Tag: history

• Graduation

  Now that graduation has come and gone, and I have earned the Master’s hood, the question becomes, “now what?”

  

  My time at Shippensburg University fulfilled my long-time dream of returning to school for an advanced degree in the historical field, but the degree constitutes no end goal in its own right. I intentionally focused on completing my credits, which was difficult enough combined with work and family responsibilities, but now I can contemplate the future.

  Earning a living in History presents challenges. I need not cite any studies for the basic universal fact that there are many more graduates than jobs, let alone sustainable careers. Add to that the limited opportunities among the mostly small museums and organizations in and near South Central Pennsylvania. Fortunately, I chose the degree for my own satisfaction and enjoyment rather than its marketability.

  I plan to remain current in the historical field in a few ways.

  1. Refine several projects and papers for publication: At least three of my unpublished works beg for publication in historical society journals or elsewhere
  2. Continue serving with the Franklin County Historical Society: I’m especially excited to have more time for this now and take on the opportunity to join the Board of Directors
  3. Continue working with the Shippensburg Fashion Archives & Museum: I’ve been recruited for my writing prowess to edit and draft more digital exhibits
  4. Keep reading and learning: I so enjoyed the Roman History & Legacy course that I completed as a visiting student through Slippery Rock University that I have decided to learn to read classical Latin, and I also have a stack of books and journals that I now have time to read. For now, it’s Tacitus’ Agricola and Germania (in English), and Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward’s Cradle of Conservation: An Environmental History of Pennsylvania.
  5. Visit and explore as many of our local and regional assets and organizations as I can.

  Will I ever get paid to do these sorts of things? In a manner of speaking, I already have.

  -Andrew R. Chesnut, MA

  December 22, 2025

  books, education, history, writing

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• Cataloging & Artifact Storage

  Interning at the Fashion Archives and Museum of Shippensburg University

  This summer (2025), I served as an intern at the Fashion Archives & Museum of Shippensburg University. Completing the internship not only fulfilled the capstone requirement for the Master of Arts in Applied History, but provided in depth experience to practice cataloging and textile collection storage while improving my familiarity with PastPerfect museum cataloging software.

  

  In addition to operating the museum by myself most Saturdays, above you’ll see my main summer project: review Cabinet 47A in the museum’s storage space, ensure that each item was thoroughly cataloged, marked, and photographed–correcting issues as found–and carefully repack it in the archival storage box. The above photograph shows the completed rack, although the differences before and after are not readily visible from the outside.

  

  

  Fortunately, we don’t typically go through the trouble of a full-exhibit mannequin display for internal documentation purposes–a proper display takes hours for a single garment–but I did ensure to capture damage and unique features that help document an object’s condition and assist in interpreting the object’s history. Here we can see repair patches to the back and sleeves that witness the dress’s long life in service. The faded sleeves indicate that in its last iteration it likely served as a house dress, worn for utility while performing chores like washing that particularly affected the sleeves. Occasionally, we’re fortunate to have provenance back to the original owner, which provides another avenue to present insight into the lives of the people who owned, made, altered, and wore the garments.

  Storage is both a science and an art, and a museum professional needs to make decisions that weigh the compromises between ideal and practical storage solutions. In this case, the first major decision–whether to box or to hang the garments–had already been made. After cataloging, each piece needed to be carefully folded and wrapped in acid-free tissue paper, with supports padding where appropriate for sleeves, skirts, and folds made strategically to minimize wrinkling and stress over the coming decades, to ensure these artifacts are still around and presentable to educate museum visitors in the future to come.

  For me, the internship extended the training and theoretical education I received in HIST 542: Textile History & Museum Methods. My work at the Fashion Archives allowed me to apply those skills kinetically, which will help me retain and better apply knowledge gained in the classroom. I came out of the course with a developing confidence in textile artifacts; I came out of the internship fully prepared to deploy those skills!

  August 21, 2025

  art, exhibition, history, museum, pastperfect

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