“Florida’s Historic Capitol”

by

Laura Irene Justice

M.A., The University of West Florida 2009

B.A., Florida State University 2006

An internship report submitted to the Department of History

College of Arts and Sciences

The University of West Florida

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

2009

We approve the internship report of Laura Justice:

Elizabeth Benchley, Committee Member Date

William Belko, Committee Chair Date

Accepted for the Department:

John Clune, Chair Date

Table of Contents

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………….1

ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………......2

CHAPTER I: BACKGROUND AND INTERNSHIP ATTAINMENT……………………......3

CHAPTER II: AN INRODUCTION TO FLORIDA’S HISTORIC CAPITOL………………..6

CHAPTER III: PROJECT METHODOLOGIES AND PROCEDURES……………………..11

1. TECHNOLOGY IN THE MUSEUM…………………………………………...…11

2. PUBLIC RELATIONS AND OUTREACH……………………………………....19

3. COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT……………………………………………….22

4. ADDITIONAL STAFF REQUIRED……………………………………………...27

5. EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK…………………………………………………….…31

6. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF MUSEUMS: ACCREDITATION…………....36

7. PRD VS. CURRENT EXHIBIT UPGRADES………………………………….…41

8. RESEARCH PROJECTS…………………………………………………………..44

9. EXHIBIT PLANNING AND INSTALLATION………………………………….45

CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS……………………………..54

CHAPTER V: INTERNSHIP JOURNAL……………………………………………………..56

WORKS CITED………………………………………………………………………………107

APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………...108

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Acknowledgements

My family and friends have endlessly supported me through my academic career. For that, I am

truly thankful, beyond any words I could say. My truest friend, love, and companion Burak

Arcan…I could not have survived graduate school without you by my side. Thank you for being

my everything. Meredith Cooper, thank you for being my “partner in crime.” I do not think I

could have found a better person to be my friend at UWF. John Phelps, thank you for trusting

me so much. Andy, thank you for being so wonderfully you. Qa’pla!

2

Abstract

This internship, January 5 – April 23, 2009, was a combination of several different types

of projects including a full “State of the Museum” assessment, researching the 1876 and 2000

Presidential Elections, exhibit planning and implementation, and developing social networking

accounts for the Historic Capitol. Several portions of the State of the Museum assessment follow

the standards and guidelines of the American Association of Museums. The elections research

culminated in a presentation that John Phelps, curator of the Historic Capitol, presented at the

National Council on Public History conference in Providence, Rhode Island on April 2, 2009.

The exhibit planning and implementation consisted of two exhibits. One of these exhibits was

temporary, lasting only for the legislative session, and the other remains in the planning stages

due to drastic budget cuts. The diverse coursework within Historic Preservation program at the

University of West Florida provided me with excellent preparation for this internship experience

because Historic Preservation, by nature, is an interdisciplinary field and encompasses historic

structures as well as their past, current, and future uses.

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Chapter I

Background and Internship Attainment

When the time came for me to choose an internship, I consulted with Dr. William Belko

in November 2008 to ask his advice. He informed me of an opportunity at the Historic Capitol

museum in Tallahassee. I was interested in that internship because it is in Florida and is

associated with the State government. Since historic preservation is so heavily managed at the

state level, it is an ideal place for learning the bureaucracy associated with state agencies. Dr.

Belko contacted John Phelps, the curator of the museum, and told him that I was interested in the

internship. He also gave me Mr. Phelps’ contact information.

I made contact with Mr. Phelps and my internship with the Historic Capitol was official.

We decided to meet in December to discuss the details of my internship further, as Mr. Phelps

would be out of the country for the first week of my internship. We met on December 17, 2008

and he told me what research he wanted me to conduct. He also introduced me to Andy Edel,

the Exhibit Projects Manager at the museum. Mr. Phelps informed me that I would be working

closely with Mr. Edel as my internship would also include exhibit planning and installation as

well as visitor services. Mr. Edel was very excited to have me there as an intern and promptly

supplied me with some pre-internship reading so that I could be more familiar with the museum

before I actually started. He gave me a copy of the research report that was part of the 1902

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restoration project and a copy of what Mr. Edel referred to as the “PRD Report.” The research

report for the restoration project The PRD Report is an exhibit design proposal that encompasses

the entirety of the Historic Capitol Museum and was prepared by a company that specializes in

museum planning called the PRD Group, Ltd. With reading material in hand and our initial

meeting over, we parted ways, agreeing that I would begin my internship on January 5, 2009.

My internship began as mainly a single project: to research the architectural history of the

Historic Capitol building. John Phelps, the curator, believed that the research which focused on

the 1845 to 1902 period was too sparse. I began the project by assessing what information the

Historic Capitol Museum already had in order to find where there were gaps in their research. In

the process of that assessment, I discovered an issue with the Historic Capitol Museum’s library

classification management: there was no formal system of classification. Mr. Phelps was

developing a database for the Historic Capitol’s research and exhibit notebooks, but, in entering

them into the database, many of the criteria and categories did not match the materials they had.

This led to a conversation between Mr. Edel and me about the classification of their collections.

As with the Historic Capitol’s library, there was no formal system in place for their artifact

collections.

Along with these conversations, Mr. Phelps informed me of his desire to pursue

accreditation with the American Association of Museums. He asked me if I was familiar with

the process. I told him that I was familiar with it from having discussed it in a museum studies

class as well as conversations I had with the curator of collections at West Florida Historic

Preservation, Inc. when I worked there as an historic interpreter. I spoke with Mr. Phelps and

Mr. Edel separately and asked them if they would prefer that I assess their collections

management system instead of researching the Historic Capitol. Since Mr. Phelps expressed

5

such an interest in accreditation, collections management would be a priority for the museum.

They both agreed that the museum needed an assessment. In fact, Mr. Phelps asked me to give

recommendations on anything that I observed needing improvement. This led to the final

portion of my internship, which was a report that I wrote to John Phelps.

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Chapter II

An Introduction to Florida’s Historic Capitol

In the early 1820s, Florida became a United States territory. When the United States

government acquired the land, it was divided politically into East and West Florida as it had been

since the Spanish controlled Florida in the 1500s. At first, the territorial government alternated

the legislative business between St. Augustine and Pensacola, the historic capitols of East and

West Florida, respectively. The constant travel back and forth between the two towns made the

work for the legislature even more difficult and dangerous than it already was. The territorial

government decided make Tallahassee the seat of government. Tallahassee was an ideal

location, as it was midway between Pensacola and St. Augustine.

Tallahassee was still on the American frontier in 1824 when it became the new territorial

capitol. In 1821, there were less than 8,000 people in the territory including black slaves.1 The

Historic Capitol building today is the 1845 incarnation of the Capitol. There were, however, two

previous structures on the site before the one that stands today. The first Capitol for Florida was

a log cabin built in 1824. There are no known remaining visual representations of these

structures. Historians researched journals and correspondences of the period and found casual

descriptions of the building which they used in designing the reconstruction. The State of

Florida reconstructed the territorial capitol in 1924 for the Florida Centennial. In 1826, the

1 Gannon, Michael. Florida: A Short History. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003.

7

territorial government commenced construction on a larger two-story masonry structure with the

anticipation of further expansion to the structure. That project, however, was never completed

and that building was eventually demolished.2

In 1845, Florida became a state. The government used the new masonry structure, whose

construction began in 1842, as the first Florida State Capitol building. The Historic Capitol

museum refers to this original structure as the "core" of the Historic Capitol and it still exists as

part of the present building. Below is the footprint of the 1845 building:

Florida began to grow with its statehood status. The government added to the structure

by extending the north and south wings. The Senate met in the large room in the south wing and

the House met in the north wing. The building was designed as such so both could end their

session simultaneously with the dropping of the kerchief. Architect Frank P. Milburn designed

the 1902 building:

2 Florida Division of Historical Resources. The Capitol. http://www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/capitol/

(accessed November 30, 2009).

8

Architect Henry Klutho expanded the structure again in 1923 by adding the east and west

wings to the core. They moved offices and chambers and the House and Senate were no longer

able to see each other:

Florida continued to grow and the capitol building needed to expand to meet the needs of

the growing government. In two separate projects in 1936 and 1947, they added north and south

"arms" to the building:

After the two additions in 1936 and 1947, the Florida government decided that the

original capitol building could no longer fulfill their needs. In 1977, the current capitol building

opened and towered over the historic building:

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A serious issue soon appeared. The roof line of the north and south "arms" of the capitol

were touching the new capitol building. This was unsafe and against local codes. The

government decided to have the historic capitol demolished and for a terraced garden and

reflection pool to replace it. Their justification was that Florida needed to move forward and to

"hold onto" the old capitol building was not conducive to such a mission. There was an

incredible uproar from the public against the demolition of the old capitol building. Senate

President Jerry Thompson filed a lawsuit against Governor Reubin Askew and the Cabinet. The

case went to the Florida Supreme Court and their ruling was that the demolition could not take

place without the legislative body’s approval. The Secretary of State at the time, Bruce

Smathers, is a legend in the Historic Capitol. When the rest of the legislators and government

officials all vacated their offices in the Historic Capitol, Smathers alone stayed behind and

refused to leave his office. The tension between State officials on both sides was intense. In

response to Smathers’ protest, the Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter evicted Smathers from

the building stating that it was a “firetrap.”3

3 Florida Department of State. "Seat of Government, Center of History." Florida History & the Arts, Winter 2003: 7-

11.

10

The government finally reached a consensus and decided that the old capitol would be

partially demolished and returned to its 1902 state. Herschel Sheppard, the lead architect on the

restoration project, stated in a lecture he gave to graduate students in January 2009 that they

chose the 1902 appearance because it was in that period that a true sense of patriotism existed in

the state. Below is the footprint of the current capitol grounds:

Even though Florida has a new Capitol building, the legislature still occasionally uses the

Senate and House chambers of the Historic Capitol for ceremonial reasons. They also use the

steps and grounds for press conferences and public address. Throughout the year, and

particularly when the legislature is in session, citizen groups frequently stage protests and

demonstrations on the Historic Capitol site. Although the Historic Capitol is no longer an

officially functioning seat of government, it is by no means “dead” in Florida politics. It is a

strong symbol of Florida politics and government and will most likely remain so for many years

to come.

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Chapter III

Project Methodologies and Procedures

My internship consisted of several different activities. This chapter of the report is in ten

parts. Parts one through seven are the recommendations I made to Mr. Phelps. Each of these

sections is in two parts. The first half is the commentary and justification for the

recommendation and the second half is the recommendation itself. Parts eight and nine are the

two other activities in which I participated at the Historic Capitol museum and are in one part

only, the commentary. The tenth part describes how my coursework at the University of West

Florida helped me during my internship and how my internship applies to historic preservation.

1. Technology in the Museum

One of the areas that Mr. Phelps feels most strongly about developing is the electronic

aspect of museum exhibition and outreach. When Mr. Phelps and his office staff joined Mr. Edel

and Mrs. Jane Brightbill (manager of the Historic Capitol’s Visitor Services) at the Historic

Capitol in 2006, the museum had no web site whatsoever and the extent of their Audio/Visual

facilities was an introductory video in one room and an interactive exhibit in the House

Chamber. Mr. Phelps recognized the need for a website and had one designed. The web site

was very rudimentary, consisting of a basic history of the building, volunteer information, a

brochure, contact information, and a link to the Florida Legislative Research Center and Museum

(FLRC & M).

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We discussed updating the audio/visual (A/V) equipment and the museum’s option for

expanding the use of A/V in exhibition design. The A/V technology presently in use at the

museum is very basic. There is a three-screen introductory video presentation in a room

immediately adjacent to the first floor rotunda. The Supreme Court Chamber and a couple of the

smaller exhibit rooms have very large television consoles that play a DVD that loops all day. At

the end of the day, each of these units must be turned off individually. Lastly, there is an

interactive exhibit in the House Chamber which consists of two televisions and several desk-

mounted voting controls. This last exhibit is called “This House is Now in Session” and is

extremely popular with school groups grades 4 through 12. The museum has a computer kiosk,

but it is outdated and currently inoperable.

Mr. Phelps intends on hiring a design company to assist him in developing an A/V

system that operates on a site-wide network. We discussed the potential of such a system with

regard to programming. Such a system will allow the museum staff to have a wide range of

materials that can be broadcast to any area they so desire. It would also allow them to tailor the

content to any particular event or visiting group. For example, there could be a kids’ version of

the introductory video for a school group. Also, the January 27, 2009 tour the Florida Channel

taped of Herschel Sheppard (the architect of the 1902 restoration project) taking University of

Florida students can be broadcast. Since it would originate from a server, the content could be

changed as easily as opening a file on a computer. The opportunities such a system offers are

practically limitless. This content can also be made available either in part or whole on the web

site as educational materials teachers can use in classrooms as part of a pre-visit lesson. The

three plasma screens that display the introductory video are beginning to fail as is the player unit.

Mr. Phelps sees this as a good opportunity to start planning the A/V expansion, so that when they

13

eventually replace the plasma screens they can do so with equipment that is compatible with a

new design.

Mr. Phelps and I, on several occasions, discussed potential web content and ways of

expanding the use of the internet in outreach. In my assessment of the museum collections, I

expressed the need for collection management software.4 The Proficio software license that the

Historic Capitol owns includes a web component. This would allow them to make their digital

collections accessible through their website. The Florida State Archives uses the Proficio

software to publish its digital collections online, so they are a successful example from which the

Historic Capitol can learn.

Educational outreach is not something on which the Historic Capitol has focused a lot of

energy. In my recommendations, I discussed educational outreach in both the “Website and

eResources” section as well as the “Additional Staff Required” section. The website is an easy

and very effective way to prepare students and other visitors for a visit to the Historic Capitol.

Mr. Phelps is keenly aware of the tempest that the legislative session causes in the museum. It is

during the legislative session that the majority of school trips to the capitol occur. Due to traffic

issues, weather, parking, and other innumerable factors which cut into the time school groups

have available to visit both the current and historic capitol buildings, there is a lot of chaos and

the groups do not get nearly the best experience possible. I recommended to Mr. Phelps that by

providing teachers and other visitors with more educational materials online, the students can

arrive at the Historic Capitol with a basic knowledge of the site and they will be able to look at

the museum in a much more meaningful way than just having thirty minutes to hear a ten-minute

introduction and see a three-floor museum.

4 Please see the section entitled “Collections” for a further explanation.

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Mr. Phelps and I also discussed the pros and cons of virtual tours for museums. I took

that a step further and researched the current state of schools and their ability or willingness to

take students on field trips. I found some articles that said school budget cuts and standardized

testing are forcing schools to drop funding for field trips. Schools are increasingly searching out

virtual tours that they can share with their classes. I suggested that the Historic Capitol add

virtual tour types of elements to their web page as well as additional educational materials that

teachers can print for their classes.

Recommendation for the Historic Capitol:

Website and “eResources”

Virtual Field Trips and Tours

The current state of the economy is putting schools, both elementary and secondary, in an

ever-growing funding crisis. Many schools can no longer afford to take their students on field

trips. Simply getting the students to a place that is off-campus can be, at times, a Herculean task

in itself. Fuel prices are very significant factors when schools write their yearly budgets, but

they are not solely to blame.

No Child Left Behind requires new standards that many schools do not yet meet. The

result is that some schools have cut back on their subjects and teach only reading and math.5

Those schools, with little option, throw subjects such as history by the wayside until their

students meet state and national standards. The result can be self-defeating as anyone who has

5 Dillon, Sam. “Schools Cut Back Subjects to Push Reading and Math,” New York Times, March 26, 2006.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/education/26child.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&th&emc=th (accessed April 18, 2009).

15

experience with fourth grade classes can attest. Many children find it difficult to sit still and

focus on limited subject matter for long periods of time. This stress negatively affects academic

performance at any grade level. These are serious issues that require several different

approaches. One possible way to help some teachers and schools who are unable to participate

in field trips due to funding and/or curriculum limitations is for museums to provide internet-

based resources.

