The Museum of the Bible

A Museum Master
It's hard to believe that two years ago I moved to Waco, began another degree and embarked on a career in museums. It is perhaps even more astounding that I  am now a Master of Museum Studies. I don't think I ever thought that I would be old enough to hold a graduate degree.

And yet here I am, with another diploma in hand and a quarter of my life behind me.

Thankfully, due to a multitude of courses, projects, internships and volunteer work I feel very affirmed in my choice of profession.

It was a great day when I realized that I could turn one of my passions into a career. I can still remember when I discovered that universities offered master's degrees in museum studies.

"Sign me up," I said. And with that, I decided to return to school.

For a variety of reasons, I chose to go to Baylor for my degree. I am now very happy with this decision. My professors are knowledgeable, and held in high-esteem by the Texas museum community. My classmates have been wonderful, and many of them have become very good friends. My classes have taught me much, and provided me with the opportunity to learn and grow.

In a field where a master's degree has become essential, I am very thankful for this opportunity.

It is incredibly satisfying to feel that I am in the right place, to discover that books I purchased for free reading are required texts for classes and that I actually enjoy some of my assignments.

So, what's next? I don't yet have long-term plans or a full-time, permanent job. Hopefully those will come in the relatively near future. I always hoped to have a job lined up upon graduation, but museum collection jobs are few and far between.

The Museum of the Bible

My work building, at the Hobby Lobby headquarters

I do, however, have another summer internship. This week I began a summer internship with the Museum of the Bible and the Green Collection in Oklahoma City. With over 40,000 objects, the Green Collection is the largest privately owned collection of biblical artifacts and manuscripts. The collection includes such treasures as fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, part of a Gutenberg Bible, and letters from Martin Luther.

Over the course of the summer, I will work with both the curatorial and registration departments, assisting with all nature of museum collections tasks. It will certainly be different from last summer, as this is a museum still in the beginning stages. The Greens began collecting in 2009, and formal organization began after that. For those wondering, the Greens run Hobby Lobby and therefore have the resources to create such a wonderful, invaluable collection.

My first task involves creating a filing system, which currently does not exist. Luckily, I have plenty of experience with filing! I will make paper files for each dealer and each object within the collection. Furthermore, I will create digital object files on the computer. And after that, who knows!

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains...
All of this means that I am living in Oklahoma City for the summer. One of my colleagues and his wife are currently in Rome with one the museum's special exhibits. They have graciously opened their home to me for the first half of the summer (Side note: if you know of a good place for me to stay for July, I would be very grateful!). They have a house out in the country, which I am currently occupying.

My closest neighbors. Seriously, y'all. I live closer to horses than to humans.

This house also has two cats. Two incredibly affectionate and attention-starved cats. The cats are very sweet and, honestly, nice to have around. It makes the house not quite as lonely.

Don't worry Mom, I'm not becoming a cat person, as my allergies will never allow this.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am kind of terrified of thunder, and big thunderstorms in particular. So far, we have had several massive thunderstorms roll through, one of which included 70-mph wind gusts. In other words, long nights for Rebekah.

The Non-Existance of Tornados

I am trying to pretend that this tornado shelter doesn't exist, or more accurately that the need for this doesn't exist, as I must admit that tornados absolutely terrify me. The weatherman last night seemed so excited about the storm coming through.

"Look at that beautiful formation," "See that rotation?" He gleefully announced. Yeah, I see it and I'm pretending it doesn't exist. Yes, I know how unlikely it is that a tornado will hit the house. But my slightly irrational fear of storms means I'm thankful to have access to this shelter. One particularly close lightning strike and the virtually simultaneous accompanying thunderclap made me and both cats jump. Seriously, those cats jumped a foot straight up in the air. Clearly I'm not the only nervous one here!

There is not internet at the house, so my online posts will be spotty, at least for the first half of the summer. Instagram and Twitter posts are quick and use less data, so if you want more frequent updates, check out those accounts of mine.

I'm looking forward to an interesting summer, one which I hope lays groundwork for my future career. My Bible degree and museum degree ensure that this museum collection is right up my alley and I intend to make the most of it.

