Hello again!

My name is Katherine and I'm a 23 year old emerging museum professional. This is my professional blog. I'll be talking about my exit project, my project for the Urban Museum Collaborative, other projects I do for the museum, and any interesting things I learn about museums that I feel worthy of posting.

Here is the explanation:

Exit project -
I am creating a children's book for Campbell House Museum. Campbell House is a historic house museum in downtown St. Louis, where I have interned for 5 years (3 summers and a 2 year long internship). The house was built in 1851 on Lucas Place, then the nicest neighborhood in St. Louis. In 1854, Robert Campbell and his wife Virginia moved in. The house would stay their family home for the next 84 years, until their last son died in 1938. Robert was an Irish immigrant who became one of the wealthiest men in Missouri if not America. He got his start in the fur trade, then was involved with steamboats (he gave Mark Twain a job on a steamboat), railroads, gold mines, cattle ranches, hotels, banks, etc. No he did not invent Campbells soup, but he did just about everything else. Robert and his wife Virginia had 13 children. Only 3 lived past the age of 8, and of those 3, none ever married or had kids. We became a historic house museum in 1943. The house has been completely restored back to it's 1880's appearance, according to photographs from about 1885. Come see the museum - 1508 Locust St., St. Louis, MO 63103, (314) 421-0325!

I hope that the book will be the first in a series, so I am currently calling it "Welcome to My House! The Campbell House". The book will be a tour of the house led by Gus Meyer, who was a servant here from 1901-1938, and actually stayed after 1938 to ensure the house would remain in tact. He was probably here about 40 years. I am writing the story, and it looks like I will also be illustrating the book, as my call for an artist has not come back. If I illustrate the book, it will be done in photoshop or fotosketcher. In addition to the book, I will be designing a storytime education program for K-2nd grade.

Urban Museum Collaborative:
This spring Campbell House was awarded a grant to have a consultant create a shared curriculum for CampbelL House Museum, the Eugene Field House and St. Louis TOy Museum, and the Griot Museum of Black History and Culture. I am creating the portrait gallery for the collaborative website. It will introduce the cast of characters for the 3 sites using pictures or portraits. Each portrait will have descriptive detail, biographical information and the person's connections to St. Louis, and their story's implications for national events at the time.

I hope you enjoy reading about these exciting projects as I work on them!