Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Inventory

Rum tester used for Rum Production at Reef Bay Plantation, catalogued in 1960.

Mick and Susanna are conducting the annual Random Sample and Accession Inventory this week. Out of a total of 15,000 catalogued artifacts, we sample 202 and confirm that the object is found, that the location is correct and if all associated records are in order. As well, we confirm that all 254 Accessions are located. This inventory gives us a chance to go through all the storage cabinets and to see some artifacts that are rarely viewed. An example from the collection here includes the first prehistoric artifact in our collection, a stone celt, and the first historic artifact, a glass rum tester. A fine sampling of the islands history! We also will inventory the Natural History collection, including bugs, coral, plants and mammals. This should take us the entire week so that by the time Ken gets back from the UNESCO conference on Rock Art in Guadalupe, we will get back to digging at Cinnamon Bay. Polished green stone celt, composed of jadeite, surrounded principally by albite, triangular in shape, collected from Reef Bay area, below the petroglyphs, by David Bratsch, c. 1958.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hi susanna! it's allie from new york- your short-term intern. i wish i could be there while you're doing all of this- it sounds incredible...painstakingly slow, but incredible all the same!
i still can't stop smiling about what an amazing internship i had. i'm going to send a real letter soon, but this is a temporary thank you! i just felt so...at home, and in my element, and i really have you to thank for it. i feel as though in that one week, i grew just as much as i did during the entire five months of my foreign exchange to switzerland last fall. truly amazing.
i've still been smelling the bay rum, but they're in the process of drying out. it's kind of sad....
we went to catherinesburg the last day, and i'm so glad we did! i'll tell you more in the letter...
anyway, i hope the inventory check goes wonderfully! i'm sorry i can't be there!
again, thank you so, SO much!
-allie