Backlogs of unsolved mysteries sits down in collection for years and years, to no one's fault. As any museum curator/administrator/collections manager knows, that is the nature of the beast.
When I first came on staff, one of the first emails I received was from the St. Louis County Historical Society's collections manager.When the Minnesota Discovery Center, formerly Iron Range Interpretative Center, first started we borrowed some Stuntz items from them... 28 years ago. George Stuntz was a government surveyor who discovered the Vermilion Range iron ore deposits and helped develop Duluth and St. Louis County.
“I came in 1852. I saw the advantage of (Minnesota Point) as clearly then as I do now. On finishing the survey for the government, I went away to make a report, and then returned the next spring and came for good. I saw surely knew then as I do now that this was the heart of the continent commercially, and so I drove my stakes.” -George Stuntz
A couple of weeks ago, I met with staff members from the St. Louis Historical Society and finally returned the items. This is a collection manager and curator's dream. Paperwork and artifacts are back to where they belong and we can continue our jobs in solving more collections mysteries.
No comments:
Post a Comment