One piece at a time

By Holly Michels, The Montana Standard - 05/27/2007

Washington State University masters student Ben Smith, 24, studies the markings on an old turn-of-the-century Victor gramophone during a class at the McFarland Curatorial Center in Virginia City last week. Ten students from the university in Pullman, Wash., are studying public history and interpretation techniques in the Virginia City area for two weeks. Lisa Kunkel, of The Montana Standard.

From a collection of more than a million artifacts, 10 Washington state graduate students are piecing together Virginia City’s past — one piece at a time.

Through one of the nation’s first public history field schools, the group from Washington State University in Pullman spent the last two weeks in the old gold-mining town learning about historic preservation and interpretive techniques.

Before they leave next week, the students will create what doctoral student Amy Canfield calls an “interpretive plan” for an 1860s historic house in the town. The plan highlights what artifacts the students think belong in the building.

“It’s the first program like this of its kind that we know of,” said Canfield, 27. “There’s so much to learn here. To see what they’ve got, inventory it and get (artifacts) safe is a huge, monumental task.” On Thursday five students donned protective blue gowns, face masks and gloves while cleaning and cataloguing a Victor Gramophone, oil lamp and breadbox, pieces they think fit in the Daems house, the 1860s-area structure.

The students collected the artifacts from Applebound and Crabb, an old store in nearby Nevada City that warehouses items.

“We’re trying to fit in with what they would have had,” said Jackie Dumin, 23.

The students draw from their studies and use resources like old Sears and Roebuck catalogues to decide what belongs in the house.

Marge Antolik, assistant curator, said the project lets students see another side of the public history field of study outside academia.

“If we want to put something in a house, this is what we do,” said Antolik. “This is exactly what we do.” The students studied the history of the Daems family to flesh out their plans.

“We know they were Catholic, so we’re thinking of putting a Bible on a table here,” said doctoral student Chris Allan, 37, while standing in the reading room of the Daems house.

Bill Peterson, curator of interpretation, said the commission hopes to turn the house into a worthwhile site for visitors, a safe place for fragile artifacts and quarters for visiting faculty to stay.

“We’re killing several birds with one stone with this house,” he said Canfield said the project is teaching her things she could never learn in the classroom.

“It's mentally exhausting because there’s so much material culture here,” she said. “But this experience gives me more than my last class like this, where we made just a single exhibit for a museum.” Student Laura Arata, 23, said she wants to pursue this type of work.

“It’s my ideal job because there’s so much to do here,” she said.

Peterson hopes the project will generate more academic interest because “the work to do at Virginia City is huge.

“It’s like taking the Library of Congress and giving it to the Butte Public Library and saying ‘Here, catalogue this in eight months.’” Reporter Holly Michels may be reached via e-mail at holly.michels@lee.net.