Since 2011, the Masonic Library & Museum of Indiana has contributed more than $30,000 in college tuition payments and wages to student interns pursuing degrees in Museum Studies at IUPUI. The COVID pandemic shutdowns and restrictions this year caused some unforeseen complexities for us. However, thanks to the IU Work/Study program, we have had the good fortune to be assisted by not one, but two talented students this fall.
Olivia Underwood is pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in Museum Studies. She has been working on a variety of projects for us on the Museum side, including new label designs and signage, developing archiving solutions for some of our artifacts, updating our computer resources, and more.
Duncan Kissinger comes to us with an Associate Degree in Library Science, and he is currently attending IUPUI seeking a degree in Labor Studies. Over the years, several of our volunteers have made attempts to at least sort and organize our book collection. But thanks to Duncan’s expertise this year, we are at last undertaking a serious effort to digitally catalog our Library collection and make it publicly searchable.
Our antique card catalog hasn’t been updated since the late 1990s, and we have had hundreds of new books donated to us since that time. As this project progresses, the ability to search for our books online will be a boon to Indiana Masons, historians, researchers, genealogists and countless others.
Many thanks to both Olivia and Duncan! They are normally in the Museum Monday through Thursday, so if you are downtown during the week, stop in and say hello.