Employee Newsletter June 2021

I N D I A N A S TAT E M U S E U M A N D H I S T O R I C S I T E S

CROSSROADS EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER JUNE 2021

C ELEBRATIN G 2 0 YE A RS of Experiences, Memories TRACI CROMWELL Current title: Director of Collections Title when hired: Part-time Intermittent

DAMON LOWE Current title: Senior Curator of Science and Technology and Curator of Biology Title when hired: Environmental Scriptwriter

In June and July, five of our coworkers – Traci Cromwell, Peggy Fisherkeller, Damon Lowe, Elizabeth Scott and Katherine Gould – are celebrating their 20-year anniversaries with the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites. A lot of things have changed during their 20 years – the Indiana State Museum moved locations, galleries have changed, multiple exhibits have come and gone, the collection continues to grow and more. So, to celebrate this milestone, we asked them a few questions about their tenure.

ELIZABETH SCOTT Current title: Natural History and Archaeology Preparator Title when hired: Textile Technician

PEGGY FISHERKELLER

KATHERINE GOULD

Current title: Curator of Geology

Current title: Curator of Cultural History

Title when hired: Scriptwriter

Title when hired: Associate Curator of Cultural History continued on next page

WHAT’S ONE OF YOUR EARLIEST MEMORIES OF WORKING HERE? TC: I remember going on a trip to the Statehouse to do some work within the first month of starting my part-time job at ISMHS, and I really embarrassed myself badly that day. It was St. Patrick’s Day with tons of people walking around downtown after the parade. Here I go down the main steps of the Statehouse and I trip and end up rolling down several steps to hit the bottom of the staircase! SO many people came running up to check to see if I was OK. I was so embarrassed that I limped my way back to Alabama St. and never told a soul!

PF: Ron didn’t have a lot for us to do at first, so Damon and I were occasionally sent on interesting excursions to keep us busy. One was a visit to a hospital, where someone

reported a dinosaur fossil in a flagstone (not a dinosaur). Another was a visit to a garage to identify a rock that was reportedly a growing brain (it was a geode, and not growing). But my favorite memories are working with Ron in developing the primary copy for the new galleries.

DL: One of my very first memories working here is when Ron sent Peggy and me out to a place to look for “dinosaur” fossils that a visitor had reported finding in the rocks of a gravel footpath at a local business. Ron knew it couldn’t possibly be true, but since it is our duty to respond to citizens of Indiana, we headed out. He stayed behind and had a good laugh as we wandered around a courtyard for a couple of hours trying to find something

HOW HAS YOUR WORK CHANGED OVER THE 20 YEARS YOU’VE BEEN WITH THE INDIANA STATE MUSEUM AND HISTORIC SITES? TC: I was hired to assist with packing the entire collection for the move to 650 W. Washington St. Now, I manage three departments at the museum, but it seems like just yesterday I was in the smelly, dark, scary basement of the Alabama St. museum searching for artifacts.

PF: I started out at the Alabama St. building part time to help with research and development for the new core gallery. At the time, I tried to do all I could to weasel my way into working with the collections, and I got my foot in the door by helping catalog fossil bryozoans from the original collections.

Ron hadn’t gotten to them yet, and bryozoans happened to be the subject of my master’s thesis.

DL: In the beginning, I was simply charged with ensuring the accuracy of the information in the new (2002) Natural Regions gallery. Since then, I have taken on the curation responsibilities for several collection areas, helped develop the new Natural Regions gallery (2016), assisted with the development of several temporary exhibitions, participated on excavations, negotiated for and overseen traveling exhibitions, and provided many talks and programs.

that only existed in one person’s imagination.

KG: My very first day with the museum was in 1998 when I was a graduate student intern working for Mary Jane (Teeters-Eichacker). After we got all the first-day stuff out of the way, I went with her on a donor visit to a former L.S. Ayres clothing buyer who lived on North Meridian Street. She had a huge house and every closet in every room was jam packed with clothing.

Heaven for Mary Jane. Hell for me. I’m not a clothes person and this felt like shopping, which is something I HATE. I’ve blocked out most of it, but what I still viscerally remember was Mary Jane flitting about from room to room while I stood in the hallway with my arms sore and shaking and nearly breaking under the weight of holding dozens of hangers laden with clothing that she wanted for the collection. Literally, one of the most painful days of my career.

ES: I’ve gone from a simple, only focused on one topic “foot in the door” of ISM collections work position to an advanced position in my chosen field of natural history and archaeology. As the institution mines my many talents, the position’s requirements continue to grow (field and laboratory, natural history, archaeology, natural history collection management, environmental monitoring, integrated pest management, historic sites assistance and paper conservation).