Society is constantly integrating the internet more and more into daily life. Many schools

now have advanced multimedia technology available for use in the classroom. This technology

includes, but is not limited to, computer stations with internet access and web-conferencing

capabilities with streaming audio and video. The potential for such access is practically

limitless. Schools who cannot afford to take a field trip can visit sites around the world that

would be otherwise inaccessible. For schools who must limit their curricula, an internet-based

museum education program allows a teacher to divide a “virtual field trip” into small segments

that she/he can schedule into lesson plans.

Community schools and their students are not the only ones who can benefit from virtual

tours. Homeschooled children often do their coursework online. Florida Virtual School is just

one of several options for families whose children do not attend community schools.6 eResources

such as virtual tours are always available to home school instructors and students. If, for

instance, a child whose health precludes him or her from physically leaving his or her residence,

the virtual tour provides opportunities for learning that the child might have never had without

the internet.

6 The website for Florida Virtual School is located at http://www.flvs.net/.

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Education and eResources are especially beneficial to adults as well. The same

accessibility from which children may benefit is also open to senior citizens, persons whose

health confines them to bed, or those who are otherwise unable to travel. For instance, senior

centers and small community libraries could host monthly field trips to different sites. This

allows for socialization between senior citizens and their neighbors. This interaction also

benefits the community as a whole as it brings people together who might not otherwise have

any significant contact.

“All of this is well and good,” one might say after reading the above paragraphs, “but

where does that leave the actual physical museum?” It is where it always has been. Virtual

museums can never fully replicate the experience of an actual visit to a museum or site. There is

something fantastically special about walking into an historic structure and seeing the light

falling upon the ancient floor or smelling the “old smell” of an antique book in an archive’s

special collection. There will always be many people who will physically visit the museum, but

there are many more that, for one reason or another, simply cannot. Why should museums

exclude those people from the opportunities that are open to the visitors who walk through the

front door? Museums and libraries are not the same institutions as they were in the past. Society

no longer views them as luxuries of the elite classes. They exist not for their own sake, but for

the benefit of their communities. Museums and libraries are also no longer simple “show and

tell” displays. The general public expects more than a simple label that tells them the “who-

where-what-when” of an object. They want a story that can help them relate to the object in

some way. While “story” does not necessarily mean a tale, it does mean context. After all, an

old pair of shoes does not hold much meaning until one knows they were worn by Lawton Chiles

while he made his famous hike from Century to Key Largo in his run for the U.S. Senate.

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Collections that museums and archives digitize and publish online add to the experience

of the museum exhibit. A class or individual has the ability to view lessons or tours with

photographs and digitized documents online before they physically visit the facility. This is a

significant benefit for teachers who want to take students on a field trip. If the museum or

archive provides them with its own age-appropriate educational materials, it makes an enormous

amount of time available to teachers to concentrate on their normal lesson plans and also allows

them to better incorporate the trip into the lessons. Also, the students would be more aware of

what they will see, so when the class finds itself behind schedule and it has only fifteen minutes

to tour the entire museum, they will not find themselves overwhelmed and will be able to enjoy

the visit more.

What a museum or archive decides to include in their eResources and how they choose to

present such information is entirely dependent on each individual organization. For the Historic

Capitol museum, in particular, anything that can be available should be available. The museum

enjoys a visitorship that many small museums might never have. Putting its collections on the

internet would not negatively affect the number of visitors. If nothing else, online availability of

collections would only attract more visitors. People still enjoy seeing museums in person. The

online collections act as an “appetizer” to the actual visit which is the “main dish.”

A web site for the Historic Capitol museum should have, although not exclusively, a

strong youth outreach aspect to it. According to the Visitor Services records, between July 2005

to June 2006, 408 education groups with 14,763 students visited. The following year, between

July 2006 and June 2007 the museum saw an increase in the number of school groups with 471

18

classes that consisted of 15,910 students.7 Those numbers do not include teachers or chaperones

for either year. Many of those groups visited during session and quite literally bumped into each

other in the museum. If the children had prior access to educational materials and other

resources, the customary introduction Visitor Services conducts can be more meaningful and the

students will interact more with the exhibit information and museum staff and volunteers.

The web site should be structured as follows:

Main Web Page This should display announcements, news, and current and upcoming

events.

Mission Statement/Statement of Purpose/About Us/ Ethics This is standard and just

good practice.

Adult-Oriented Section This should be directed to students in the sixth grade and on to

adults. It should consist of a self-guided tour with complex subject matter the museum

presents, such as, but not limited to, the 2000 Election and Segregation. There should

also be printable “Theme Tour Guides” that they can print and bring with them. If a

visitor has only a short time to visit the museum while passing through Tallahassee and

she/he is more interested in the judicial aspect of Florida history, the “Judicial Tour” will

include those rooms and exhibits that are involved with that subject. They will be

experiencing the entire museum, but they will also have a tour that is more personal at the

same time. Printable brochures in other languages should also be available. Visitor

Services reported the top five countries international visitors represented were Canada

7 Brightbill, Jane. The Historic Capitol's Monthly Statistics. Tallahassee: Unpublished, July 2006 - June 2007.

19

(27), Germany (26), England (15), Spain (6) and Brazil & Ireland (50)8. These countries

are fairly typical of the top ten if not the top five who sign the guest book. There are

three languages within these top five countries that the museum does not acknowledge in

its educational materials. The museum would be much more accessible if, at minimum,

introductory brochures were available for download in French, German, and Spanish.

Kids’ Zone The information in this section should be directed more towards grades 1-5.

All of the materials must fulfill federal and state educational requirements and

benchmarks. The information should be preparation for a visit to the Capitol, but it can

also be effective as a stand-alone web experience. There should be activities that the

student can either print out or complete online and then email to his/her teacher.

Links This page should have links to more resources online, such as the Florida

Legislative Research Center and Museum, the Museum of Florida History, the Florida

Archives, as well as any other resources the curator chooses to include.

2. Public Relations and Outreach

The Historic Capitol does very little advertisement and outreach. Any other museum

would be in a very poor situation if it put forth as little energy as the Historic Capitol does.

Many of the visitors that come into the museum do so by chance. There are locals who visit the

current capitol and venture into the Historic Capitol as if they have discovered a great secret.

People simply do not realize that the Historic Capitol is open to the public as a museum even

8 January 2009 Statistics Report Summary. Please see Appendix

20

though it is one of the most recognizable buildings in Florida. There is no signage to indicate

that it is open. The parking for the Historic Capitol is difficult, particularly during session.

These issues can be addressed through a strong public relations and outreach campaign.

Tallahassee enjoys several cultural events, from Springtime Tallahassee to First Fridays and

Gallery Hop. The Historic Capitol participates very little, if at all in these events which are great

opportunities for getting people in to see the museum.

It is for exactly this need that I spoke with Mr. Phelps regarding developing social

networking profiles for the Historic Capitol. With his permission, I created profiles at

Facebook.com, MySpace.com, and Twitter.com. The Twitter account is also accessible through

both Facebook and MySpace. The reason I did that was to make outreach easier on the visitor

services staff. In creating these social networking profiles, I created a web-based email account

through Hotmail.com. The web-based email account allows the profiles to be maintained by a

museum volunteer that does not have access to the State exchange server. Social networking in

this manner is free and is an easy way to disseminate information to a worldwide audience. I

looked through MySpace and Facebook for other museums, historical societies and other

historical-type organizations and added them as “friends.” When the Historic Capitol adds

another user as a “friend,” a link to the Historic Capitol’s profile will appear on the friend’s

profile. This makes the Historic Capitol profile a single click away from other people who are

exploring the social networking sites.

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Recommendation for the Historic Capitol:

Public Relations

The museum, at present, does not have a very active public relations campaign. While it

is an enormous step forward, installing signage for the museum alone is not going to have a

significant effect on visitorship. In my internship at the Historic Capitol, I developed online

social networking accounts for the museum. There are profiles at MySpace.com, Facebook.com,

and Twitter.com. All of these profiles are registered through an email account that is not

associated with the email system of the State of Florida. It is through Hotmail.com, but has the

live.com domain name.

The Historic Capitol does, however, enjoy a unique advantage that very few museums

have. The Historic Capitol is the symbol of Florida government and news organizations use its

image often when referencing virtually anything regarding Tallahassee or Florida legislation and

politics. The museum, however, should not rely on just this presence alone. The Historic

Capitol should be asserting its own presence as a unique entity that is both part of the current

state capitol as well as existing separately as a museum.

Something that the museum may wish to consider is soliciting feedback from its visitors.

While this is currently done through comment cards, this is not enough on its own. It is possible

to upload a questionnaire to the web site in field form or in a downloadable form such as PDF.

This is particularly useful with returning groups such as schools.

22

3. Collections Management

The Historic Capitol was previously under the Division of Historical Resources and

under the administration of the Museum of Florida History. As of 2006, however, the Historic

Capitol is under the Office of Legislative Services and not the Department of State. As a result

of the administrative changes of the museum, the Historic Capitol operates without a collections

management system and also without a disaster management plan. Since a museum’s collections

largely define what it is and why it exists, its management and protection are of the utmost

importance. The current administrative staff of the historic capitol has little to no training in

either museum management or collections management. The curator is the former House Clerk

and brings with him archival knowledge and research skills which are extremely beneficial to the

museum.

It occurred to me one day how undocumented the museum is with regard to its

collections when Mr. Edel showed me where the collections storage is located. It is in a closet

on the ground floor and shares a space with holiday decorations, table cloths, and surplus office

equipment. It is adjacent to the ground floor rotunda which has a history of flooding. Mr.

Phelps deemed himself victorious when he succeeded in getting air conditioning units installed

in the room to help maintain moisture and temperature control. Previously, there was none.

While the space is not ideal, and particularly so in the accreditation sense, the Historic Capitol

has few options for storage and they are forced to work with what they have available. What

they have is a set of shelving units with artifacts placed randomly on them. There is no

accessioning or de-accessioning procedure. Nothing is documented in any way. The same is

23

true for most of the pieces on exhibit. The few exceptions are those in the newest exhibits which

Mr. Edel installed. Even those records, however, are very basic and are little more than a list.

The accreditation process focuses strongly on collections management, ethics, and disaster

planning. Following the AAM requirements for collections, I made several recommendations

with regard to the Historic Capitol collections. The things I took into consideration were:

What items actually belong to the Historic Capitol?

What items are on loan?

What items have been given to the Historic Capitol but have not been recorded as

donations?

Available storage

− Vitals

− Issues

− Possible improvements

Another issue that exists with regard to collections is the fact that two separate museums

reside in the Historic Capitol building. They are two distinct entities, yet they are currently

collaborating on a joint digital collection of photographs and oral history videos. Mr. Phelps and

Anne Mackenzie, director of the Florida Legislative Research Center & Museum (FLRC & M),

both wish to keep their respective collections separate and stored in separate areas, yet they want

a single electronic database. What makes the collections management issue even more difficult

is that only the Historic Capitol Museum wishes to pursue accreditation in the future which does

not include the FLRC & M. Their current collaborative project consists of a digital archive. I do

not know what the accreditation commission’s opinion would be with regard to a shared

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collection of that type. It is not as if it could be classified as a collection on loan to the Historic

Capitol, or vice-versa. This is one of the reasons that I suggest to Mr. Phelps that he not pursue

accreditation at this time. The Historic Capitol needs to define itself.

The topic of collections management software came up in a conversation I had with Mr.

Phelps’ office administrators. They told me to speak with Anne Mackenzie regarding a program

for which she already had licensing and servers. I quickly asked her about it and her response

revealed that it was an old battle that she had given up fighting a long time before. She has a

copy of Re:discovery “Proficio” that she had just begun to implement when her registrar left the

museum. Ms. Mackenzie is not an advanced computer user and she had no other staff to enter

data, so the Information Technology department uninstalled the server and placed it in remote

storage. My interest in the program clearly pleased her and she made it very clear to me that it

was my “job” to convince Mr. Phelps and Mr. Edel that it is in the museum’s best interest to use

such a program. I knew that it would be an uphill battle, due to Mr. Phelps’ strong preference for

using the FileMaker software to build his own databases using coding language.

I scheduled a web conference with the director of sales at Re:discovery Software (Mr.

Steve Richardson), Ms. Mackenzie, Mr. Edel, and Mr. Phelps. All but Mr. Phelps were able to

attend. In that meeting, Mr. Richardson demonstrated the features and functions of the

“Proficio” software. Mr. Edel was most impressed with the exhibit planning feature.

Convincing Mr. Edel that the software would be an asset to the museum took no effort at all

beyond merely showing him “Proficio’s” features. Mr. Phelps eventually agreed to make a

decision, albeit reluctantly, between two choices of management software: “Proficio” and

“PastPerfect.” He did so only because he does not have the time necessary to code a database to

suit his preferences. He coded a clean and spartan database for the digital photo collection on

25

which they are currently working, but that database does not lend itself to the inclusion of other

museum objects such as architectural artifacts, historical clothing, and furniture pieces.

Again, since collections management is such a strong focus in the accreditation process, I

thought it would be beneficial to consult with the Museum of Florida History (MFH) with regard

to their collections policies and procedures, since the Historic Capitol used to be one of their

sites and they are currently accredited with the AAM. Mr. Edel and I met with Kieran Orr, the

MFH Senior Museum Registrar. She is responsible for collections administration, collections

policy, and donations. I asked Ms. Orr what the most difficult part of the accreditation process

was concerning the collections. She said that they had a difficult time effectively defining their

ethics and object (de)accessioning. The committee requested that they strengthen and clarify

their ethics. Their (de)accessioning policy and procedure, needed to be clearer. They clarified it

by explaining that when an item is de-accessioned, it is preferable that an object replaces it rather

than receiving money as payment. It was a little ambiguous in its wording at first, but they

clarified it and the commission accepted it. She provided me with a copy of the MFH’s most

recent reaccreditation application and told us to feel free to use any of it that I saw fit in the event

the Historic Capitol does pursue accreditation.

Another area that the accreditation commission looks at with regard to a museum’s

collections is its disaster prevention and recovery planning. I asked all the staff at the Historic

Capitol as well as Ms. Orr regarding such planning. There is no planning in place for disaster

prevention or recovery. According to Ms. Orr, there was no procedure in place for the Historic

Capitol even when it was under the administration of the MFH. This is a serious issue that I

recommended be addressed urgently.

26

Recommendation for the Historic Capitol:

Collections

At present, the collections management system of the Historic Capitol is severely lacking

structure in some areas. The oral history database and photographic database are entered

regularly and consistently, but the other artifacts the museum has in storage are not catalogued,

accessioned, or in any particular arrangement. Andy Edel, for the most part, knows where the

artifacts are and is able to identify them along with their provenance. That, unfortunately, is not

an effective method of inventory control.

In my assessment of the collections, I frequently consulted with Mr. Edel with regard to

collections policies and procedure. He showed me a blank History Fair project exhibit loan form

and a Deed of Gift. There are no records of accessioned or deaccessioned artifacts. This is

partially due to the fact that the Historic Capitol was under the Museum of Florida History

(MFH) until a few years ago. The MFH may have records of artifacts, but have not yet made

those available to the Historic Capitol. It is extremely necessary to address the collections

management as soon as possible.

1. Collections Policy and Statement – This is a priority. Nothing else can be done until a

documented policy and statement are in place. The museum does not know what it is

collecting, why, or how much until this is done.

2. General Management – After the museum knows what it will be collecting, it is easier to

determine storage needs and procedure. Forms must be developed and storage space

shall be allocated.

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3. Storage – Climate control is absolutely necessary, but what is even more vital is a

formally designated space just for collections. While storage space is at a premium in

this facility, it is still important that collections not used in any exhibit have a specific

area. Currently, this is on the ground floor in room B-21. Even more specifically, it is

the series of shelving units on the north end and west wall of the room. Nothing aside

from museum objects should be stored here. This helps keep the collections safer from

destructive substances (e.g., acids, liquids) as well as safer from jarring, pushing, or

dropping objects from shelves. It is just good organizational practice and gives the

museum’s collections a level of respect.

4. Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Recovery

a. Forms – policies and procedures

b. Delegation of staff responsibilities

c. Distribute policies and procedures to appropriate areas and individuals (see

section titled EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK)

5. Policies and facilities for public access to special collections – needs to be defined both

physically and in written policy

4. Additional Staff Required

The staff of the Historic Capitol fall under two categories: “Administrative” and “Projects

and Visitor Services.” The museum hosts a healthy number of visitors per year. Also, in

reference to the recommendations for “Public Outreach,” the visitor services staff have neither

the time nor the personnel to expand their service capabilities. I spoke with both Mr. Phelps and

Mr. Edel concerning what they thought the museum lacked in the way of activities and

administration. I also looked at each staff member’s responsibilities and evaluated each with

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respect to work load. The entire staff has an enormous amount of duties and some staff are

responsible for far too much for one person. Most of the excessive responsibility falls onto the

visitor services staff.

My recommendations for the Historic Capitol for adding staff positions are below. Note

also that there are several examples of recommendations for public outreach activities as well.

Recommendation for the Historic Capitol:

Additional Staff Required

The staff suggestions listed below are in addition to and not necessarily a redefinition of

current positions. There are several plans that the museum administration is considering whether

or not to implement. Many of these plans will increase the work load of the current staff, which

is not advisable. In order for the museum to reach the standards for AAM accreditation and to

move successfully forward with its development the administration must consider adding

additional personnel to take responsibility for many activities so as to not overwhelm the current

staff. The following are suggestions that the museum administration should consider regardless

of its final decision regarding its pursuit for AAM accreditation.

The museum must also solicit volunteers and interns to assist the staff. These resources

are considerably underexploited. In a town where there are many young people who need

volunteer experience as well as adult civic groups, there is ample opportunity for recruitment.

The life of a museum, regardless of its funding, depends on the support of its community.

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Collections Manager

The museum needs at least one part time person designated for this purpose. This person

can also work in conjunction with the FLRC&M as necessary. This position is augmentable with

internship and volunteer positions. Collections manager can train and delegate certain

responsibilities to these persons.

Duties:

- Registrar (de/accessioning)

- Climate control supervision

- Maintenance and conservation and preservation of collections

- Monitor condition and state of museum objects in exhibits

- Archives

- Maintain Databases

Education and Public Relations

This area requires, at the very minimum, one full-time employee. It is highly

recommended that there be two employees dedicated to these duties. Two full-time positions

would be much more effective in this area since it is very complex, particularly while the state

legislature is in session.

The museum has a very large visitorship of school groups, so the education and public

relation aspects overlap considerably.

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Education

- Develop and maintain materials for public distribution in hard copy form as well as

electronic

- Ensure that the Sunshine State Standards and benchmarks are met for school groups and

youth education materials

- Keep an ongoing dialogue with schools and parents, actively soliciting comments and

suggestions with surveys

- Develop and execute public education and outreach programs such as school visits,

senior center activities, and public library events. This can include living history

performances, discovery boxes, and other engaging activities. This is an area that has

many options. These programs do not have to be frequent, but they should always be an

option.

- Summer camps are very attractive to area families. Week-long themed summer camps

for different age groups are very popular with parents and are a perfect way to be able to

expose children to a deeper examination of Florida’s political history because the staff is

not in a rush to get them in and right back on the bus. Examples of themes: Territorial

Capitol and Early Statehood: Frontier Tallahassee, Building Florida’s Capitol, and Great

People and Events in Florida History. The camps include various crafts, activities, and

the current capitol is easily accessible for visit and meeting legislators. The R.A. Gray

building is also close by and would certainly appreciate a group coming to visit. Camps

are also a great way to get students interested in the Florida State History Fair. The

opportunities are limitless.

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Public Relations

- Develop and maintain social networking via internet

- Develop and maintain a regular newsletter of events and news

- Develop and maintain a very active presence and participation in the Tallahassee, Gulf

Coast, and Statewide communities by means of booths at events such as the Florida

Folklife Festival and Springtime Tallahassee. National conferences such as the National

Council on Public history have booths.

- Create better networking and friendships with other museums and cultural organizations

- Compose and distribute regularly and widely press releases and general advertisement for

the museum and its activities to various publications, broadcast stations, and other media

outlets

- Coordinate and attend special community events such as lecture series, film

presentations, brown bag series, and special holiday events. This also includes co-

sponsoring and co-hosting events with other museums and organizations.

5. Employee Handbook

Part V of the application for accreditation with the AAM requires a museum to list its

staff and their duties and functions. That need, along with my recommendations for additional

staff, makes the development of an employee handbook for the Historic Capitol a desirable

project. Not only would this handbook describe museum employee positions, it would also

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include, thereby helping officially define, the museum’s policies, procedures, contact

information, and much more. I have proposed a possible outline for a handbook below.

Recommendation for the Historic Capitol:

Employee Handbook

Every office has its own set of policies, procedures, and contacts. This museum is part of

the larger Office of Legislative Services which, undoubtedly, has a handbook. The Historic

Capitol museum must have its own handbook to supplement this. The accreditation process will

require several of the items in the recommendations below.

Table of Organization

Your office already drafted a general table of organization, but it needs to go one step

further. There needs to be a position hierarchy with an accompanying table of position titles,

descriptions, duties, and responsibilities.

General History

Regardless of the duties individual staff members have at the museum, everyone should

have a general knowledge of the history of the building. The current volunteer handbook Visitor

Services provides is excellent. It is not vital that any staff member be able to recite every fact, it

is important that they are aware of where they work and what makes the building and site

significant. Also, in the event of a staff shortage or a particularly large volume of visitors, the

33

more staff that have a general knowledge of the building, the faster visitors’ questions will

receive answers. The better-educated the staff is with respect to the history of the museum, the

more respect it will garner from its industry peers. It shows a level of dedication and

professionalism that can help a grant-awarding organization decide to choose the Historic

Capitol Museum over another museum.

General Office Policies and Procedures

This includes daily activities such as incoming call monitoring as well as receptions,

special group meetings, and other special events. While creating this may seem excessive, it

helps prevent ambiguity. What is “common sense” to one person is not necessarily the same

thing to everyone else. The museum recently reviewed its policies regarding rental fees and

facility use. It is exactly that type of material that should be in the staff handbook.

Emergency and Safety Policy Procedure

The week prior to the 2009 Legislative Session, the Capitol Police executed a practice

emergency evacuation of the entire Capitol Complex. While waiting for the “all-clear” signal

from the Capitol Police, I listened to the conversations around me. What I heard was a lot of

confusion. Not all of the Historic Capitol staff and volunteers could be accounted for and it was

unclear to some individuals as to who was responsible for certain tasks. At one point, one staff

member had to re-enter what was, hypothetically, a dangerous building to ensure its safe and

total evacuation. There must be a clear delegation of responsibility for emergency situations as

34

well as a predetermined meeting place in the event of such an evacuation. There also needs to be

a floor plan of evacuation routes and fire suppression devices. Staff must be properly trained in

the use of fire extinguishers and understand the different types the museum has. Again, this may

seem excessive now, but safety is important and should be foremost, even in an office and

museum setting.

There is one area of safety that the museum has not considered at any great length in its

planning and that is the safety of its collections. Disaster preparation and recovery is especially

important in a place like Florida. I spoke with Kieran Orr, the Senior Museum Registrar at the

Museum of Florida History, what, if any, disaster preparedness procedure they had in place when

the Historic Capitol was under their jurisdiction. Ms. Orr informed me that the extent of their

written policy for the Historic Capitol in particular consisted of nothing else than shuttering the

exterior windows. While it is not feasible to prepare each individual item in the event of an

emergency, it is feasible to prepare certain areas that the museum staff knows to be prone to

damage. For example, Andy Edel informed me of an instance where the downstairs ladies’

toilets overflowed and flooded the ground floor. Rather than the water continuing to cascade

down the slope and out the south exit, the water collected in the rotunda area. He and a Capitol

police officer used brooms to push the water away in order to clear the area. A further concern is

the apparent porous nature of the rotunda floor. Mr. Edel recounted how the floor seemed to

absorb the standing water so quickly.

This is obviously a concern for any situation, but particularly so for a museum. This

rotunda area is contiguous to the main storage area for the museum’s collections. In the event of

flooding, residual humidity is a major issue as it often contributes to mold and mildew issues. If

Tallahassee is unfortunate enough to experience a hurricane, a long-term loss of power would be

35

disastrous. The entire staff needs to be familiar with the basics of disaster preparation and

recovery. Everyone is responsible for participation and the manual will show for exactly what

each position is responsible. Disaster recovery is an issue that requires training that the

collections manager and registrar should have prior to entering the position at the museum.

In the meantime, however, it would be beneficial for the museum administration to begin

considering a plan. Kieran Orr suggested looking at two resources. The first is a website:

http://www.dplan.org. This web site is a free tool that allows a user to form a disaster plan using

a “fill-in-the-blank” template. The organizations responsible for developing this tool include the

Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) and the Massachusetts Board of Library

Commissioners (MBLC). Funding for the project came from the National Center for

Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) and the Institute of Museum and Library

Services (IMLS). The second resource is a book called Steal This Handbook! A Template for

Creating a Museum’s Emergency Preparedness Plan.9 The Southeastern Registrars Association

publishes this book. The book outlines how to develop a plan, standards and procedures for

emergency mitigation, and appendices with many valuable tools such as forms, resource lists,

and more. Both of these resources used together will allow the museum to develop an adequate

disaster management plan until either a specialized collections manager is hired or the current

staff receives proper training.

9 Lord, Allyn. Steal This Handbook! Template for Creating a Museum's Emergency Preparedness Plan. Chicago: Fine

Arts Risk Management, Inc, 1996.

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Notes

A notes section is beneficial in that a staff member can record any further training or

instruction he or she receives in the course of employment at the museum. It is also a place

where the individual staff member may record any special information with regard to special

duties and responsibilities with which the museum assigns them. Keeping everything in one

book not only makes retrieval easier for the staff member, it also makes it easier for other

museum personnel to locate information in the event that a particular staff member is not present.

A further benefit of a staff handbook such as this is that when a staff member vacates his or her

position, the next person that fills that position will have a completed list of duties and

responsibilities.

6. American Association of Museums: Accreditation

The research direction in which my internship initially began changed. It began as a set

of architectural research questions and turned into a study of the current museum and its

operations. Mr. Phelps desires the museum to attain accreditation with the AAM, but was unsure

of the process, its requirements, and where the museum was with regard to its “readiness” to

commence the application process. Mr. Phelps understood that the museum was not yet ready to

apply, but he did not know what all they would need to do to be ready to apply.

Ms. Orr from the Museum of Florida History provided me with a copy of their

application that the AAM approved to use as a guideline as well as answering a few questions I

had about their experiences in the process. In my recommendation to the Historic Capitol, I

briefly describe accreditation and applied the “Characteristics of an Accreditable Museum,”

37

“Commission Expectations,” and “Discipline-Specific Standards” to the museum and indicated

where the Historic Capitol needed improvement.

Recommendation for the Historic Capitol:

American Association of Museums: Accreditation

Accreditation with the American Association of Museums (AAM) brings with it a

reputation of high standards and respect. A museum that holds an accredited status is one that is

well-defined with regard to its mission, is firm in its policy and procedure, and holds itself

accountable to its peers. Accreditation is a highly desirable trait for a museum and the

accreditation process is long and difficult. The Historic Capitol would benefit from

accreditation, but in consideration of its current state, it is not yet ready to pursue it. There are

several areas of the museum that need to be much more developed and well-defined before

starting the process. Aside from the reasons that are particular to the museum, there is another

rationale for postponing the accreditation process. In a February 2009 press release available on

their web site, the AAM announced that The Kresge Foundation and the Institute of Museum and

Library Sciences awarded the AAM two grants that will fund a study and redesigning of its

accreditation program.10

It would be in the museum’s best interests to take this time to organize

itself in accordance with the current standards and to anticipate adjusting to the new accreditation

process that the AAM may implement.

10

AAM Press Release: “AAM Receives Kresge, IMLS Grants to Re-Design Accreditation Program”. February 3, 2009. URL: http://www.aam-us.org/pressreleases.cfm?mode=list&id=154

38

The “soul” of accreditation with the AAM is what they refer to as the Two Core

Questions.11

Every area of a museum that the accreditation process considers rests on these

questions. The Two Core Questions are:

How well does the museum achieve its stated mission and goals?

How well does the museum’s performance meet standards and best practices as they are

generally understood in the museum field, as appropriate to its circumstances?

While they seem quite broad out of context, the AAM developed each of the Commission

Expectations (discussed later in this report) using these questions as the framework.

If the Historic Capitol does intend to pursue accreditation, the museum will need to meet

the “Eligibility Criteria” to participate in the AAM Accreditation Program. Currently, there are

thirteen criteria. The Historic Capitol currently meets nine of them. I list the Eligibility Criteria

below as well as a brief statement regarding the Historic Capitol’s current status as relating to

each criterion.

Eligibility Criteria

Be a legally organized nonprofit institution or part of a nonprofit organization or

government entity. This Historic Capitol meets this criterion as it is under the Office of

Legislative Services. If the Historic Capitol ever considers forming a Direct Support

Organization it is advisable to do so before entering the accreditation process.

Be essentially education in nature. The Historic Capitol is educational in nature and plans

to expand its educational programs.

11

The Expectations and Two Core questions are available online at: http://www.aam-us.org/museumresources/accred/standards.cfm

39

Have a formally stated and approved mission. The museum currently has a stated mission

that has been formally adopted, although the curator is presently redrafting it and plans to submit

it to the state legislature for formal adoption into a statute. It is for this reason that this criterion

is not yet entirely met.

Use and interpret objects and/or a site for the public presentation of regularly

scheduled programs and exhibits. The museum meets this requirement with regular operating

hours and permanent exhibits.

Have a formal and appropriate program of documentation, care, and use of collections

and/or objects. The Historic Capitol has no formal collections policy or procedure in place.

This is a very important action that the museum needs to take, particularly if the Historic Capitol

implements the PRD plan or any other project that would require moving collection pieces.

Carry out the above functions primarily at a physical facility/site. With the exception of

a formal collections management system, the museum fulfills this criterion.

Have been open to the public for at least two years. The museum meets this criterion.

Be open to the public at least 1,000 hours a year. The Historic Capitol goes above and

beyond this benchmark.

Have accessioned 80 percent of its permanent collection. Again, this pertains to the

formal collections management system which the museum needs to form. This criterion is, at

times, one of the more difficult to maintain. This is due to museums accepting large donations

into its permanent collections. This can be managed by having a clear scope of collections

statement.

40

Have at least one paid professional staff with museum knowledge and experience. Andy

Edel and Jane Brightbill have both been with the Historic Capitol for several years. These two

employees allow the museum to meet this criterion.

Have a full-time director to whom authority is delegated for day-to-day operations.

John Phelps fills this role as “Historic Capitol Curator” and his position is given authority in state

statutes: Title XVIII, Ch. 272.135.

Have the financial resources sufficient to operate effectively. The Historic Capitol is

fortunate in that it is funded directly by the Legislature and does not rely solely on donations and

grant funds. It would, however, benefit the museum to pursue an avenue for fundraising

capabilities through a society membership organization.

Demonstrate it meets the Characteristics of an Accreditable Museum. This criterion is

complex and requires further explanation.

Characteristics of an Accreditable Museum, Commission Expectations, and Discipline-

Specific Standards

There are several stringent standards that the AAM requires all its members to meet and

maintain. These standards are what the AAM refers to as “Characteristics of an Accreditable

Museum,” “Commission Expectations,” and “Discipline-Specific Standards.” Fundamentally,

their standards will most likely not change in a significant way. The aforementioned press

release suggests that it will be the process itself that will experience the most change.

