Traveling Talleys
Talley Your Adventure
Day in the Life: Stephanie, Clinton Foundation Archivist
Hey Bloggers! Welcome back to another exciting addition of MUSEUM WORK! Here with me this week, is my special guest, Stephanie. She is pictured with me to the left. She is an archivist/curator for William J. Clinton himself, and is responsible for making sure that each object or document that is owned and claimed by former President Clinton is properly cataloged, stored, maintained and available for Clinton at any moment. Since this is my last semester here at UALR and with the Clinton Library, I will be taking the time in these last few months to highlight some of the employees I work with on a daily basis, from some of the Foundation employees to museum technicians. For our first one, we will be highlighting one of the Clinton Foundation employees and a personal friend, Stephanie!
Stephanie is also a student with Joseph and I at UALR in the Public History Masters program. Before she was employed with the Clinton Foundation, she was a Program Specialist at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s University Museum and Cultural Center, which is located on their campus. At UAPB, she was responsible for coordinating the education programs, exhibit design and helped manage the collection. You probably remember me talking about working with her before in this blog, and that is because she was the graduate assistant with me at the Clinton Library before transferring over to her full time job at the Foundation.
At the Foundation, she is one of the official archivists, but since she has so much experience working with objects, she is also responsible for those as well. Many of the objects are being held in storage here at the Clinton Library, and part of her job is to identify all of these objects and make sure that there is a system of accountability in place for their continued maintenance and survival past her employment. In addition, she routinely will receive other packages or objects that have been stored in the building where the Foundation resides. Lots of inventory, and lots of cool objects!
Stephanie and I have worked together for over a year now, and I am very glad that her role with the Foundation allows her to stick around here in the same office area as the one I am located. We help each other catalog, take pictures of objects and rehouse them, and other museum related tasks. While she is focused on her own missions, some of our jobs can overlap and it’s great to work as a team.
Lots more exciting things in the future, such as creating a humidifying chamber to flatten and smooth out a really neat poster! In addition, we have more employees we will highlight to help define museum and archive roles and showcase examples of myself working with these individuals in order to learn new skills and experience. Until next time!
Traveling Talleys 