A Day At The Museum

Day 39: Everybody loves a field trip, and yesterday seven members of the Park's Interpretive staff took the day to visit the newly-reopened Burke Museum at the University of Washington. It gave us the opportunity to witness interpretation from the other side of the fence, as it were, and I think we each found some valuable take-aways from the experience. I particularly enjoyed the chance to see curation in real time, i.e., being able to view through floor-to-ceiling glass people at work cleaning and preparing specimens for archiving. I felt that it brought science closer to the visitor, helping them make a personal connection. As for the exhibits, I started on the top floor with paleontology and worked my way down through biology and contemporary culture, and it was in the last area where I spent the most time, intent on the textiles and basketry. I would have liked more detail about each specific item, since most were labelled with a minimum of information. The minimalist style of interpretation seems to be prevalent elsewhere these days as well, not just at the Burke. As far as I know, no detailed guides were available.

That said, the highlight of the day for me was to be able to meet David Giblin, Collections Manager for the Burke's Herbarium. We've corresponded by email for many years, but had never met face-to-face. I had intended to take an hour to walk across campus, visit for a few minutes and then walk back to join the rest of our group, but when I arrived at the facility, David greeted me with a huge hug and brought me in for a full tour. I spent the next hour and a half or so nosing into specimen boxes containing vascular plants, lichens and macrofungi, and talking shop with David. As a parting gift and thank-you for the photos I've contributed to the Herbarium's gallery over the years, David presented me with a copy of the newest edition (2018) of Hitchcock's "Flora of the Pacific Northwest." It was Christmas come early for this naturalist!