41

The Characteristics of an Accreditable Museum are a generalization of the Commission’s

Expectations. There are seven categories of characteristics and each of these categories lists

several features. For a museum to demonstrate that it meets each of these characteristics, it must

fulfill the Commission Expectations.

The Accreditation Commission divides their “Expectations” into six categories:

Collections Stewardship

Delegation of Authority

Institutional Code of Ethics

Governance

Institutional Mission Statements

Institutional Planning

The AAM is very clear with regard to its expectations and they provide each expectation

in outline form, including additional forms or materials they require from a museum that seeks

accreditation. For the purposes of this report, it is not necessary to go deeply into this aspect.

The Historic Capitol would benefit from following these expectations when developing its

identity as a museum and when formalizing its missions and goals.

7. PRD v. Current Exhibit Upgrades

The “PRD Plan,” as the Historic Capitol staff refer to it, is an exhibit planning project

that a company called the PRD Group, Ltd. (PRD) conducted which completely renovates the

entire public area of the Historic Capitol museum. “PRD” stands for “Planning Research

Design” and the company has developed projects for several museums, including the

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Smithsonian American Art Museum, the American Civil War Museum, and the Texas State

History Museum.12

Mr. Phelps requested this design as he is unfamiliar with exhibit theory and design. In

his words, he is the “idea man” and he needs the “creative people” to actualize his ideas. PRD

designed a museum that is quite different from what it is today. Many of the changes, however,

are detrimental to the experience of the building itself and creates practical issues that are not

apparent to someone that is not more intimately familiar with the typical workday at the

museum. One last element they did not take into account was “politics”. To not take politics in

the literal and figurative senses into consideration when contemplating changes to the Historic

Capitol building is to solicit a negative response from the community. That community extends

to the entire state legislature.

Recommendation for the Historic Capitol:

PRD v. Current Exhibit Upgrades

As preparation for my internship, Andy Edel provided me with reading material after our

initial meeting in December. One of the materials was called the “Visitor Experience Master

Plan”. This “master plan” is a complete redesign of the Historic Capitol Museum’s exhibits and

public space. This study was completed by the PRD Group, Ltd. (PRD).

I looked through the plan that PRD developed for the museum and I have several

comments about it. The plan is very well-developed and is one that would be very well-received

12

The portfolio of the PRD Group, Ltd. is online at: http://www.theprdgroup.com/portfolio.htm

43

by visitors. The themes are very appropriate and it is excellent that they included many

interactive kiosks and A/V technology. I do, however, have some issues with their plan. First,

they show nearly every inch of available wall space in the hallways as covered by an exhibit

panel, thereby cluttering the view of the hallway. The Historic Capitol building itself is part of

the exhibit. To put that much in the hallways would take too much attention away from the

architecture as would hanging many banners in the rotunda. Another issue with installing exhibit

pieces in the hallway of the Historic Capitol is that of limited space. While this may not seem to

be a very serious issue now, it will be very apparent when hundreds of schoolchildren and

visitors fill the museum during the legislative session. Visitors will stop to read the panels which

will cause major congestion in the main walkway areas. The PRD plan is one best-intended for a

more modern facility. To implement the plan as-is would be entirely too massive of a project for

the museum.

Second, they converted the Welcome Center into a “Special Exhibits Gallery.” The

Welcome Center should stay as it is. There are so many legislators that come there to rest during

session and it would be best to leave that available to them.

A plan such as the PRD plan is, of course, often used as a starting point and the final

outcome of a renovation is often very different from the initial concept. The best course to take

would be to decide how flexible the museum can be with any major changes and how many

changes should happen at once.

It would benefit the museum greatly to upgrade its current exhibits rather than to

completely restructure its facilities. The museum is still defining itself and its mission and goals,

44

so to implement such a large-scale project would not be advisable. The current exhibits are very

well-received by the visitors and would do well with some slight updating.

8. Research Projects

This internship entailed more than one research project. The accreditation process

required me to research the current “State of the Museum.” Mr. Phelps also required my

assistance in researching for his presentation at the National Council on Public History

conference in Rhode Island this year. His presentation’s title was The Florida Legislature and

the 2000 Presidential Election; Uses of Historical Research. Mr. Phelps was the Clerk of the

House during the 2000 Election and was deeply involved with researching legislative precedence

in Florida election laws. As an illustration, Mr. Phelps compared the 2000 Presidential Election

to the 1876 Hayes-Tilden Presidential Election. Remarkably, the two elections paralleled on

several issues, including accusations of voter fraud, voter disenfranchisement, and close numbers

in the Electoral College.

What Mr. Phelps asked me to focus on the strongest was to find examples of the

aforementioned issues and their corresponding court proceedings. That portion of the research

project was the easier part of the research for that presentation. The more difficult topic was that

of “publishing legislative history.” As Clerk of the House, Mr. Phelps included the historic code

citations when publishing the legislative proceedings. The practice of publishing the previous

incarnations of legislation is a fiery topic among Senate and House clerks, but, at the same time,

there is also little to no published opinion about the topic. In search of any professional opinion

on the topic, I contacted Brenda Erickson, a head research librarian with the National Conference

of State Legislatures. She was unable to direct me to any research on the topic, but posted

45

questions on my behalf on listservs to which I did not have access. Those questions never

solicited answers. I informed Mr. Phelps of my results and he did not seem very surprised that I

was unable to find any published opinion on the topic, since it is such a volatile topic.

I compiled all of my research materials onto a Microsoft Office Live Workspace and

added Mr. Phelps as a “Workspace Collaborator.” I shared my results with him in this manner

for several reasons. First, he was able to access it from any computer that had access to the

internet. Second, it provided him the opportunity to browse what I found without spending a lot

of paper and toner on printing materials that he did not want to use. Third, he did not have to

carry it around as he would have a hard copy. Mr. Phelps greatly appreciated my use of the

Workspace for these very reasons.

9. Exhibit Planning and Installation

Mr. Edel requested my assistance with planning two exhibits while I was at the museum.

First, he introduced me to his very well-developed, as yet untitled architectural history exhibit of

the Historic Capitol building. He had a list of artifacts that he wanted to use in the exhibit and a

general layout design of how he wanted to interpret them, but he needed help in the visual design

and display equipment selection. We met with a design team and they proposed a room plan to

him. He liked it in the general sense, but immediately found issues that involved budgeting

constraints: their design was far too expensive.

We took a couple of days and brainstormed ideas in the exhibit space. My theatre design

experience was very useful in that I was able to visualize the history in terms of themes and the

organization of the artifacts in an aesthetically pleasing, yet informative way. We also discussed

options for displaying text panels. I suggested that the museum purchase equipment that is

46

portable and easily stored. The room that the exhibit will be in is a multi-purpose room and the

floor banners will have to be removed to make room for tables and chairs. We agreed on a few

different options that Mr. Edel will present to Mr. Phelps in his budget proposal.13

The other exhibit with which I assisted Mr. Edel was a temporary exhibit that we

installed in the first floor rotunda. It was a simple exhibit that showcased the FLRC & M and its

collections. Our main goal with the exhibit was to explain what the FLRC & M does and what

kind of objects they collect. It was not a formally-planned exhibit, due to the lack of an artifact

catalogue. Mr. Edel and I took a couple of days looking in the collections box by box and chose

pieces that were interesting and historically relevant. We displayed personal effects that

belonged to past Florida House and Senate members including Dempsey Barron, Lawton Chiles,

and Anne Mackenzie. The House members’ artifacts were in three cases on one side of the

rotunda and the Senate members’ artifacts were in two cases on the other side of the rotunda.

The third case with the Senate display featured the FLRC & M and its function. Mr. Edel

presented the House members and I presented the Senators and the FLRC & M. Some

particularly popular objects in my Senator displays were letters from constituents to Senator Pat

Thomas that were persuading him which way to vote on the Equal Rights Amendment. The

exhibit remained in the rotunda until a month after the legislative session.

13

Mr. Edel has since postponed further planning of the exhibit due to severe budget cuts, but he plans to resume planning in the next fiscal year if it is possible.

47

Related Coursework

My academic experience at the University of West Florida prepared me with a firm

foundation in historic preservation which was vital to my internship. There were a few course

adjustments that my graduate advisor and I needed to make to my curriculum due to several

circumstances, including course substitution and looking outside of the departments normally

included in the Historic Preservation program (History, Anthropology, and Art.) The choices I

made were very beneficial, as it allowed me to explore areas that are still related to historic

preservation, but to see them from other professions’ perspectives. It offered me the opportunity

to have a more in-depth exchange with students of other disciplines to discuss issues that are

common between their fields and mine, such as urban revitalization, governmental interagency

communication, and funding. Historic preservation is present in so many areas of civic

management, historic resource agencies, and academia. Schools with Historic Preservation

programs often focus either largely or entirely on architecture, but historic preservation is so

much more than just architectural history. The University of West Florida recognized this and

created their program accordingly.

HIS6055 Public History Methodology (Fall 2007) – This course included using

technology in public history. So many museums and historical resource organizations are

utilizing the internet, that it is important to know how to create web pages, understand

“Web 2.0” (social networking), and what online resources are available. My internship at

the Historic Capitol included the development of web-based social networking accounts.

I also made recommendations to Mr. Phelps with regard to expanding the electronic

resources they may wish to consider making available on their website. I was also

introduced to several approaches to researching in this course. Neustadt and May’s book

48

Thinking in Time introduces various approaches, but the simplest approach proved to be

the most valuable to me.14

When considering the Historic Capitol and its readiness for

accreditation with the American Association of Museums (AAM), I was not sure where

to begin asking questions. I used Neustadt and May’s pneumonic device “KUP” and

deduced where I needed to start looking for information. “KUP” means:

o Known

o Unknown

o Presumed

When faced with a large and complex task, it is easy to get overwhelmed by information.

“KUP” is a simple way to assess the situation and then decide which is the proper course

of action one should take.

HIS6083 Historic and Heritage Preservation Seminar (Spring 2008) - This course was

invaluable to me during my internship. The Historic Capitol is a museum, but it is also

an historic structure at the same time. The exhibit space is also an exhibit in itself. When

I read the museum redesign report by the company PRD Group, Inc., I thought of our

class discussions about adaptive use of historic structures. PRD Group, Inc,’s plan for

the Historic Capitol involves installing exhibit pieces that obstruct the visitors’ view of

the interior architecture. PRD Group, Inc. failed to include the building itself as an

exhibit, which minimizes the Historic Capitol’s importance. This issue reminded me to

heed what my professor, Dr. William Belko, referred to as “Belko Maxims.” I wrote

14

Neustadt, Richard E., and Earnest R. May. Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers. New York: Free Press, 1988.

49

these three maxims on my notepad and reminded myself of them daily during my

internship, as they are the essence of historic preservation. They are as follows:

o You are a traditional historian first.

o Anything applied should be creative and flexible.

o Law and economics versus humanistic endeavor.

The first maxim, “you are a traditional historian first,” means that the history is what is

most important and the history should be approached academically and not from a biased

standpoint. “Anything applied should be creative and flexible” is so very important in

historic preservation and is particularly applicable to making decisions concerning the

Historic Capitol. The Historic Capitol museum is under the Office of Legislative

Services while other historic sites and structures are under the Department of State. The

Curator of the Historic Capitol museum is a position that the legislation created in Florida

Statute 272.135. The Historic Capitol curator serves at the pleasure of the Senate

President and Speaker of the House. Both those individuals must approve any major

change, either physical (such as building repairs) or administrative (adding staff).

Politics can and does sometimes get in the way of work that needs to be done. It is,

therefore, important to remain flexible when planning anything for the Historic Capitol.

The PRD Group, Inc. project would be an enormous undertaking. Since the Historic

Capitol is literally at the mercy of the legislation, it would be unwise for them to go

forward with PRD Group, Inc.’s design. The third maxim, “law and economics versus

humanistic endeavor” is, perhaps, the most frustrating of the three. Dr. Belko described

Historic Preservation as existing on a continuum. On one end is “law and economics.”

The law and economics are the constraints under which the historic preservationist must

50

operate. At the other end of the continuum is “humanistic endeavor.” That is pure

historical preservation, conservation, and interpretation with no constraints whatsoever.

What the historic preservationist must strive for is a balance of the two extremes. What

makes administration difficult for the Historic Capitol is that they are not required to

follow Florida’s rules and statutes regarding the treatment of historic structures and

property. Mr. Phelps chooses to consult David Ferro, the state Historic Preservation

Architect, when making decisions regarding the Historic Capitol building. He is not

required to do so by law, but Mr. Phelps deems it proper to do so. Mr. Ferro was also

involved with the 1902 restoration project and knows more about the building than most

people. That is not to say, however, that any future curators will do the same. The

Florida Legislature represents the “law and economics” both literally and figuratively.

Mr. Phelps represents “humanistic endeavor,” as he wants nothing more than to improve

the museum. I considered the constraints set by the legislature and PRD Group, Inc.’s

extensive plan, and decided that it would not be wise for the Historic Capitol to go

forward with the PRD Group, Inc. The ideal compromise and balance between the two

would be to adjust the current exhibits and update specific elements rather than to

radically alter the interior space.

EVR5413 Environmental Aspects of Urban Growth (Summer 2008) – This course was

outside the historic preservation program’s usual courses. Historic preservation has a

significant presence in urban planning offices. EVR5413 explored how municipal

entities work individually as well as part of a larger bureaucracy. As a class, we went to

several municipal offices including the Escambia County Neighborhood &

Environmental Services Department (NESD), Crist Power Plant, and the Santa Rosa

51

Island Authority. All of these entities affect each other and so must cooperate in order to

be successful. I took this experience with me to my internship and translated the

municipal entities to all the various historical resource offices and organizations in the

Tallahassee area. I saw the need for the Historic Capitol to include itself in the cultural

arts and historical resources community. When the Historic Capitol was moved from the

Department of State to the Office of Legislative services, it became distanced from the

Museum of Florida History which used to manage the Historic Capitol Museum. When

that transfer occurred, the Historic Capitol museum did not have a collections

management system, disaster or recovery plans, or even a simple inventory of artifacts in

exhibit. I cautiously asked Mr. Phelps and Mr. Edel regarding the Historic Capitol

leaving the Department of State, assuming that the topic would be sensitive. The

administrations of the two museums, while not at odds, are not terribly forthright with

information. I attempted to bridge that gap and start an open communication between the

two. I spoke with Kieran Orr, the head registrar at the Museum of Florida History about

their collections management system and their accreditation experiences. Ms. Orr was

very helpful and was very willing to help in any way that she could. She even provided

me with a copy of their accreditation application to use as a reference when researching

the Historic Capitol. My experiences in EVR5413 prepared me for starting a dialogue

between two museums that should be in close and frequent contact with each other.

ANG6704 Historic Preservation Law Seminar (Fall 2007) and ANG6196 Policies,

Practices, and Archaeology in Historic Preservation (Fall 2008) – Researching laws was

part of a big project to which Mr. Phelps assigned me. He was going to give a

presentation at the National Council on Public History in Providence, Rhode Island on

52

April 2-5, 2009 that involved the 1876 and 2000 Presidential Elections, but he needed me

to help him with research. As clerk of the Florida House of Representatives, he was

heavily involved with the legislative activities surrounding the 2000 Presidential

Elections. He was very familiar with the current laws as well as the laws to which they

referred to determine their legislative intent. What he did not know were the Florida and

Federal Supreme Court cases that surrounded both the 1876 and 2000 Presidential

Elections. Historic preservation involves conforming to laws and regulations. Dr.

Benchley’s courses taught me how to navigate laws and how to read legal language. I

also knew where to look for laws and rules regarding historical resources in Florida and

discussed those with Mr. Phelps.