Time to close up shop, disconnect from the online world again and go watch California Chrome win the Belmont Stakes.

As always, Sic 'em Bears!!

One More Post

One more post for the year! I've slacked off a little, as always. And I always wish I had posted more than I did. One of my New Years' resolutions is to blog on a more regular schedule - at least twice a month, though I hope to post even more frequently than that. I do spend a fair amount of time on the computer, and not enough of this time has been spent on this blog. I post often on Facebook, created a Twitter account a few months ago and joined Pinterest last night. I think it's time to come back to blogging!

My first semester of graduate school is completed. I'm one quarter of the way to a masters degree. Wow. I don't feel old enough to be a graduate student, but here I am. I certainly did not mean to go months without a post. I suppose I was busy with classes, papers, exams, work and field trips. Grad school is a lot of work, folks! But I'm surviving. And enjoying it!

Camel at Baylor's Nativity scene

Next semester I will begin several new classes, which I hope will be as enjoyable as my classes this past semester. Sometimes I still can't believe that I'm spending my days learning about museums and getting a degree in museum studies.

The holidays have been wonderful, and I must admit that I am not ready for them to end. We had a wonderful white Christmas (less that a quarter of an inch, but hey, in Texas that counts). I always love spending time with my family and am thankful for this past month.

The snow fell on Christmas Day, but didn't stick. I still say it was a white Christmas.

"Christmas Magic," which appears on our tree at Christmastime

2012 was a year filled with a lot of opportunities and joys as well as sorrows and obstacles. I've found that most years tend to be this way. I am excited to see what 2013 brings, particularly as I continue grad school and seek out an internship.

Happy New Years', everyone!

Summer is Over

Summer is officially over. Actually, my summer ended a little over two weeks ago when I started back to school. Somehow I made it through the entire summer without once swimming in a pool. How sad! I plan to remedy that today, as we have the day off for Labor Day.

It's strange in some ways that I'm now officially a graduate student. In other ways it feels completely normal. School has provided the rhythm for my life for so long that stepping back into it is as easy as can be.

So far I really enjoy my classes, which is a good sign. I love sitting through class learning about the history of the Smithsonian Institution or discussing learning in museums. We have several field trips planned for the semester, so I even get to visit museums as a part of class. How cool is that? Well, it's cool if you're into museums.

This is the Mayborn Museum complex, which houses the university museum and the Museum Studies department. Yes, I took the picture while driving (well, while stopped in my car), so it's not a fantastic photo. The Mayborn is a combination natural science and cultural history museum and a children's discovery center.

My graduate assistantship is in the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum. It's dedicated to Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and houses the largest collection of Browning materials in the world. The building is beautiful and most rooms have stained glass windows. This is one of the two rooms in which I do most of my work.

Last night I enjoyed cheering on the Bears in Baylor's first football game of the season. Although we lost our star quarterback, last year's Heisman Trophy winner, to the NFL, we still beat SMU 59-24. Sic 'em Bears!

All of that to say, I have so far enjoyed my time here at Baylor.

Museum Studies

14 months. That's a long stretch between posts. To be completely honest, not a lot has happened in those months that has been worth blogging about. But I'm back! For the three of you who kept up with my blog, you should get excited. I plan to blog much more consistently, beginning now. Or at least beginning soon.

I'm leaving Abilene, so this space will once again allow people to keep up with me from afar. Well, I'll be in Waco, so I suppose that's not really afar.

I think anybody reading this already knows that I'm headed to Baylor this fall to begin work on my Master's degree in Museum Studies. I took this past year to try and sort out what I want to do for the rest of my life and most of you weren't surprised when I settled on a career in museums.

On my thirteenth birthday, I chose to visit the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, in lieu of having a birthday party. One might wonder why a young girl would make such a choice, but for me it was not a difficult one. In museums, history, art, and culture come alive and speak to me in exciting ways. I can become one with the past through the retelling of stories that would remain silent, if not for the rare artifacts, carefully collected, painstakingly conserved, and artfully interpreted.

In about two months I'll begin my next adventure - learning more about the wonderful world of museums! And maybe one day I'll work in one of these.