New Kid on the Block

Hi all! I’m Rebecca Jacobs, the new Paper Conservation Technician. I have worked in the lab for about a month and have spent my time learning new skills like mending and encapsulation, as well as creating custom boxes and enclosures. While I’m new to this position, I’m not a stranger to the Indiana University community. You may have seen me around a few years ago at the Kinsey Institute where I helped care for and digitize works in the art collection, or more recently over at Kelley School of Business where I worked as the Selection Archivist.

In addition to working with collections at IU, I’ve also worked for the Indiana Historical Society as a Metadata Cataloging Assistant and have held internships and worked on collaborative projects with many of the museums in the Indianapolis area. I’ve enjoyed working at the Preservation Lab so far because it has given me a chance to use tools that are new to me and to improve my skills on detailed work like mending, and focus on learning more about paper as a material type.

Archival boxes filled with photographs that I digitized for the Indiana Historical Society

A custom box I created for a museum object

Colleague Christina Cichra and I cleaning ornithology mounts at Eagle Creek Ornithology Center for a collaborative project with the IUPUI Museum Studies Department

When I’m not working at the Preservation Lab, one of my favorite things to do is experience collections at other cultural institutions as a visitor. Getting to interact with objects in this way reminds me of why I was originally drawn to Collections Care and Preservation and prompts me to reflect on how my work connects to how visitors create their own experiences with collections. I’m excited to carry this intention into 2019 at the Preservation Lab, and hope to share more about projects I’m working on in the coming months.

Spending free time checking out the sculptures at Laumeier Sculpture Park. Scuplture: “Eye”, Tony Tasset