ANG5172 Historical Archaeology Seminar (Fall 2007) – Part of my internship at the

Historic Capitol was to work in Visitor Services. Guests sometimes have questions that

do not directly pertain to the museum exhibits, but to related history. Dr. Worth’s

Historical Archaeology Seminar gave me a good foundation for historic archaeology in

the southeastern United States. I was able to talk to visitors with confidence about topics

ranging from the Florida mission system of the First Spanish Period to the failed Dr.

Andrew Turnbull colony in New Smyrna in the British Period.

HIS5990 History of Architecture (Fall 2008) – The Historic Capitol is an impressive

building and many guests of the museum had many questions about it. Dr. Miller’s

architecture class prepared me to inform the public about its architectural features and to

explain their influences and origins. I was also able to read the architectural plans to the

1902 restoration of the Historic Capitol when doing research for the architectural exhibit.

Dr. Miller added an element to the usual architectural history curriculum by including

53

conservation materials and techniques, restoration, and reconstructing in the course

readings and discussions. That information was very valuable when we discussed future

maintenance projects on the Historic Capitol, namely the windows, roof, and dome.

ARH5836 Museum/Gallery Studies (Fall 2008) – ARH5836 was a newly-reconstructed

course held at the Pensacola Museum of Art (PMA). While the course was targeted more to

art history majors, it was very pertinent to me as an historic preservation student because the

museum was an historic building. The museum was required to follow strict guidelines

regarding the treatment of the building and it was very careful to not change too much of it.

The Historic Capitol is similar in that it is an historic structure and the curator is required by

law to “develop, direct, supervise, and maintain the interior design and furnishings of all

space within the Florida Historic Capitol in a manner consistent with the restoration of the

Florida Historic Capitol in its 1902 form.”15

ARH5836 also included an overview of the

American Association of Museums (AAM) accreditation process and requirements, which

proved to be beneficial as a large portion of my internship was assessing the Historic

Capitol’s readiness to pursue accreditation with the AAM. The entire class as a team had a

project that lasted the entire semester. We planned, researched, and installed a student art

exhibition which opened on November 21, 2008 at the PMA. I was on the Education Team

for the project. We were responsible for doing research and writing and installing the

didactics for the pieces. This project was excellent preparation for my internship as I assisted

in the installation of a temporary exhibit and planning a major exhibit. Part of historic

preservation is interpretation. It is not enough to merely record and preserve history. The

historic preservationist must participate in its interpretation as well.

15

Florida Statute 272.135(2)c.

54

Chapter IV

Conclusion and Recommendations

Of all the recommendations I offered, there are a few which require a greater priority.

Disaster planning is of the utmost importance for the collections in storage as well as those on

display. Along with this, the museum must adopt a formal classification system so that they may

accession all items and have a record of them. These two areas need immediate attention and

carry equal importance.

The current state of the economy in Florida prevents the Historic Capitol Museum from

hiring any new employees. When it is possible to do so, the Historic Capitol should hire

personnel to expand the museum’s community outreach programs and education. This also

includes maintaining the social networking profiles I set up as well as further developing the

museum’s official web site.

The Historic Capitol would greatly benefit from future interns. Projects at the museum

are ongoing and Visitor Services would do well with assistance during the legislative session.

When the museum chooses a classification system, they will require assistance in accessioning

their collections as well as upgrading their storage space. Exhibit development and a/v

upgrading are also projects in which interns would be useful to the museum. Interns can also

55

work on projects that relate to community outreach as well as education. The opportunities open

to interns at the Historic Capitol are numerous.

This internship allowed me to experience the museum in nearly every aspect of its

operation. I was also able to see the dynamic of the museum in relation to the rest of the State of

Florida agencies. The Historic Capitol is unique among the other State-controlled historical

resources in that it still hosts governmental activities and is the image of Florida government of

the past, present, and future. The museum is also experiencing redefinition of its goals and

mission. It is interesting to see a museum in such a state of change and to be a part of that

change is a great honor.

56

Chapter V

Internship Journal

[17 Dec 2008 | Wednesday]

Initial Meeting, Pre-Internship

I had my initial meeting with the curator John Phelps and the exhibits manager Andy

Edel regarding the generalities of my internship. I will be directly under Mr. Edel, but will also

regularly report to and be in contact with Mr. Phelps.

The initial description of my internship was to research the architectural history of the

Historic Capitol building. John Phelps is relatively new in his position and it is his opinion that

the Historic Capitol building deserves to be better researched. Research has been conducted, but

there are many holes in it and he wants to fill as many of those holes as possible.

Mr. Phelps’ “master plan” is in two general phases. First, he wants the research to be

entered into a database using software called FileMaker. I will be, presumably, entering sources

that are already known and also sources that I will be finding in my own research. Second, he

wants it to be available to the public in some way, either through electronic means or by

interpretation.

57

[05 Jan 2009 | Monday]

My First Day

Today was the first day of the internship at the Historic Capitol building. The curator,

John Phelps, is out of the country on vacation with his wife to Egypt and will not be back until

January 14th. Andy Edel, the exhibit projects manager, does not work on Mondays. Since he is

the direct supervisor in this internship, Cissy Dubose (the office administrator) focused the day’s

activities to the “first day” formalities. First, human resources office requires all volunteers to

complete a volunteer form. They have people who volunteer for several different reasons, so one

of the main purposes of the form is to record the intention of the volunteer as well as the typical

emergency contact information. The author of this journal was the only intern at the museum for

the period of January to April 2009. A large number of volunteers are retired persons. There are

two younger people who are in school and they must fulfill certain requirements for their

programs which include volunteer hours. There are two young men that are known as “the

Elders”, although they are usually between the ages of eighteen and twenty two. There is a long-

standing cooperation between the museum and the Mormon Church. The young men in the

Mormon Church are required to go on mission trips. Some go overseas and others go to cities

within the United States. Mary, an author who volunteers at the museum and is also sometimes

hired as an OPS, related a story about when she asked one of the elders what his first name was.

He replied that he preferred to be referred to as “Elder Johnson”. She insistently attempted to

learn his first name, but he refused, albeit politely, to reveal it.

The next task was to fill out a form for the Capitol Police department at the current

capitol building to get me an access badge for the capitol complex. This internship was officially

58

under the Office of Legislative Services. The administrative offices at the Historic Capitol are,

technically, associated with both the House and Senate. Their funding is through the Legislation

now, so they are not in quite a difficult position as many other museums are at the moment. The

official email address for this internship was justice.laura@flhistoricapitol.gov and the direct line

phone number for the newly designated “intern office” is 850.410.2234. The office is on the

basement floor and is accessed through the break room.

Parking was interesting. The House and Senate were in Special Session which directly

coincided with the internship. Free parking, already scarce, was nearly nonexistent. There s

parking available to me across Monroe St. by the Union Bank. The Historic Capitol leases

spaces there, four of which are open to volunteer staff. Cissy, Carolyn, and Iragene(?) told me

that the first four spaces to the left of the entrance are open to me, but when the House is in

session State employees take the spots. Cissy asked me to let her know if all of the spaces are

taken so that they will be towed. I will be riding my motorcycle every time I will be working

there, so Cissy is going to ask Officer Milton of the Capitol Police if I am allowed to park my

bike next to the bicycle rack. That would be wonderful if I could. There is also a space available

to me in the parking garage, but they will charge me $6.00/month. Cissy said they would ask

about getting me either reimbursed for it or to have the office pay for it. It was pretty amazing.

Three ladies in the office were all on their phones to their respective contacts trying to help me

with getting a parking place. I had no quarters this morning and cannot afford $5.00/day to park

in Klezman Plaza so I had to pay $1.00 to park in the library overflow lot, which was also full by

the time I left at about noon. I never had much reason to park over in that area before, so I was

unaware as to the parking issue. It is amazing how it can be such a big problem in such a

relatively small city.

59

I learned something very important today and, thankfully, it was not the “hard way”. I

was speaking with someone in the office about a House member that was on the television screen

(they always leave the House in session on in the office) and she informed me that I will be

hearing many things said around there and that I should be careful not to repeat them because

“you never know who is listening.” Gossip is never a good thing in an office, but when it

involves such high-level individuals, it is certainly nothing one would want to get into trouble

over.

[06 Jan 2009 | Tuesday]

An Introduction to Downtown Tallahassee

Today was a very busy day. My access badge worked! As soon as I walked in the door,

Andy told me to follow along a tour he was going to give at 9:40AM for a group of Senate

interns. I met two other volunteers as well: Kevin, who works at the visitor services desk and

Carrie who works at the Gift Shop. Carrie is going to be starting an internship next week at the

current Capitol building. I also met two of the Governor’s photographers: Lisa and a gentleman

whose name I cannot remember. I met so many people today!

After the tour, Andy and I took a cart to his office and gathered several notebooks that

contain information that pertains to the history of the building. I will be entering the items into

the database. I also discussed with Andy about me also possibly devising a general organization

plan for the collections at the historic building. Their information is in, at least, three different

offices and is not in any apparent order or even grouped logically. While it will not be a

comprehensive cataloguing, it will be a general “lumping and dividing” of the materials. Andy

said that there is a lot of duplication between the materials, so it might be possible to narrow

60

their materials down to single-copies and submit copies to the state archives and special

collections at Florida State University.

With the materials from Andy’s office moved to mine, we went to lunch at a sandwich

shop downtown called “Goody’s”. On the way, he pointed out several of the cafés where

legislators frequent and some that are very exclusive. The shop where we went sees many local

business people and interns. Over lunch, we discussed the city of Tallahassee’s government and

their downtown area. Andy said that there really is no commercial “historic downtown”, so to

speak, as Tallahassee has never really been what people generally consider a city to be. There

are areas where there are historic structures and spaces, but there is no definable historic district.

Tallahassee has started to build up their downtown area with the construction of several new

condominium projects, but the timing was very poor. One of the new condominium projects that

are complete did not have enough interested buyers, so they are now rented out nightly, weekly,

and monthly as “executive extended stay” suites. The average price was $300,000 to buy. Andy

also said that the city is not business friendly, although the city officials try to appear to support

downtown businesses. It costs, at a minimum, $60,000 for licenses and permits for a new

business to open. According to Andy, that amount is not relegated to the immediate downtown

area, but is in almost all of incorporated Tallahassee. Those high fees, coupled with high

property taxes, are serious disincentives to creating new businesses in an area that is prime for

commercial expansion.

After our sandwiches, Andy took me around downtown to show me historic structures

that related in some way to the historic capitol building, either through their original owner,

function, or collections. We walked to the David S. Walker Library, which is also the

Springtime Tallahassee Office, at 209 East Park Avenue. We met Jennifer Naff who is the

61

executive director of Springtime Tallahassee. She allowed us to take our time and to look at

their book collection. Ms. Naff said that part of their agreement regarding their use of the

historic structure was to continue to hold the Walker book collection. We found several very

valuable and extraordinarily rare books, some dating to the American Territorial Period of

Florida, the 1830s. The subjects range from ancient history to natural sciences to fiction. There

is also a large family Bible that was very fragile and neither Andy nor I were comfortable

handling it in that condition without the proper equipment or environment. The inside cover

indicated the manufacturing company was Brown’s, but the rest of the smaller writing was quite

faded and I did not notice a publication date. The paper was flaking at the binding, so I left it

alone.

[08 Jan 2009 | Thursday]

Getting Acquainted with FileMaker and the Florida State Archives Treasures

Tour

I checked my State library barcode to login again today and it still does not work. I will

be there this afternoon, so I can check it then, or I can just come by on Friday. We found the

database that Mr. Phelps began to develop for my project. I saved a copy onto their S: drive and

am editing that one. This way, if Mr. Phelps does not like it, then it can be started over from

where he left off and what I have already done will not have to be deleted. He did not give me

many categories with which to use to define the materials, so I am working with what he has. He

has categorized materials into groups of ten. For example, Oral Histories are 10.00, Books are

40.00, and photographs are 90.00. I am taking that classification and extending it to xx.xxx and

creating nested categories. I am categorizing reports under “Books” as 41.xxx, Exhibit

62

Morgues/Research under 42.xxx, and Manuals under 43.xxx. Andy said to try not to make too

many categories, but I do not feel comfortable being too vague either. I have just discovered a

docent manual that will be beneficial by giving me a better context from which to conduct my

research. Andy told me that they no longer refer to their book as a “docent” manual, but as a

volunteer handbook. They no longer have docents on staff as their volunteers no longer give

tours, but mainly sit at the front desk or work at the gift shop. They do provide information, but

it is in more of a general sense. The closest they come to being a docent is giving a brief

introduction to the building.

Later the same day...

Andy, Carol W., and I went to the State Archives to meet with Holly Sinco. Holly took

us on what they call the "Treasures Tour" of the archives. The items she showed us were

fantastic! First, she showed us an original Spanish Land Grant:

63

The pigments are still so intense that it is hard to imagine they are actually over one

hundred years old!

The next item was a real treat. It was the first page of the actual 1838 Territorial

Constitution of Florida. It was so exciting to be so close to such an important document!

There was another item that I would like to go back on my personal time to examine. It

is a Civil War doctor's journal book. It is a tiny book, about an inch thick and smaller than a

3"x5" index card. It is a book of field notes for contemporary cures and treatments. Among

other areas of research, that book is invaluable to someone doing mid-19th century living history.

64

I need to remember these next two collections. I need to come back and get information

from them:

°M84-30: Jennings Papers, 1906-1919

°M95-1: Save the Capitol records, 1971-1982.

[14 Jan 2009 | Wednesday]

First School Tour

This morning, a fourth grade school group came to visit the museum. Andy asked me to

observe the tour, so that I would know what to do in case they needed me to help one day. Their

"tour" is actually more of an extended introduction. First, Andy asked the children to sit on the

steps in the first floor rotunda. He told them a general history of Florida, focusing on the

Territorial Period and Early Statehood Period. He then showed them a diagram that shows the

various incarnations of the Historic Capitol building.

In 1845, Florida became a state. The government used the new masonry structure, whose

construction began in 1842, as the first state capitol building. This original structure is the "core"

of the Historic Capitol and still exists as part of the present building. Below is the footprint of

the 1845 building:

65

Florida began to grow with its statehood status. The government added to the structure

by extending the north and south wings. The Senate met in the large room in the south wing and

the House met in the north wing. The building was designed as such so both could end their

session simultaneously with the dropping of the kerchief. The 1902 building:

They expanded the structure again in 1923 by adding the east and west wings to the core.

They moved offices and chambers and the House and Senate were no longer able to see each

other:

66

Florida continued to grow and the capitol building needed to expand to meet the needs of

the growing government. In two separate projects in 1936 and 1947, they added north and south

"arms" to the building:

After the two additions in 1936 and 1947, the Florida government decided that the

original capitol building could no longer fulfill their needs. In 1977, the current capitol building

opened and towered over the historic building:

A serious issue soon appeared. The roof line of the north and south "arms" of the capitol

were touching the new capitol building. This was unsafe and against local codes. The

government decided to have the historic capitol demolished and for a terraced garden to replace

it. Their justification was that Florida needed to move forward and to "hold onto" the old capitol

building was not conducive to such a mission. There was an incredible uproar from the public

67

against the demolition of the old capitol building. The government finally reached a consensus

and decided that the old capitol would be partially demolished and returned to its 1902 state.

Herschel Sheppard, the lead architect on the project, stated in a lecture he gave to graduate

students this January that they chose the 1902 appearance because it was in that period that a true

sense of patriotism existed in the state. Below is the footprint of the current capitol grounds:

He then talked about the "why" and "how" of historic preservation. During this whole

process, he asked the children questions to keep their attention and interest. He also talked about

the dome in the rotunda and how the project crew from the restoration found the original colored

glass in the wall cavities.

