A Day in My Life

For this post, I thought I would share a little bit about what I do during my time at the museum. Although every day is different (which is one of my favorite things about it!), I have been working on a few big projects. I try to be here most days either from 10-4 or 1-4 on the days I work at my other job at Olivet’s library.

My day usually starts with a cup of coffee. I live about a half hour away from the museum and I always have to bring my coffee thermos with me. 🙂

Once I get to the museum, I check in with most of the staff and get a feel for what the day may bring or if there are some big projects to work on. If there is, I get right to work on those.

I have been working with a couple different staff members, so projects vary. I may be working through the archive rooms or working in our photo room. For a couple of days, I organized and viewed slides for projection shows. They were fun to go through, and there were a lot of random places! There were quite a few of Kankakee

County, with buildings and places that I recognized instantly, but a lot were from all over the world. I saw slides from Europe, Australia, and all over the United States. You could travel around the world from Kankakee!

If there is not any big project that I am working on, I work in the office in the back working on a couple of different things. Lately, I have been working on the blog, usually researching, writing, and proofreading. I have not really

blogged before, but I am really enjoying it and getting the hang of it more every time.

I have also been working on some virtual exhibits found on the website. (Check them out here!) These virtual exhibits are shortened histories of different topics. Right now, the website has 3: Myers Bakery, Kankakee’s First Courthouse, and Music of the Civil War. If I have extra time, I work on researching different topics. Hopefully some will be up soon and you can read them!

I usually end my day by stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts. 4:00 is right in the middle of happy hour, and it is on my way home, so it’s hard for me to pass up!

No day is ever the same (well, maybe except the coffee), but as I said earlier, it is one of my favorite things about the museum. Every day is unique and that makes it all the more interesting.

You Learn Something Every Day:

When the famed Hotel Riverview in Kankakee burned down in 1897, there were no fatalities of the 40 guests/tenants and 25 staff members. R.D. Goodwin, a railroad clerk, had the only injury. He slept through the fire alarms and awoke to find he could not get out of his room due to the smoke and flames. He barged into the next room but still could not get out. Goodwin started throwing mattresses out of the window. He jumped out and rebounded off the mattresses onto the stone foundation. He was taken to the hospital, but only had a little bruising on his back and shoulders.

The remains of the Hotel Riverview in 1897.

Feel free to leave comments and/or questions! I’d love to know what you think of the posts, the blog, or anything you would like to see in future posts! 🙂