A Solo Week in the Welcome Center

My most recent shift at Crowley was also my first time being the sole personnel on the museum's property for the majority of the day. My morning started with a surprise in the form of another bovine friend eschewing the confines of pasture fencing. I was able to get in touch with chief executive officer who let me know that this particular escape artist was actually expected to have her calf soon and did not present a hazard. Near the end of my shift, I was able to calmly interact with her and, after an inspection of my hands revealed an absence of peppermints, received a reaction of indifference. Luckily, the other surprises during my shift were far less physically imposing.

I had particularly interesting and rewarding interactions with two groups of visitors. One couple was visiting from the central Florida area, and the gentleman happened to work for the state park service in Orange County at Blue Spring State Park. At the end of their visit to Crowley, he enthusiastically recommended a visit to not only Blue Spring State Park, but also a nearby historic village that focused on the same time period highlighted at Crowley. I like to think this is a little practice with opportunistic professional networking. My other especially memorable interaction was with a lovely older woman who was traveling with her husband and stopped at Crowley while on vacation to visit family in the area. While paying for their admission to the museum, I was asked if I might provide a tour of the site and with the low attendance that day, I was able to oblige. Not only were both the woman and her husband visibly interested in the history of the site and the signature artifacts in the Crowley collection, but the woman commented on the quality of the tour. She expressed surprise at how fascinating my particular tour was because she "usually loses interest after 15 minutes," and she was still engrossed in the tour. She was at least the third visitor to ask me if I had considered a career as a professor. Honestly, I have not given the idea of professorship extensive consideration because I have never envisioned myself working in a classroom. I am not opposed to the idea of professorship and for the moment, it certainly bears further investigation.

In addition to volunteering in person, I continue to create weekly Facebook posts for Crowley's "Museum Musings with Ms. Morgan". This is a series I have already offered to continue working on after the end of the internship. I have based my choice of artifact for each week's post around the category of object (i.e. clothing, toys, tools, published works, etc.), relation to current holidays or events (for example featuring a flag shortly after the Fourth of July), and artifacts people are likely to recognize or relate to. As I gain more experience writing the posts for this series, I am more conscientious of the post design - attempting to actively engage viewers or encourage visits to the museum.