By Chelsea Hathaway
Framingham State University Class of 2017
When Stacen Goldman (FHC Curator) and Laura Stagliola (Museum Assistant/Education Coordinator) approached me in January about creating my own exhibit for the Historic Village Hall case I was very excited. At Framingham State University where I am a history major with a minor in museum studies, I have done many research papers and projects, but this would be my first research project where it would be on display at a museum – where visitors could actually see my work!
My initial research started with finding a theme I could construct the exhibit around. Stacen suggested looking at accessories, specifically for weddings or parties, because that would be both conducive to the space and it was something the museum has a plethora of. Ever since I started my internship here in September 2016, I had always been drawn to the collection of shoes sitting in the corner of the Upper Costume Level room. And after helping Katie Khanwalkar (Collections Manager) with the mounting of Anna Haven Foster’s wedding dress for the History in the Stitches: Framingham Fashion Through the Centuries exhibit, I wanted to continue my work on wedding attire.
After some initial research, I found that a lot of the wedding shoes varied from different time periods, all the way from the early 19th century all the way to the mid 20th century. From there, I decided the main focus of my exhibit would be surrounding the timeline around these gorgeous wedding shoes, and that each shoe would have a matching wedding accessory or item from around the same time period. Between other projects the FHC had me do, I spent my free time researching these objects and constructing my labels.
One of the difficulties I encountered first was trying to locate one of the pairs of wedding shoes that was listed on Past Perfect database where all of the collection is recorded but nowhere to be found with the other wedding shoes. It was the shoe from the 1920s, my all-time favorite shoe in the collection, with the pearl and silk square on top, and I was really disappointed I might not be able to put it in the exhibit. But after weeks of searching, Katie was able to find them for me! Another struggle became apparent as I was constructing the layout of my labels though. The program I used made the words pixelated and hard to read, so I needed to redo them.
After months of hard work, when I finally transported the artifacts to Village Hall and began to assemble them with their respective labels into the case, it was worth it. Looking at the finished exhibit case this past week, I felt accomplished knowing that my research, hard work, and dedication paid off. Now that my first exhibit case is completed, and as my senior year and internship at FHC come to a close, I will take the skills I’ve learned into the work force. I’ve realized that the field I want to go into is Curator work because I love the aspect of research and setting up an exhibit, more so than the administrative side of the museum world.
I would like to personally thank the FHC for the guidance and opportunity to pursue my love of history. The exhibit is titled Walking Through History: Framingham’s Wedding Shoes & Accessories and is currently up in the Village Hall, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Note: Chelsea’s exhibit is on display at the Historic Village Hall, which is open by appointment or for private and public events.