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Charles McCray, III – Museum Class Reflections

Being in this class this semester  taught me a lot about myself this semester. I was able to get  out of my comfort zone and was able to work with other fellow students, that I have never been acquainted with. By working with each of my classmates throughout this semester I was able to get to know them individually, and was able to become friends with them as well. Before I joined this class I was just an average student that went to class everyday, always doing assignments in class that were assigned, not being engaged. But coming into this class this semester turned everything around for me. I was able to make so many connections with other students that are different from me in many ways. 

With this class I was able to expand my horizon, and I realized that every class isn’t the same. For me being a History major here at Coastal Carolina I was able to get hands on experience by going to different museums throughout Horry County and was able to see how museums work from behind the scenes.For the entire semester my fellow classmates and myself have been working diligently to get our exhibits ready, for the public to see. We all were grouped with partners to select a certain artifact that caught our attention that would eventually be placed in the exhibit we have been working on. Our class teamed up with another in order to make this exhibit a success.

For me to be apart of this is such a great feeling because there is only a select few that can say that they participated in this. This was a wonderful experience for me because I had so much fun this semester, just by being in this class. We had a lot of work assigned to us in class, but this is something we all worked really for and we are really excited to see how it turns out.

This class has helped me out in so many ways, when it comes to finding the job I want to pursue after I graduate, and it has helped me get more involved with my community. This course provided so much information on helping every student be aware of what they needed to do in order to be where they wanted in their dream careers. Without this class I would not be able to be apart of something so amazing such as this exhibit we all have been working on. I am thankful for all of the knowledge I have gained throughout this course and if I could take it again I would. I think that every student, including students that major in History, should sign up for a class like this because it really gives you a different perspective.

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Student Perspective: Victoria Peck

My name is Victoria Peck and I am a junior at Coastal Carolina University. I’m majoring in History and Anthropology and Geography. I have certificates in cultural heritage, applied archaeology, and geospatial technologies. Printing the Past: SC in 3D has been a really exciting project for me. I plan to go to grad school for Public history, so being able to gain experience by working with the Horry County museum to create our exhibit has been great. When the project was first explained to us by our professors I was immediately drawn in by the attention to accessibility that is prominent throughout the project. The idea that we were going to create an exhibit that accounts for the needs of so many different groups of people with different disabilities to make them feel more welcome in a museum setting was really exciting to me.

 I have always loved visiting museums even when I was a child, and I was fortunate enough to have family that also shared this interest and would often take me to museums. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of family visits to museums and historical sites. The only thing missing from these trips was my grandpa. He was blind and would always decline when asked to go to museums with us because he felt like he would just hold everyone back. The few occasions he did go with us, he would spend the trip sitting down somewhere waiting for us to be done because he felt like he didn’t belong in the museum and that there wasn’t much else he could do.  I strongly believe that everyone should be able to experience and enjoy museums regardless of any disabilities. The main goal of many museums is to educate and interpret history for the public. That should include all groups of people and not exclude those with different needs.

The main focus of the exhibit we created is to tell the story of Horry County. To do this we partnered up and went to the museum to find an artifact that we thing would be a good addition for the exhibit. My partner and I had decided we wanted to use an object that would enhance a visitors understanding of an artifact by being able to hold and touch a 3D printed model of the artifact. We also wanted to make sure it told an important part of Horry County history. We decided on a Native American pipe made out of steatite and was found locally and donated to the Horry County Museum. We chose this object because when it was original created and used it was something that would have been held and it has a engraved pattern on it that can be felt on the 3D printed model. We also feel that Native American history plays an important role in Horry County. The Waccamaw tribe is still present and very active in the community and their ancestors have lived in the area for many years. We wanted to make sure than when telling the story of Horry County that they were represented.

Through participation in this project I have gotten the chance to work with many different types of technologies that will benefit me in my future profession. We got to work hands on with the Horry county museum’s cataloging system PastPerfect as well as using the different technology required for 3D scanning and printing. We also got the chance to learn about all the behind the scene work that goes into museum exhibits. I am so glad I was able to gain all these wonderful experiences and to work on such an amazing project.