This post is guest-authored by one second-year graduate student, Roberto Rios, who spent time this summer at Hancock Historical Museum in Findlay, Ohio.
I spent this summer working as a curatorial intern at Hancock Historical Museum. In the first quarter of my time at the museum, I spent my days cataloging historical military uniforms belonging to veterans from Hancock County. My daily duties for this portion of my internship involved identifying all of the details about the uniforms from the branch of service to awards, and all of the minute details in between. This project was one of personal interest as I am a military veteran having served in the Army.
Following the conclusion of this project I began working on the next task, which was both of benefit to the museum and of interest to myself. As an archaeologist who particularly focuses on Native American artifacts, I felt that I offered the museum a beneficial opportunity to utilize my expertise. The museum’s collections housed several boxes of lithic (stone) artifacts. This collection was largely unidentified and had little description in the cataloging system. My task was to add as much information to the history of these artifacts to the description in the cataloging system as possible.
I spent this portion of the internship recording all relevant information regarding the lithic artifacts. Measurements including length, width, thickness, stem length, neck width, and basal width were all recorded. Other attributes were also noted, which include serrations, notched, stemmed, fluted, hafted, and broken. Material type was inferred through common attributes noted in the rock type based on the known characteristics for the lithic tools commonly found in our region. Because many of these finds were from privately owned agricultural areas and picked up by amateur collectors, little information was provided on their context. However, all of my findings were recorded in the cataloging system based on characteristics found in academic literature regarding stone tools found in Ohio. The goal in mind was to produce enough information about the collection to be able to curate an indigenous history of Hancock County in the future.
This opportunity was a great experience to grow in the field of archaeology, local history, and in the museum world. Having come from an educational and occupational background in Southwestern Native American archaeology to handling the collection in the Hancock Historical Museum, I was able to learn a lot about the lithic artifacts that exist in this area. Additionally, I learned a great deal of information about the subtle details of military uniforms that often go unnoticed. The Hancock Historical Museum houses a great collection of artifacts with interesting exhibits and displays, I highly recommend visiting if you are ever looking for something to do.
