibility of pursuing museum studies in the future because this experience has been so enriching over this past semester.