Experience

FBI Art Crime Team

In this position, I work alongside my IUPUI professor Dr. Holly Cusack-McVeigh to prepare foreign and domestic objects for storage, shipping, and repatriation to source communities. This requires conducting provenance research on objects to determine their culture of origin and supervising a team of graduate students to various the necessary housing of collections. My main task for this position is to regularly update the registration database and enter data into the online, public, and personal database. In this position, I update the database if objects have been transferred for repatriation, when they are repatriated, and attaching necessary documents of confirmation. I also build excel checklists of objects that need to be repatriated and where in the off-site they are located. Documentation is a critical aspect of this work and I take is very seriously to ensure our repatriation projects run smoothly. Lastly, in this position, I have drafted and revised NAGPRA Notice of Inventory Completion for Publication that will begin proper repatriation efforts once published.

Teaching and Research Assistant

In this position, I aid Dr. Holly Cusack-McVeigh with her two courses: Collections Care & Management and Preventive Conservation. I have co-designed and taught a unit on proper object handling "Object Handling 101" and a unit on box making "Box Making." I have also prepared and supervised hands-on collections lab, which include: Integrated Pest Management, Collection Recovery Unit, Salvage, and Soot Removal. Also in the position, I helped facilitate lectures, both in-person and virtually, with guest speakers (Insect Limited - Pat Kelley, National Museum of Natural History - Catherine Hawks, Indiana Medical History Museum - Sarah Halter). I also provide resources, clarification, and assistance to my professor and the students. To ensure the course run smoothly, I create and update archival supply orders, lab preparations, the course webpage, and course submissions.

Curatorial Fellow @ BHPS

In this position, I researched and curated the special exhibit "No 'Compact of Silence:' Black Civil Rights Advocates in the Harrison Era" displayed in the Carriage House Gallery. For this exhibit, I was the sole entity gathering information on the advocates and reaching to other institution and organizations for more information. This required organizing loans from organizations like the Major Taylor Foundation and photo accreditations from the Indiana Historical Society, America's Black Holocaust Museum, and the University of Southern Indiana. Working with suggestions from the Exhibit and Collections Committee, I chose fonts, colors, and the aesthetics for the exhibit. This project also required keeping a close checklist of information, artifacts (both BHPS and incoming loans) and making sure all the proper paperwork was completed for this exhibit. Lastly, this exhibit also allowed me to promote the exhibit through media interviews with local newspapers, tv shows, and radio stations. As well as the exhibit project, I also focused on collections and my personal research paper. I have inventoried 400+ books, 350+ serials, 1000+ pamphlets, and <100 campaign ribbons. Inventoried included checking the FileMaker database for accurate filing and as well as updating necessary files. In some cases, I had to create a file and add it to the database. Lastly, through my personal research paper on Presidential Sites and Indigenous communities, I conducted interviews from museum professionals at the White House Historical Association, the Andrew Jackson's The Hermitage, The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum. These interviews helped gather data for how museums are exhibiting Indigenous Communities in their museums and what methods they used.