Rachel A. S. Menzel
St. John's Church Artifacts
The final exhibit on display
Shortly before the start of my internship at Creighton, the on-campus church, St. John's Church, discovered a theft from their vault of artifacts. In response, the Rare Books Room and the Archives and Special Collections department offered to not only document the remaining collection in the Creighton Digital Repository, but also to set up a physical exhibit to display some of the artifacts that have been in use or tucked away in the church for generations. Working with the Liturgy Coordinator, the Liturgy Intern, and Dave, I selected, arranged, researched, and wrote labels for the exhibit objects, which has been on display in the Rare Books Room since January.
Initial arrangement of some artifacts
A rough sketch of the most identifying features with their numbers
Knowing the exhibit would last beyond my tenure at the Archives and Special Collections department and that descriptions would only go so far to describe several very similar items, I drew a guide matching the temporary number assignments with the objects in their final positions, allowing us to remove the temporary tags.
While I enjoyed the learning process of selecting and arranging the exhibit objects, I think I was most surprised by the process of label-writing. Never before had I known how much effort goes into crafting and word-smithing exhibit labels! However, I was pleased to discover that the care and precision needed for proper exhibit labels dovetailed nicely with my previous technical writing experience.
Finalizing the layout of the labels
To bring in some interactive elements without sacrificing the very limited space, we decided to include some augmented reality components into the display. With the specially-designed exhibit labels featuring QR codes, visitors can scan certain labels with the mobile app Zappar and enter a virtual environment with further information.
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In the label to the left, fully operable with Zappar, visitors can learn the identities and brief biographies of several saints pictured along the bottom of a displayed chalice.