My Last Day at the Museum

For my final blog post, I thought it would be fun to edit Carroll Ward’s (Mamie McFaddin-Ward’s husband) discharge papers as I am “discharged” from my duties at the McFaddin-Ward House. I have enjoyed my time at the museum and look forward to what the future holds.

As I sat down to write this final entry and reflected about my time here, all of the things that I have learned over the past ten weeks amaze me. When I arrived at the McFaddin-Ward House two months ago, I had only studied the theory used to run a museum. I have seen that the theories taught in the classroom at a university can only carry you so far in the real world.

During my time here, I have come understand of the challenges that museums face on a daily basis. These challenges range from a lack of resources to concerns over the institution’s public image. However, the staff members at the McFaddin-Ward House have shown me that for every roadblock that I may encounter in the museum, there is always a practical solution. One of the funniest examples of this was constructing the sandbag wall, which is set up in the museum’s carriage house. When trying to figure out how to construct this, I had two ideas. First, I thought we could use actual sandbags to create our representation of a World War I trench, but then I realized that the bags would have created a sandy mess in the stalls. A local artist then suggested that we could sculpt scenery out of foam, and then apply earth-tone paints to create the appearance of the trenches. However, with time and financial limitations, I knew that this would not be possible, either.  

We settled on a design, which involved using sandbags we picked up from a local army surplus store and newspaper. This worked out well for several reasons. The bags are light and can be moved easily, the newspaper could be molded to the shape of the bag, and it was inexpensive.

Learning to be adaptable was one of the most valuable lessons that I learned here. The experiences I have enjoyed at the McFaddin-Ward House will surely serve me well as I continue to seek employment in the museum field. Tomorrow is my final day with the McFaddin-Ward House, and in closing, I would like to wish the best for the museum, and all of my friends and colleagues that work so tirelessly to ensure that the house continues to be a source of joy and learning for many generations to come.