Five on Friday: What (as a Curator) I *Actually* Do

Last week I happened to have two pictures taken of me that my husband pointed out would work in one of those "what people think I do/what I actually do" memes. I know those are so five years ago, but I had to chuckle, because not only was he absolutely right but recently someone said to me, "I don't think I know what a curator actually does."

So I'm not going to try to guess what my Mom or kids or the public thinks I do all day as a museum curator. Instead, I'll just share five pictures that show you what I do:

1. Spend a lot of time in cemeteries. I think the right word for this might be traipsing.

 2. End up down on the floor or up on a ladder; Murphy's law dictates I am wearing a dress the day these things happen.

3. Get sweaty moving junk out of a historic church-turned-grange on a particularly hot day (though, finally, appropriately dressed!).

4. Create inviting spaces in an attempt to convince people to visit our historic site.

5. Turn into such a history nerd that I then spend my free time making a fake podcast* with local history stories.

*I was excitedly sharing local history stories with my sisters and one of them kept begging me to make a podcast. I kept refusing, but for her birthday I acquiesced. I began recording sporadic stories and sharing photos of the sites I referenced (and then drove to visit on Giacomo the Vespa) on a new Facebook page for her. Sure, recorded stories that you can download and listen to might seem like a podcast, but since I insisted I was not going to make one and because this is not available "wherever podcasts are found," I will forever refer to it as a fake podcast. 

Wondering why it's called Season Three when it's brand new? Listen to Episode One to find out.