After he gave them the introduction, he led the students to the House Chamber and had

them each sit at a reproduction desk that had a controller mounted to it. This area has an

interactive exhibit called "This House Is Now In Session". The program is about ten to twenty

minutes long and uses two televisions and electronic voting units at each student's desk. In this

program, the students were sworn in as House members and were asked to choose one of three

issues on which to discuss and vote. The issues were a trans-Florida canal, school vouchers, and

the Equal Rights Amendment. Once the students chose their topic, a woman who portrayed the

Speaker of the House had two fictitious representatives present the "for" and "against" positions

68

with regard to the topic. The program asked the students to vote either for or against the issue

and the students watched the screens as their votes were displayed and tallied. The Speaker then

called two students, one at a time, to stand and briefly state their position on the issue. The

program chose a number at random. The children were shy and did not actually stand and state

their position. They did, however, appear excited that they participated in such an exercise. It

was not apparent how much they actually understood about what they voted on or the issues

involved, but it was refreshing to see a positive response to the American political process.

Andy related an incident to me earlier that involved a group of women from the Middle

East. They participated in the same exhibit soon after the museum installed it. Andy noticed the

odd expression the women had on their faces throughout the exercise and spoke to a few of them

afterward to ask their opinions. A few of them were deeply touched by the experience. For

some of them, this was the first time they were ever able to vote and participate in a political

process, as such an act was forbidden in their country.

[15 Jan 2009 | Thursday]

Issues With Collections Management

John Phelps has expressed his interest in getting the museum accredited with the

American Association of Museums (AAM). He realizes that this is going to be a very long and

difficult process, but he asked me to evaluate their museum and give my recommendations to

him regarding how they should go about the self-evaluation portion as well as any other issues I

may come across.

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The first issue I encountered is glaring. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, this museum

is under the Office of Legislative Services. Those other services include the photographers as

well as the Florida Legislative Research Center & Museum. These other two offices are separate

from the old capitol museum, but their collections and electronic databases are associated with

one another. Each has their own database and accession procedures and policies. John Phelps,

Anne Mackenzie (director of the FLRCM), and Andy all agree with me that they need to be on

one system and use one program. Currently, there are several unconnected databases in different

programs including Access, FileMaker, and Excel. I asked John if he had ever heard of the

collections management program called PastPerfect and if he would consider looking into

purchasing it in order to coordinate everyone's collections. It was then he told me about the

Re:discovery software Anne brought with her when she moved there from the Tallahassee

Community College (TCC) campus. I asked Anne what she could tell me about the software and

she said that someone else was trained to use it, but that that person was no longer there. John

gave me the user's manual for the software and I will look at it and tell him if I think it is worth

using, seeing as how they already own it and have licensing for a few users. Anne also

forwarded me the email from the director of sales with the Re:discovery company. I have set up

a web conference with him on next Wednesday to demonstrate to our staff how the software

works and its features.

[20 Jan 2009 | Tuesday]

Inauguration Day!

I know that the Presidential Inauguration is not exactly in line with my internship, but I

still feel that I should talk about it. In a way, it is still relevant since the museum is the "Florida

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Center for Political History and Governance." As would be expected, the Capitol Police had a

very heavy presence on the grounds. They took police dogs around and through the museum just

before we opened. The fire alarm sounded in one of the office buildings on the grounds which

sent lots of state employees wandering throughout the museum.

Our office had a special lunch today at the office. It was in honor of three January

birthdays (including my own), but they chose to celebrate them today. It was nice because we

were all able to watch the Inauguration Ceremony on the large television in the Florida Room. It

was amazing to see so many people with such hope and a positive outlook for America. It has

been so long since people were able to come together like that. It was truly moving and I am

glad that I was able to witness it, even if it had to be via satellite.

Just before lunch, Andy took me on a quick tour of part of the innards of the building.

He took me to the room that used to be the Comptroller's office. There is an access hatch that

maintenance uses to get to utilities. That little hatch accesses an area that used to be a vault for

the Comptroller. Andy shone a flashlight at the north wall of that area inside the vault and the

original 1845 windows are visible. The workers bricked them closed during the 1902

renovation, but they are very obvious and the bricks appear to be in beautiful condition. The

hatch opening we came through to get in to the vault area has a curved brick transom above it.

Sometime during a slower day Andy promised me that he would take me up into the dome.

[21 Jan 2009 | Wednesday]

The Re:discovery Web Conference

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I am ridiculously nervous today. I am having a web conference today (my first!) with

Steve Richardson, the director of sales with Re:discovery Software. He will be demonstrating

the latest version of the software to us. Anne made it clear to me that it is going to be my job to

convince Andy and John that they need to have a well-developed cataloguing system in place for

the museum. Anne has already let me know that it is a battle she has lost and that it is going to

be an uphill one for me for sure. I cannot tell if it is my nerves or the fact that my heater is not

working in my office that is making me shiver.

Important information!

Conference Room Number: 850.487.3492

Steve Richardson: 208.338.8487

To call long distance: 6.1.Area Code.Number

Points to cover →why the Historic Capitol needs a program like this:

This program (Re:discovery Proficio) is already in kind

The databases are well-developed and flexible

Other agencies that use Proficio: NPS, Florida Archives

Collections can be made available via the internet

Accreditation with the AAM requires that museums have and maintain a well-developed

database of artifacts and archives.

Meeting Notes:

Historic Capitol staff attendees: Anne Mackenzie, Andy Edel, and myself.

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The Historic Capitol already has a previous version of Proficio that includes the web

publishing feature and licensing. The main cost of the updated version would be the labor

involved in converting the information that the Historic Capitol has put into the FileMaker

database. The Re:discovery import tool is more compatible with Microsoft Excel and Access. If

the Historic Capitol wants to add the “Collections” module to the package, that would be another

$1500. Features Andy and Anne liked in particular: Audit changes made to a record, the ability

to track changes made through the database, the exhibit planning tool, and the financial donor

database.

[22 Jan 2009 | Thursday]

More Re:discovery

Today, I had a follow-up meeting with Anne with regard to the Proficio program. We

decided that Andy and I need to develop a list of types of items that we require in the database

attribute list. Anne will develop a list that pertains to her archives with the Florida Legislative

Research Center and Museum. She will send both lists to Steve Richardson and then schedule

another meeting with him, herself and John Phelps.

[27 Jan 2009 | Tuesday]

Herschel Sheppard Tour

Today was a fantastic day! I helped Andy open up the museum, which consists of

unlocking and opening all the doors to the exhibit rooms, turning on all the lights, and unlocking

the first floor main entrance doors. With two people working in a particular way, it can be done

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in five minutes. The locks stick a little for me still, so I could not quite meet the five minute

goal. I will get faster as I practice it more. It does not seem terribly important to get it done in

five minutes, but I have looked at the calendar of events for the Historic Capitol and every

minute will count on some of those days!

Not long after we got the museum open and ready to receive visitors for the day, John

Phelps called me into his office to assign me a project. He will be giving a presentation at the

National Council on Public History in Rhode Island this spring. The topic is the 2000

Presidential Election. John was the House Clerk during the election and was heavily involved

with assisting the Speaker of the House with regard to researching legislative history as it

pertained to all the issues surrounding the election in Florida. He wants to compare and contrast

the 2000 Election with the 1876 Hayes-Tilden Presidential Election. John said he will give me

more details later, but he wants me to focus on trying to find something that he has read, but

needs to be verified to use it in his presentation. Unfortunately, he does not remember where he

read it or who wrote it. What John does remember is a few details of an event that happened

surrounding the 1876 election. There was a Florida judge involved, who was impeached at some

point, and this judge accused delegates of murder. This is going to be tough.

Now, here are the details of the best part of the day: Herschel Sheppard, the architect

responsible for the 1908s restoration of the Historic Capitol, gave a tour to a group of University

of Florida graduate students and I got to tag along! Before I talk more about the tour itself, I met

two other people of note. First, was Dr. Peter Prugh. He is a professor in the UF Architecture

program. Second, was Jackson Peel. He is the videography supervisor with the Florida Channel.

He is noteworthy because the Florida Channel does so much broadcasting, particularly during the

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legislative session. He is a good person to know if I need to get a copy of a past broadcast or any

other footage.

Onto the tour! On the east steps, Sheppard pointed out the columns and revealed a very

major issue they encountered. The columns are mainly hollow with a stucco shell, a central post,

and horizontal disks for lateral support:

They noticed a large crack starting to form that ran the full height of each column a few days

after they installed them. After much thought, they realized what was causing the problem.

Since the columns were hollow, there was a large space for air to accumulate. The columns on

the east steps are in the morning sun for a long time. They installed the columns in the

afternoon, when that side of the building was in shade. The next few mornings, as the sun hit the

columns, the interior temperature of the columns caused the air inside to expand and push against

the stucco. This, in turn, caused the stucco to crack. Pleased that they discovered the cause of

the problem, the remedy was even simpler: they drilled a hole in each column to allow the air to

equalize as it heats and cools. After hearing that story, it made me wish that architects wrote

memoirs or journals about their experiences on each (large-scale) building they design and

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construct. Things like that add so much to the record of a building and they can be very valuable

in the event structural issues arise years after its construction.

We moved inside to the first floor rotunda. The historical “core” of the building, the

1845 structure, is largely unknown as no images or architectural drawings of it are known to

exist. The planners chose to restore the building to its 1902 incarnation for several reasons.

First, the stained glass dome was not part of the 1845 version and there are some visitors that

come especially to see it. Also, the exterior appearance is much more recognizable to the

community as the Historic Capitol building with which they are most familiar. Since it is vital to

have a strong community support in historic preservation, the 1902 version was the most

appropriate choice.

Another issue that they faced in the reconstruction process was the dome’s appearance.

The only documented record the team had available to them was a preliminary drawing by Henry

John Klutho, the architect of the 1923 expansion. A favorite story of the museum is how they

found the stained glass of the original dome. Some workers were looking down the open wall

cavity of the rotunda and saw something sparkling below. They investigated and discovered that

all the glass from the dome was simply dumped down the wall when it was removed.

Incidentally, they also found a liquor bottle along with it. The restoration team gathered up as

much of the shattered glass as they could and set a group of volunteers to work at the Florida

State archives who painstakingly reassembled the panels from the drawings. It took a full year

for them to complete the task. They made a larger drawing of the finished panel and the

designers promptly ordered reproduction panels to include the stained glass dome in the

restoration.

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There were, of course, modern code requirements that Sheppard had to include in his

design. There are large fire doors at the hallway entrances off of the rotunda on the first and

second floors. These doors are extremely large and heavy pocket doors that slide closed if the

fire alarm is triggered. Andy informed me that there is an issue with these doors because they

sometimes close really fast. Also, because of their weight as well as slamming shut, they

become imbalanced and do not “hit their mark” the way they should. Subsequently, the walls

opposite from where the fire doors emerge sustain slight damage each time the doors engage.

The Supreme Court, House, and Senate Chambers all received similar treatments, as they

are the three largest rooms after the rotunda. The ceilings were lowered by six inches to allow

space for duct work and the fire suppression system. There are floor vents in place of the

original radiators. Sheppard was unable to correct a problem that has plagued both the House

and Senate Chambers since they were first built. The ceilings are so high and there is little to no

sound-dampening materials, the echo in those rooms is substantial. Andy told me about a sound

engineer who set up his equipment to record the echo in the room. The engineer was amazed as

he said it was the longest sustaining echo he ever recorded in a room. Rather than installing

acoustic paneling in the room, he decided to leave the rooms as-is and not drill into the walls or

disturb the visual experience of the visitors.

One particular note about the Governor’s office is the recreated carpet. The 1902 capitol

existed in the era of photography, which is how the design team was able to ascertain the pattern.

What they were not certain about, however, were the colors in the carpet. After brainstorming,

they finally decided on a solution. 1902 was at the very end of the Victorian Period. During the

latter part of that period, home furnishing catalogues became very popular and many women

paid very close attention to how their personal spaces were decorated. The design team took this

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knowledge and decided that Mrs. Jennings, the wife of the 1902 Governor Jennings, was

undoubtedly involved with the decoration of her husband’s office. While I am not sure of

particular details of their source information, the team chose colors that Mrs. Jennings preferred

the most.

There is one last story that Herschel Sheppard shared that is amusing. While it is

amusing to me, it was, without a doubt, a headache to many people associated with the

construction and maintenance of the Historic and even the current Capitol buildings. There is a

red brick courtyard that fills the grounds between the Historic Capitol building and the current

capitol complex. To look at the grounds on an average day, there is nothing particularly

noteworthy to mention other than it sits on a hill and that hill slopes to the south. On very rainy

days, however, a serious flaw becomes apparent. This flaw is the result of an easily-avoidable

accident. As Sheppard related the story, he began with talking about the bricklayer foreman.

The survey crew carefully placed marker poles for the bricklayers to use as reference for their

work. The survey foreman repeatedly demanded that no one touch any of the markers. The

crews took heed of this warning and tried their best to stay clear of them. There was one person,

however, that was not paying very close attention to what he was doing and, for one reason or

another, moved at least one of the markers. This resulted in a slope that, to this day, causes

drainage problems in the courtyard.

It was with that last story that Herschel Sheppard closed his tour. There were several

other things he talked about, but the ones I mentioned were the most interesting and the ones I

have not yet heard or read. After the tour, I followed Sheppard and John Phelps around as they

discussed the windows. The windows, particularly those on the east side of the building, have

been leaking and are rotting. Sheppard was not quite sure why they were leaking, but I spoke

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with John alone later and he believes that they were improperly caulked when they were initially

installed in the 1980s. The repair of the windows is the first major project for which John plans

to budget.

[28 Jan 2009 | Wednesday]

Digital Collections at the Historic Capitol

I met with John Phelps today with regard to their electronic collections. Between the

Historic Capitol and The Florida Legislative Research Center and Museum (FLRC&M), there

are over 100,000 high-resolution digitized photographs that he and Anne Mackenzie are sorting

through and identifying people in them. He said that it grows every year by at least 20,000

photos. This new information poses several more questions that will help define what their

collection software needs are.

First, someone needs to evaluate the servers they currently have devoted to the Historic

Capitol and FLRC&M. The servers must be able to handle a heavy influx of data. Having

talked to Anne Mackenzie again, I found that right after she moved to the Historic Capitol from

TCC, the Information Technology (IT)department installed the servers and Re:discovery Proficio

software and linked the special servers to the main network servers. For some unknown reason,

there was a problem linking the servers. They took the servers offline and they planned to

troubleshoot the problem. In the meantime, Anne’s archivist left the museum for another job and

Anne was left with a complex program with which she was quite unfamiliar. As a result, IT

packed everything away and it sat in remote storage and unmentioned until now.

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The current version of Proficio that Anne has is outdated and will need to be upgraded on

the servers. This poses another question. When developers upgrade software, they generally add

more features and options within the program. More features require more virtual memory. Will

the servers need to be expanded in order for Proficio operate? Both John and Anne told me to

contact a woman named Debbie in IT. She is the projects manager for the department. Any

questions that we may have can be directed to her.

[29 Jan 2009 | Thursday]

Staff Meeting

We had a staff meeting this morning. Most of what was covered was budgeting and a

discussion of the upcoming session. John informed us that he may be leaving for Baghdad, Iraq

for about two weeks as part of his consular duties. This is not yet firm, but it is possible, so if we

need to ask him anything, now is the time to do so. Andy will not be here for most of the day, so

I will continue looking into different museum software programs as well as the 1876 and 2000

Elections.

[03 Feb 2009 | Tuesday]

Focus of Internship Shifts

I did some general research today regarding the history of the Historic Capitol. I looked

through several newspapers and 19th

and early 20th

century digitized texts (I love you, Google

Books!), but did not find very much. I did find a curious (and quite random) mention of a

Tallahassee Mission School, but its description places it in northern Alabama. It was in a book

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on Google called The Undeveloped West; or Five Years in the Territories by John Hanson

Beadle. It makes me wonder if that was an old mission site that was formed post-Mission San

Luis exodus of 1704. It does not seem that this will turn out to be the primary focus of my

internship after all. Having talked with John further, Accreditation with the American

Association of Museums seems much more important to him. I will focus more on researching

the current Historic Capitol and evaluate it with regard to Accreditation. I will also ask around

and see what issues the individual staff members have with daily museum operations and find

what they would like to see happen, or even stop happening, for that matter. John is very

interested in expanding the use of digital technology by means of upgrading the current A/V

system, the web site, and anything else on which I can give him advice. Outreach and

community education is a primary interest of mine, so to evaluate the museum with relation to

expanding its education and outreach is going to be absolutely fantastic!

