I began my job at a county historical society in Minnesota over 20 years ago. I seem to be saying that a lot lately, but I’ve reached a point where I’ve served enough time that I can look back and pick up on themes within my work. Path to Museum Succession Planning A big theme has been succession planning, only I didn’t know I was doing this from the beginning. When I started, I was…
In order to explore The Litter Layer I brought up in the last post, I’ve created a challenge to get you thinking about it. The Litter Layer is my term for what I expect archaeologists of the future will find in terms of dumps, landfills, and litter everywhere within this era’s layer of earth, especially in comparison to archaeological digs of previous eras. Take a walk a block or two from your home and make…
I walk my dog twice a day. One of the things I note on our walks is how much litter there is. Aside from food wrappers and plastic bottles, the detritus has included a lens from sunglasses, a knife, random clothing, pens, plastic bags, receipts, and the odd coin. Pretty much anything that can be dropped or discarded eventually becomes litter. When I was a kid, there was not nearly as much litter as there…