Museum preparing for ‘Big Move’

Sunday, 05 August 2012 by Grayson Edds

The Bell County Museum is benefitting from the help of two summer interns, who are helping the museum move its storage facility closer to the museum.The Bell County Museum is benefitting from the help of two college interns this summer, Krystal Hawk and Melinda Hansen.

Hawk, a graduate student from Stephen F. Austin State University majoring in historic preservation, is from Belton and, therefore, familiar with the museum.

Hansen, an undergraduate student at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, is also studying history and is currently finishing her final year.

Both the museum and the university are a staple in the Belton community, and they continue to grow their relationship and work closely for the benefit of both institutions.

Hawk and Hansen are working at the museum earning college credit through the summer while assisting with the E.A. Limmer Jr. Summer Camp which covers topics like pioneer life, quilts and quilting, the Comanche Indians, and the Civil War.

The interns are also working with the curator and helping the museum's monumental task they call the "Big Move," a project that will move the museum's off-site storage area to a facility that's much closer and cleaner.

"The old facility was dirty, cramped and far away," said museum director Stephanie Turnham. "The new storage facility is closer, cleaner, and much larger with better lighting and shelving. The students have been preparing the building, helping move, doing data entry accession, and working on the locations of the artifacts. It's been great having them here."

The objects that are stored are primarily farm equipment and many types of household objects, including a moustache cup collection.

They're grouped by category including built environment artifacts, furnishings, personal artifacts, tools and equipment for materials, tools and equipment for science and technology, tools and equipment for communication, distribution and transportation artifacts, recreational artifacts and unclassifiable artifacts.

The "Big Move" has been in the planning stages for several years, and is finally coming to fruition.

Both Hawk and Hansen are interested in working in a museum after graduation, and the museum has been grateful for their willingness to help them with one of their biggest projects.

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