KG: It’s changed a lot and very little at the same time. When I was hired in part time, it was to do research for the new building project and help inventory and prep the objects for the move. I’m still doing research. I’m still cataloging artifacts, except now they’re artifacts in my collections that I’m helping to build. And I go to a lot more meetings now. But I no longer have to empty full dehumidifiers first thing in the morning.

So that’s nice.

WHAT'S BEEN YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT? TC: I have so many proud moments here at ISMHS. I have grown so much through all the projects I have been lucky enough to take part in the last 20 years. I got to help move an entire collection, TWICE. I created an internship program that flourished for several years and had many of those interns go on to incredible jobs throughout the U.S. I project-managed a large upgrade to storage cabinet/ shelving to better the environment for artifacts. I got to manage the Star Wars exhibit at ISM and met so many new friends in life that I still get to call friends a decade later. I’ve gotten to be a part of hiring amazing team members in the collections management department and I am so proud of what AWESOME employees they are for ISMHS. I could go on and on, but I will

stop and just say I hope the next seven years are just as amazing.

PF: Being part of opening up this building was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Currently, I’m really proud of being part of a strong team here.

DL: There have been many, but one of them is when we were told that we would be allowed to design the new galleries ourselves instead of hiring an outside firm from out of state. It was finally recognized that we had the knowledge, expertise and talent to tell our own story, and that was extremely satisfying after all of the hard work that had been done.

KG: When I curated the James Dean exhibit, we borrowed most of the artifacts from the Fairmount Historical Museum. I had a great time working with the old coots who “worked” there.

They’re not museum people, just old, retired guys helping out for something to do. And this place was exactly what you’d expect from a small-town museum: old trophy cases overstuffed with too many objects poorly displayed and IDs typed on index cards. But they didn’t know any better. They were fun to work and hang out with. They were always curious and asking about what I was doing and why, how I selected one object over another, etc. A couple years later, I went back to them to borrow Dean’s leather jacket for 200 Objects and when I walked inside the museum I was stunned. Everything looked totally different! They had weeded out a lot of the artifacts from the shelves so you could actually see what was there, really highlighting the great stuff. Everything was mounted better, and they had professional labels printed with better written copy. They had really put a lot of time and effort into it. They said they were inspired by how the exhibit turned out, learned a lot from watching me and just tried to copy what I did. I started tearing up. Probably the greatest professional compliment of my life.

WHAT'S ONE THING THIS JOB HAS TAUGHT YOU OVER THE YEARS? TC: To never give up. No matter what changes here at ISMHS, all the work is worth it at the end of each day.

PF: I’ve had to learn that when people bring in their finds for identification, they don’t respond well to simply being told what they don’t want to hear. Instead, it is important to listen and ask questions to understand their impressions and feelings, because they probably have a whole story wrapped up with their treasure. After all that, you can give an answer, but even then, they’re going to believe what they want

to believe, and that’s OK. It turns out this lesson works well in regular life, too.

DL: Patience. In the museum world, things typically move slower than in the outside world and that is OK. There is usually a good reason. Being hasty often causes mistakes and it’s a good thing to slow down, take a deep breath, and take your time with actions, decisions and everything else.

ES: Diversification in logistical problem solving.

KG: Kids aren’t so bad when they’re on the other side of the building.

And I really, truly love doing history.

Researching it, writing it, playing with the artifacts. All the boring meetings in the world haven’t ruined that for me.

STAFF SPOTLIGHT:

JOANNA HAHN Joanna Hahn is the central regional director for the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites and site manager for Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site. She began working for the museum system in October 2002. Joanna’s duties include overseeing the daily operations of the Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site in Fountain City, as well as personnel and other matters at Whitewater Canal and T.C. Steele State Historic Sites. She lives in Muncie with her husband, Jason, and children (pictured left to right), Evelyn (age 10), Samuel (age 6) and Bryce (age 14).

WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT? Personally, I think being a mother is my proudest accomplishment! I marvel every day at what my children accomplish. It is exciting to see them getting older, and I love being there for them, cheering at sporting events and 4-H shows. I count myself lucky to have some amazing kids.

Professionally, my proudest achievement is a program that centered around Quilts of Valor. I think it was in 2007 or 2008, and we hosted a great exhibition called Quilting Blocks and Binding Threads at ISM. I was in charge of designing programming to support the exhibition, and we had a great partner in the Quilters Guild of Indianapolis. Our two organizations came together and designed a program where visitors to the exhibit could take home a kit to make one quilt square and once completed, the quilters in the group pieced them into special lap quilts while doing demos at the exhibit.

The final quilts were donated to the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis and given to veterans who had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the Quilts of Valor program. When we made our original plans for the program, the quilt guild agreed to volunteer and make 800 kits, with the expectation that maybe enough would be returned to make and donate five quilts. We had such an amazing response from the community that ISM handed out 1,500 kits and we got enough blocks back for the quilters to make 50 quilts! To commemorate this amazing achievement, we took this neat picture (see below) in the museum’s Great Hall with all the quilts being held by staff members and guild volunteers.