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[04 Feb 2009 | Wednesday]

Staff Meeting and Exhibit Projects Meeting

There was another staff meeting today and an Exhibits meeting. We first discussed an

engineering assessment that a man named Randy Lewis conducted on the exterior elements of

the building. There are several repairs that they need to address, including the windows, the

flashing, support beams, dome windows, and the dome tensioners. The Historic Capitol always

seeks Dave Ferro’s, the Architect Supervisor for the state Architectural Preservation Services

section of the Department of Historical Resources, approval when they plan any changes or

repairs to the building and immediate grounds. John recently submitted a proposal to him

regarding repair to the exterior windows. I have not seen this proposal, but I know that there is

something that does not meet his requirements. Although, the Historic Capitol is not necessarily

subject to the same regulations to which other historic properties in Florida are subject, they

strive to follow them as closely as they can and they are very grateful for Mr. Ferro’s guidance.

Since none of the staff members of the Historic Capitol are trained in historic preservation and

are unfamiliar with the state’s requirements for historic resources, they greatly value Mr. Ferro’s

assessments. One last note about the maintenance that needs to be done on the building is about

the dome tensioners. They can only be adjusted on a cold day.

The upcoming legislative session was the next topic. John and his immediate office staff,

Cissy and Iragene, are still heavily involved with the House Clerk’s office. Bob Ward, the

current House Clerk, is still relatively new, so John frequently advises him on procedure and

troubleshooting. John is also House Historian and this requires him to be present for certain

events and meetings. They already let me know that John will be difficult to meet with during

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session, so I need to plan accordingly. It is a good thing, however, that he checks his email on

his cell phone, so if it is terribly urgent he can respond a little faster than he might otherwise. A

very important reason that John brought up the session was to discuss the courtyard events.

There is, apparently, always an issue with equipment set ups and people putting things where

they are not supposed to. There will also be many after hours receptions that will be in the

Historic Capitol. It is also during the session when most school groups schedule their tours and

these tours are often just fifteen minutes apart. In short, the Legislative Session turns the

Historic Capitol a madhouse.

John is very excited by the prospect of upgrading the audio/visual facilities and

expanding them to include the entire museum, rather than just a couple of areas. He wants to

hire an A/V firm to design a network system that will allow for quick changes to the broadcast

materials. As it is now, there are individual television units that play DVDs. The introductory

video is difficult to reset when a school group visits and the plasma screens have long-surpassed

their life expectancy. They are starting to degrade. It is not a project that will likely happen very

soon, but it is something that John wants me to think about and let him know what my opinions

or ideas are on the topic.

The Exhibits Projects meeting was later this afternoon. It was very short, but it was about

the architectural exhibit that Andy has been working on for a few months. He showed a

preliminary sketch and artifact catalogue to a design team and explained what he wanted to

impart with the exhibit. One concern with that room is that it is a very bright room in the

morning and afternoons. The light is currently dampened on the east side by large photographic

transparencies that span the entire window. The north windows have blinds that are easily

adjusted. He wants to know what options he may have that they can design to tie it into the room

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design. Next, Andy mentioned a particular object that will require very special handling and

attention. The Museum of Florida History has a large section of the original 1845 frescoed

plaster wall in storage and they want the Historic Capitol to take possession of it. There is a

major issue, however, with getting it to the Historic Capitol. It is extraordinarily fragile and the

MFH does not want to transport it, but they want the Historic Capitol to find a way to remove it.

The storage and display of the wall section is important to consider in the design of the exhibit

and he wants the team to provide suggestions for that.

[05 Feb 2009| Thursday]

Delving Into the Accreditation Process

I have looked at the AAM Accreditation Kit that John gave me to use a couple of days

ago. I knew that this was going to be a major undertaking, but I am so confused right now. I

simply do not know where the Historic Capitol ends and the FLRC&M begins. I know that The

FLRC&M is a 501c3 organization, but the Historic Capitol is not. Yet, they seem connected in

some ways and entirely separate in others. My next question is with regard to the policies and

procedures that he Historic Capitol has in place. Andy is not aware of any, but there may be

some paperwork left over from when the Historic Capitol was under the Division of Historical

Resources. I have scheduled a meeting with John on Tuesday and will ask him to clarify this.

[10 Feb 2009| Tuesday]

Organization Clarification

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I had my meeting with John today and I have decided to tell John that pursuing

accreditation at this point would not be advisable. He explained to me that the Historic Capitol

and FLRC&M are separate entities with separate mission statements, but that he oversees both of

them and budgets for both. They have completely separate collections, but the collections are

maintained by both sets of staff, depending on the materials. Yes, I have a firm grasp on the

organization, but it is so very complex of a relationship that there is no way to completely

separate them. I am not sure how the Historic Capitol could receive accreditation exclusively

and the FLRC&M not be considered in anyway. John is also considering changing the wording

of the HC’s mission statement.

On another topic, I spoke with John about outreach with the museum. I asked what he

thought about me creating social networking accounts to help promote the museum. He thinks it

is a fantastic idea! After our meeting, I registered a web-based email account with Hotmail.

Tomorrow, I will devote a large portion of my day to developing those profiles and see what my

other options with the social networking may be.

[11 Feb 2009 | Wednesday]

Social Networking

I created profiles in Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter today. The Twitter account is also

accessibly through both Facebook and MySpace. The reason I did that was to make outreach

that much easier on the visitor services staff. The web-based email account allows the profiles to

be maintained by a museum volunteer that does not have access to the state exchange server. It

is free and such an easy way to disseminate information to a worldwide audience. I looked

through MySpace and Facebook for other museums, historical societies and other historical-type

85

organizations. I found so many! I sent out a lot of friend requests and now have over 30

“friends” on MySpace just in the first day! Facebook and Twitter are a little more difficult to

find connections, but I will figure them out.

There is hope on the horizon concerning a collections procedure for the Historic Capitol!

Anne showed me a network directory that her previous archivist developed for their collections.

She is not entirely sure of what it all means, but she thought it might help me to look at it. I

found a draft of the FLRC&M archives procedure manual! I am going to show it to Andy and

John, so that they are aware of it and they can see how procedures work. They are familiar with

how archives work, but it will help them to better plan for their own archives if they see an

example of something with which they are familiar.

[13 Feb 2009 | Friday]

Meeting with Kieran Orr

It occurred to me that it might be useful to consult with the Museum of Florida History

with regard to their collections policies and procedures, since the Historic Capitol used to be one

of their sites and they are currently accredited with the AAM. Andy and I met with Kieran Orr

today. She is the MFH Senior Museum Registrar and is responsible for collections

administration, collections policy, and donations. Before I discuss what our conversation was

about, I want to include the ISBN of a book the Historic Capitol needs to add to its library:

ISBN:0910050937 and the title of the book is Nomenclature for Museum Cataloguing. It is the

guide to defining museum objects and classifying them in a universal way.

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I asked Kieran what the most difficult part of the accreditation process was concerning

the collections. She said that defining the ethics and object (de)accessioning . The committee

requested that their ethics be made stronger and clearer. Their (de)accessioning policy and

procedure, needed to be clearer. They clarified it by explaining that when an item is

deaccessioned, it is preferable that an object replaces it rather than receiving money as payment.

It was a little ambiguous in its wording at first, but they clarified it and the commission accepted

it. She provided me with a copy of the MFH’s most recent reaccreditation application and told

us to feel free to use any of it that I saw fit in the event the Historic Capitol does pursue

accreditation. She also extended an offer for any further assistance, but I am not sure if it will be

a good time. They are strained with staff and, although she did not say it, I know that she was

doing me an enormous favor by meeting with me. This economic season is really rough on the

state and when the legislation is in session, every agency and office in Florida, particularly those

in Leon county, become insanely busy. They will be under even more pressure with a smaller-

than-usual staff.

[17 Feb 2009 | Tuesday]

More Digital Collection

The Historic Capitol and FLRC&M together have a growing collection of legislative oral

histories conducted by Mike Vasilinda. Some of these are already on DVD, but Carol Wynn is

in the process of transferring several VHS tapes to DVD. The Historic Capitol also receives

DVD copies of committee meetings and session footage from the Florida Channel. This is a

quickly growing collection that is currently stored in the FLRC&M climate controlled archive

room and the database is in the FLRC&M directory: S:/flrcm/flrcm recording collections/FChnl.

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This is one of the gray areas to which I earlier referred, where the Historic Capitol and FLRC&M

merge and their collections merge.

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[18 Feb 2009 | Wednesday]

Archival DVDs

John asked my opinion this morning with regard to the best quality DVDs for archives. I

searched quite a lot of web sites that review computer supplies and, after carefully translating

“tech speak” into plain English, I found that DVDs that are labeled “Archival Quality” does not

necessarily make them better than other DVDs. What makes the difference is the pigment on the

surface of the disk, how the disk is coated, and in what material the disks are stored. The best

brand I found is the Verbatim DVD-R DataLifePlus from Japan. The disk is also manufactured

in Hong Kong and India, but the pigment they use in India is considerably inferior to what they

use in Japan. The pigment on the disks from India has a tendency to flake off quite easily.

Scratches are relatively easy to fix, but when the pigment flakes, it is completely destroyed.

[19 Feb 2009 | Thursday]

Rotunda Exhibit, Part I

Andy asked me to help him put together a temporary exhibit for the rotunda. It will be a

showcase of the FLRC&M Archive. There will be a total of six cases: three cases will contain

personal materials of former House members, two of former Senate members, and one

explaining the FLRC&M archive itself. We laid out a lot of artifacts to see how we wanted to

arrange everything. Looking through the boxes in the archive took most of the day. We found

some really interesting items and photographs.

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[24 Feb 2009 | Tuesday]

Rotunda Exhibit, Part II

Andy and I continued working on the rotunda exhibit today. I planned the Senator cases

and the FLRC&M introduction box. I chose three senators to showcase: Pat Thomas, Dempsey

Barron, and Lew Brantley. Some of the more interesting items I found were stacks of letters sent

to Thomas by Florida citizens expressing their views “for” and “against” the Equal Rights

Amendment, a book from the Center for Space Education with astronauts’ signatures owned by

Representative Tom Gustafson, and a menu from a reception that was as Southern as it could be

with greens, okra, fried foods, cornbread, and iced tea.

I worked with Andy for the remainder of the day on the architecture exhibit. We went to

room 108, where the exhibit will be, and discussed the organization of the room. He wants to

separate the room into discrete sections according to the version of the Historic Capitol building:

1845, 1902, 1923, and 1936. The 1936 addition was the last before they built current capitol.

The purpose of the exhibit is to show the changes in styles and materials from renovation to

renovation. It is starting to come together quite well and it will turn out to be a very nice exhibit.

[25 Feb 2009 | Wednesday]

Things to Consider When Evaluating the Historic Capitol’s Collections

What items actually belong to the Historic Capitol?

What items are on loan?

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What items have been given to the Historic Capitol but have not been recorded as

donations?

Available storage

− Vitals

− Issues

− Possible improvements

One more note about what John wants as a feature in the collections software is that he wants to

be able to load images and video directly into the database. This poses an issue as most

programs load the attributable files from a single directory and the database information file

hyperlinks to the files. I will continue to research this.

[26 Feb 2009 | Thursday]

Fire Drill!

We had a fire drill today. By “we” I mean the entire Capitol Complex, five buildings. It

took three weeks of planning and they usually wait for when the Governor is out of town. It

appeared to be quite well-executed, although it occurred to me at that point that I had no idea

what the safety procedures are for the Historic Capitol. When I left the building, I looked for

familiar faces and saw the visitor services staff and went to stand with them. Not everyone from

the Historic Capitol, however, was there. I asked if anyone had seen John, Cissy, Carol, Anne,

or Andy and no one did. I walked around to the side of our building and saw everyone but Andy.

They had not seen him either, so Carol went back inside. Almost immediately, Andy came

walking out a different door and had to go back in to get Carol. Apparently, Andy was still

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walking around inside and making sure everyone else was out. I was amazed that there was such

a lack of communication or consensus about meeting areas and emergency procedure. Other

buildings had designated wardens who accounted for their assigned people and were identifiable

by their orange safety vests.

After the Capitol Police sounded the “all-clear”, we returned to work and I immediately

found Andy. I asked him what their procedure was and it is simply to move to the nearest exit

away from the large fire doors. If there is a guest that is in a wheelchair or otherwise unable to

walk down the stairs on the first or second floor, a staff member must escort that guest to the

nearest stairwell and wait there for the Capitol Police to help carry the guest down the stairs. To

make matters worse, there was a problem with one of the large fire doors in that it did not close.

I think an employee manual with information such as emergency procedure would be very

beneficial to the Historic Capitol and I will suggest that to John. I understand that there is a State

Employee manual, but the Historic Capitol needs one of its own in addition to that.

After the excitement of the morning, Andy took me to the current Florida Supreme Court

to look for a publication that he needed. While we were there, he introduced me to Eric

Robinson, the archivist and researcher, and Billie Blaine, a librarian.

Later in the afternoon, I met with John regarding accreditation. At this point, even

though the museum is not yet ready to apply for accreditation, it will be beneficial to follow the

accreditation requirements when structuring the Historic Capitol museum administration. I told

him my concerns about the lack of emergency preparedness and extended that to include disaster

planning for their collections. I told him that the Historic Capitol also needs a published code of

ethics and a (de)accessioning policy. The ethics portion includes, but is not limited to, a

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statement of purpose, an introduction to the facility and its organization, and a description of

authorities and management.

[03 Mar 2009 | Tuesday]

The 2009 Spring Session Begins!

The session began today and the Historic Capitol was inundated with people! I helped a

lot at the visitor services desk today. Florida State University had a protest in Waller Park, the

area on the west side of the current capitol building. They marched to the capitol from the

Wescott building on the FSU campus. They had quite a turnout. There were University of

Florida students who drove all the way from Gainesville to protest higher education funding cuts

right alongside the FSU students. John has encouraged me to go out and experience as much as I

can during session so I can learn what happens. It truly is exciting to know how many important

history-making decisions could be made just a few feet away from my office.

Anne asked me if I could look at examples of the “Deed of Gift” form that she uses when

accepting donations to her archive from legislators. I looked them over and they all seemed to be

perfectly acceptable. I did notify her, however, that she is using two different drafts of the same

form at the same time. For example, when she accepted an item from Senator Bruce Smathers in

January 2009, she used a form dated “9/2003” on which several sections of the conditions are

stricken through. The other example she gave me was a form she completed on 26 February

2009 from Senator John Vogt. In that instance, Anne used a version of the form dated “10/2007”

and the lines that were previously stricken were now included in the conditions. I told her that

she needed to decide which of the forms she preferred to use and to delete the other. It leaves no

room for ambiguity later if any issues arise.

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One last note: The Historic Capitol uses the Chicago Manual Style for writing. I

discovered this while proofreading a letter for Andy. Sometimes he omits the Oxford Comma

and sometimes he uses it. He told me that he tries to not use it because John has corrected him

on it. Then it dawned on me when I remembered Iragene looking up something in a Chicago

Manual Style book.

[04 Mar 2009 | Wednesday]

A/V and Election Troubles

There was a slight crisis today when the introductory videos stopped working properly.

Andy was out, so John and I were scrambling to figure out how to sync the three televisions.

Eventually, we figured it out when we found the manual for the unit in a large collection of

folders that we moved to my office. We, actually, found two copies of the manual. One is going

to stay in the room with the equipment from now on.

John also further clarified what exactly he wants me to focus on in my research for the

1876 and 2000 Elections. He wants to know what the main issues were in both elections. He

told me that during the 2000 election, he was so busy with the legislature that he is quite

unfamiliar with the court cases. He wants me to review the major court cases and let him know

what they were about and their outcomes.

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[05 Mar 2009 | Thursday]

More Elections Research

I continued on the elections research today. I gave John two timelines and a summary of

court cases that pertain to the 2000 Election. I have not found an enormous amount of info yet

regarding the Hayes-Tilden election. I know it is there, but I am looking for particular issues and

court cases. So far, I have found only testimony from a Commission hearing of the 30th

Congress where a woman named Eliza Pinkston’s husband and child were murdered. She set the

blame on the heads of some very prominent people in her Louisiana parish that were involved

with the elections. This potentially affected the local votes for President in that the validity of

1400-1500 ballots were in question. Also, in the same proceedings, there was testimony about

campaign badges that were either defaced, “incorrectly” distributed, or the other candidate’s

name was placed over the first candidate’s name.

Andy told me that there was a similar issue occurring in Florida with the election of the

Governor as there was with the Hayes-Tilden. He said that the nation was watching that case as

it would set a precedent and could declare the outcome of the entire election. Both races were so

incredibly close that the government was at a bit of a loss as to what they should do.

[10 Mar 2009 | Tuesday]

Elections Research

I looked through the folders of research materials for the 2000 Election exhibit at the

Historic Capitol. There was so much in there and a lot that was there was not properly

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documented. There were news articles they printed from the internet, but the news agency was

not identified. I spent a lot of time trying to find out a lot of that information online to verify it,

but the articles are old enough that they are not available online anymore.

[11 Mar 2009 | Wednesday]

Elder Day

It was Elder Day at the Capitol today, so there were many senior citizens in the museum

today. There were senior advocacy groups that set up tables in the ground floor rotunda with

information for them concerning heath care, exercise, and legal rights. As for work, I researched

online for information on collections management theory so I can offer advice to John.

[12 Mar 2009 | Thursday]

Political Cartoons

I returned to researching the 1876 election. I found some great historical cartoons on the

Harper’s Weekly web site. I found a lot of 2000 Election cartoons. The photos, if he chooses to

use them, would add a lot to his presentation at the NCPH conference in Rhode Island.

[17 Mar 2009 | Tuesday]

1876 Electoral Fraud

Andy and I worked on planning the architectural exhibit again today. We were trying to

decide some large vertical backlit panels for the text and some images. We went online and

looked at different options from different companies. Finally, we decided to change our plans

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because the type of panels that Andy wants start at $25,000 and go up in price from there. That

is completely out of the question, even in a good economic season.

I found some interesting information about the 1876 elections in the Electoral

Commission meetings I mentioned earlier. In a southern county in Florida, there was an

accusation of election fraud. A Representative named Field explained that the county Judge,

Sheriff, and a newly-appointed justice of the peace entered the room where the twice-tallied

votes were kept and literally threw aside two of the four precincts into the trash, certified the

remaining two districts, and sent that count as certified. Election fraud was one common issue

between both elections. Ironically, the most intense accusations of electoral fraud came from

South Florida in both elections.

[18 Mar 2009 | Wednesday]

Publishing Legislative Precedence

John added another dimension to my research for his presentation. He wants me to see

what legislators think about publishing precedence in legislation. He explained that most

legislators and clerks are against it because they feel that it hinders the creative process of

developing legislation. Phelps encourages publishing it because it shows the process of how the

law became what it is/was and what influences were involved in that decision.

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[19 Mar 2009 | Thursday]

Phelps 1, Chiles 0

I met a very important person today. He is a former house member named Ron

Richmond. He is the Chair of the Board for the FLRC&M.

John told me today about House and Senate rules and how bills are passed (when and

how the Constitution states – or not – and how that is done. He also told me about the two

Supreme Court cases that John was involved with. The first one was “Chiles v. Phelps”. It was

with regard to a bill wherein the veto was held because the constitution did not specify when the

bill needed to be brought up. John won the case and Chiles, who had no hard feelings towards

John at any time, sent him a handwritten note that simply says, “Phelps 1, Chiles 0”. John now

has that in a frame on his office wall. The second case had to do with lobbyists and a bill that

required them to disclose things such as income. The court decided that the procedure was in

the direction of the Constitution and nothing else was done.

[24 Mar 2009 | Tuesday]

Updated Electrical Plans

Andy and I discussed lighting for the architectural exhibit today, so I consulted the

architectural plans to see where there are outlets available and how the electrical system is in that

room. The plans looked different from my notes, so I decided to make my own sketch of their

electrical system. It is a very good thing that I did because they added much after the initial

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restoration. There are also coaxial cable hookups, a microphone patch panel, and phone and

LAN jacks.

[25 Mar 2009 | Wednesday]

AASLH and Exhibit Display Equipment

I explored another collections management software program today. This one is

PastPerfect. There is a free demo version on their web site. I wanted to look at this one since the

American Association for State and Local History endorses it. The Historic Capitol needs to join

the AASLH because the AAM requires museums them to identify themselves as a certain type of

museum. The Historic Capitol is certainly a state and local history museum, so the AAM would

expect them to follow the professional standards of the AASLH and, in particular, their ethics.

Andy and I decided on the text display equipment. It is from a company called

dispalys2go. Their equipment is good because it allows for much greater flexibility with regard

to the display image itself. If Andy needs to change the display image, it is a matter of simply

printing a new transparency and inserting it into the unit. Other equipment would require paying

for a large transparency panel and nearly refabricating the unit.

[26 Mar 2009 | Thursday]

Accreditation Research

I spent a large part of the day organizing and uploading a majority of the accreditation

research I collected so far up to a personal web site that I have made accessible to John and

Andy. I also went through the copy of the MFH application that Kieran gave to me to see what

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their answers were. I noticed that, in several cases, the Historic Capitol is included in their

accreditation application. This concerns me because I do not know if that could potentially

affect the process of the Historic Capitol. It is true that, when the Historic Capitol was under the

management of the MFH, it was included in the accreditation assessment as a subsidiary site.

[31 Mar 2009 | Tuesday]

Luncheon Setup

We had a blitz event setup this morning in the Senate for an early luncheon. We had to

set up several tables and chairs. There was a panic (Cissy is known for that) because we were

short about sixty chairs. Normally, it would not be too difficult for DMS to find extra chairs at

the Capitol, but because the legislation is in session and nearly all of the chairs are in use or

reserved. Also, Andy will be out for an undetermined amount of time due to the death of his

wife Julie. We took the luncheon down at 2:00PM and they left behind a lot of food! Aside

from that, I read through more of the AAM requirements and looked at the MFH application.

[01 Apr 2009 | Wednesday]

Researching Disaster Preparedness

I researched disaster preparedness for museums today and looked around the collections

storage room. There is very little option for storage space, as Anne requests that the Historic

Capitol collections be kept separate from hers. Currently, the Historic Collections are in the

room on the ground floor of the rotunda, which is not a very good place. As I said, though, there

is very little option but to use that room. They can make some changes to that room to make it

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more suitable, but some of those changes might be somewhat expensive and out of reach budget-

wise for them for now.

[02 Apr 2009 | Thursday]

Stormy Weather and Large Crowds

Andy’s wife’s memorial service was this afternoon. Nearly everyone went, but a few of

us stayed behind to keep control of things. It was a little hard to concentrate due to the weather.

We were under a tornado watch and it would frequently shift back and forth from watch to

warning. I had to go up to the visitor services desk to help Carol Burlison. When it rains,

everyone that would normally be outside looking around at all the table displays in the courtyard

or are otherwise outside, comes inside and it gets very crowded and busy. Several people came

into my office when I was not at the visitor desk and had a lot of questions, so I did not get as

much work done as I would have liked to. That is just the way it works at the Historic Capitol.

While it is tough to get things done sometimes, it is still a great place to work because of the

unpredictable nature of the “typical” day there.

[07 Apr 2009 | Tuesday]

Inspecting the Collections Room

Since there is no database of in-kind artifacts at the Historic Capitol, and since I am

giving recommendations with regard to collections management and disaster planning, it would

be a good idea to know what they have and where it is. Andy knows all of this, but that is not a

very effective way to manage collections. I noticed a large number of archival boxes on the top

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shelf of one of the units and was momentarily excited to see labels with catalogue numbers on

them. I took them down and saw that they were empty. I took one to Anne and she said the

items that were previously in those boxes were consolidated and those boxes were not in use. I

took them to her archive room so I could free some space for the Historic Capitol collection

pieces.

[08 Apr 2009 | Wednesday]

Picked Up the Brass

Andy and I took some brass pieces to the conservation lab at the R.A. Gray building to

have them cleaned. A woman donated them to the Historic Capitol because she was told when

they were given to her that they were from there and were taken out before they demolished the

post-1902 wings. Andy and I looked through the photographic archives and attempted to find

anything that remotely resembled those pieces, but we were unable to find anything. We are

keeping them in our collection anyway, just in case we find evidence later. There were so many

changes that individuals made in their offices and the nature of the construction of the Historic

Capitol makes it possible that they were there. The lab did a wonderful job cleaning them,

although I noticed some pitting that I do not remember being there when we initially took them

over. It is most likely that it was already on there, though, because the woman stored them in her

garage for several years and they were covered in a thick lacquer of some kind.

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[09 Apr 2009 | Thursday]

History Fair Projects and Form Development

Andy volunteers as a judge for the history fair every year. He chose three submissions to

display at the Historic Capitol. We set those up in room 108. It is amazing what the kids are

doing with these projects! The presentations are so professional, the subject matter is unique

(sometimes), and the content of their research is very thorough and well-written. Andy wants to

get more exhibits next year and in different formats. He wants to figure out an interesting way to

put paper submissions out for display rather than simply putting notebooks on a table.

I developed a loan agreement form for the Historic Capitol today to give them an idea of

what they need to have on other forms. If I had more time, I would develop all the collections

forms they still need. That is a good first step to creating a procedure for their collections

management. I took a loan agreement form that Kieran emailed to me and edited it to suit the

needs of the Historic Capitol. I will ask Kieran if I can get a blank copy of each of their forms so

I can try to do that before my internship ends.

I met a man named Pete Cowdry today. Pete used to work at the Historic Capitol in, if I

remember correctly, visitor services a long time ago. He is a very amicable man with boundless

energy, especially for all things historical. According to Andy, Pete knows more about the

Historic Capitol building than just about anyone else.

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[14 Apr 2009 | Tuesday]

School Kids and Disaster Management Questionnaire

There are lots of school groups coming today, so I will be “on-call” for assisting

introductions and at the visitor services desk. The school tours often include the “This House Is

In Session” activity and that also requires an introduction. It also requires someone to watch for

when the one group is done so he or she can escort the next group in.

I also found a disaster preparation questionnaire that I found online. It is somewhat

extensive, so it will take some time to go through and answer the questions. I can answer most

of the questions, but there are some that I will need to consult with Carol Wynn and Andy to be

able to answer. I also had a computer meltdown that took a couple of hours to correct.

Somehow, about eight worms and Trojan viruses infected my computer. I spent a long time

talking with IT on the phone and letting the computer scan itself for infections.

[15 Apr 2009 | Wednesday]

It’s All In the HTTP

I updated the social networking profiles and added a blog this morning. I also added and

accepted more friend requests. Our MySpace profile is now connected to the Getty Museum, the

Smithsonian, and other Florida museums and historical groups. In theory, anyone who looks at

the profiles of those organizations can quickly link to the Historic Capitol’s profile and see the

activities calendar and get general information about the museum.

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John and I discussed the pros and cons of virtual tours for museums. I took that a step

further and researched the current state of schools and their ability or willingness to take students

on field trips. I found some articles that said school budget cuts and standardized testing are

forcing schools to drop funding for field trips. Schools are increasingly searching out virtual

tours that they can share with their classes. I will suggest that the Historic Capitol add virtual

tour types of elements to their web page as well as additional educational materials that teachers

can print for their classes.

[16 Apr 2009 | Thursday]

Recommendation Outline

I formed a preliminary outline for my recommendation report to John. I just now realized

how many recommendations I will be giving to him. It will cover nearly every area of museum

administration, education, and outreach. I am amazed by how much I have learned in the past

four months!

[21 Apr 2009 | Tuesday]

PRD Plan

Andy and I have spoken at length about the Historic Capitol, its goals, and its issues.

One of the topics that we frequently touched on was the PRD project. Andy feels the same way I

do in that the PRD plan is not one that is appropriate for the Historic Capitol building. It would

be more feasible to update the current exhibits and create space for temporary and rotating

exhibits. The current economic atmosphere and the building’s need for extensive maintenance

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support this idea. I realize that John likes the PRD plan, but I will give him recommendations

that Andy and I believe would be more suitable and not be quite so expensive.

[22 Apr 2009 | Wednesday]

Earth Day, Cupola Tour, and Free Gourmet Lunch

Today, Andy and I took a long lunch to go visit all the Earth Day exhibits at the Capitol.

It is one of the few days, aside from Kids’ Week, during session when there are lots of children’s

activities. We wanted to see if we could get any inspiration for hands-on activities at the Historic

Capitol. We did not get any ideas, but we did see some museum display equipment that we were

considering using and we decided that it was definitely worth getting. Andy also gave several of

us a VIP tour of the cupola above the dome. In the attic space, on the way to the cupola, he

showed us where sections of the 1845 “core” structure are still visible which consist of beams

and bricks.

We all got a special treat, complements of Anne, in honor of my last day tomorrow and

Administrative Professionals’ Day. She ordered us lunch from Hopkins, which is a fabulous

restaurant on the north side of town. They made a special delivery trip to her, a delivery distance

that they do not necessarily drive for just anyone. After all of this, I made sure to talk more with

Andy. I want to make sure I leave without leaving anything undone or unclear.

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[23 Apr 2009 | Thursday]

My Last Day

Well, today was the day. It was my last day at the Historic Capitol as an intern. I

organized all of my paperwork and gave all research materials I consulted back to their owners.

I printed a copy of the social networking profile login information and gave that to Andy. They

were so sweet and bought me a chocolate cake and card as a thank-you. They also asked me to

make a speech, so I did. I cried like a baby. I also sat down with John and had a last

conversation before I started to write a recommendations report for him. He really flattered me

when he told me that he did not know how they were going to find someone that matches my

standard of work. I hardly knew what to say! I will keep in close touch with John and Andy and

I know John wants to talk with me more about the museum after session is over and after the

monster budget planning is finalized. I anticipate that that might not be until sometime in the

middle or end of summer. What I do know for sure is that I will dearly miss being there and

working with such a wonderful group of people.

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Works Cited

AAM Commission Expectations and Two Core Questions. http://www.aam-

us.org/museumresources/accred/standards.cfm (accessed April 20, 2009).

"AAM Receives Kresge, IMLS Grants to Re-Design Accreditation Program." American

Association of Museums. February 03, 2009. http://www.aam-

us.org/pressreleases.cfm?mode=list&id=154 (accessed April 20, 2009).

Brightbill, Jane. The Historic Capitol's Monthly Statistics. Tallahassee: Unpublished, July 2006 -

June 2007.

Dillon, Sam. Schools Cut Back Subjects to Push Reading and Math. March 26, 2006.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/education/26child.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

(accessed 04 18, 2009).

Florida Department of State. "Seat of Government, Center of History." Florida History & the

Arts, Winter 2003: 7-11.

Florida Division of Historical Resources. The Capitol.

http://www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/capitol/ (accessed 11 30, 2009).

Florida Virtual School. http://www.flvs.net/ (accessed March 24, 2009).

Gannon, Michael. Florida: A Short History. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003.

Lord, Allyn. Steal This Handbook! Template for Creating a Museum's Emergency Preparedness

Plan. Chicago: Fine Arts Risk Management, Inc., 1996.

Neustadt, Richard E., and Earnest R. May. Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision

Makers. New York: Free Press, 1988.

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