I am not sure if I have done another program to really match that.

WHAT'S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU'VE EVER BEEN GIVEN? I think it came from my mom postcollege graduation. I intended to

become a social studies teacher, and when looking at job postings online (with my mom looking over my shoulder), I saw a part-time position at the ISM and just passed it by. She is the one who said it never hurts to just apply for a job. If I didn’t have that advice, I really don’t think I would be where I am today.

WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE OF ALL THE PLACES YOU'VE TRAVELED? Lately I have reflected on this a lot, and I keep going back to the Roman baths in Bath, England. Growing up, ancient history enthralled me the most and to sit in a space where ancient Romans once were reminds me why I love history so much!

But another spot, which is more personal, is Ellis Island. My greatgrandfather came from Germany as a young man through Ellis Island, and I am grateful that I got to have a chance to visit and try and imagine that experience for him.

IF YOU COULD INSTANTLY BECOME AN EXPERT IN SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Now that I have had this great career in museums, I think in my next life I want to be a conservator. I like how it is handson work. Even though I love engaging with people through the job I have now, I think it would be cool to work more with objects and something that takes concentration.

JULY ANNIVERSARIES KATHERINE GOULD Collections

20 years

ADAM DEKEMPER Experience

15 years

REBECCAH SWANSON Education

3 years

DAVIS ELLIOTT Culbertson

2 years

MAYA MARTINEZ Indiana Store

2 years

WELCOME ABOARD! New hires from March through June 2021 AUSTIN BARTISH

KAYLA CRAIN-TINSLEY

Whitewater Canal

Education

DEREK HUGHES

KELLY HARRIS

Lanier Mansion

Education

ETHAN CHILDRESS

KYLE AGNEW

Education

Education

JENNIFER EDWARDS

LUCAS CALLAHAN

Whitewater Canal

Education

KATELYN KNOLL

MARK JOHNSON

Education

Facilities Maintenance

FROM THE COLLECTION Have you ever seen a snake with eyelids? How about one that can shed its tail when frightened? I bet you haven’t!

If you think you have, then you’ve encountered a slender glass lizard, or ophisaur. This kind of legless lizard can be found in northwestern Indiana, west to Missouri and Nebraska and south to Louisiana and Texas. Since they are legless, the slender glass lizard is often mistaken for a snake. But besides having eyelids, which snakes lack, the glass lizard also has external ear openings and, when attacked, the ability to shed its tail to aid in escape. Unfortunately, this get-out-of-jail free card only works one time. The tail can only regenerate once in the lizard’s lifetime.

Reaching up to 36 inches in length, twothirds of their body can be tail. Glass lizards are tan, brown or bronze with a dark brown or black stripe running along

the middle of the back. Two additional stripes, known as the lateral groove, may run above a fold along the length of their body, and four narrow stripes may run below the groove. Their underside is white to light yellow.

Glass lizards primarily eat beetles, but crickets, grasshoppers, snails, slugs, spiders, mice, worms and eggs are also consumed when available. They are excellent burrowers, spending much of their time underground, so they aren’t seen as much as you would expect.

Many predators still seem to locate them, with raccoons, skunks, hawks and several species of snakes finding them tasty treats. While not rare in Indiana, the museum currently only has four specimens, all in the liquid-preserved part of the collection.

SLENDER GLASS LIZARD (Ophisaurus Attenuatus)

DAMON LOWE Senior Curator of Science and Technology and Curator of Biology

SECURITY UPDATE SAFETY QUARTER

BUILDING SAFETY AT ISMHS

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 80,410 private industry office and administration workers suffered on-the-job injuries in 2017.

Many of these injuries could have been prevented if workers or supervisors recognized risks and made simple modifications to help mitigate them.

Building safety in any organization does not happen overnight. The root of safety culture is behavior, and changing behavior requires organization and education. Learning the best safety practices and hazard awareness is part of the groundwork for a safety culture.

A workplace where most tasks are completed in an office setting would seem less fraught with danger, but a surprising number of hazards can be present no matter where you work.

Staff participation in safety training, exercises, programs and workshops that teach what to do is pivotal in developing a culture of safety.

MUSEUM SAFETY AND SECURITY INSPECTIONS You may notice Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites security personnel walking through areas of the museum, carrying a clipboard and making notes.

No reason to worry – they’re conducting an annual safety and security inspection.

Conducting regular or annual safety and security inspections reduces workplace accidents, helps us recognize and resolve different security vulnerabilities and increases overall workplace safety. If you ever have any safety or security concerns, please let the security department know.

SHARE YOUR STORY IDEAS! Renee Bruck, manager of communication | 317.260.3506 | rbruck@indianamuseum.org