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Saturday, June 13, 2009

World Premiere of the Artillery Case at the Custer Battlefield Museum

Justin: Well, the day has finally come, the glass is ready to be put back into place and my case will officially be done. Welcome to the world premiere!! Coming into this endeavor, I thought the implementation would take half a day, maybe a day tops. I was sorely mistaken to say the least. To begin, working on a case and simultaneously running all other aspects of day to day museum operations is a task within itself. Educating vistors while running the register while anwsering questions while trying to put a case together is extremely time consuming and exhausting. On top of that, there are many obstacles along the way in terms of translating from a mental plan to a physical actuality. On several occasions, I had to improvise in order to complete the task. Not everything worked out the way I initially envisioned, but I am thoroughly happy with the end result. Some of the improvisations actually came out better than I had anticipated. For example, with the help of my fellow intern, we were able to build an impromptu stand to hold the British Bulldog revolver. The stand, which is composed of loosely molded black fabric, allows for the revolver to have a singular presence in the case, the impact of which is felt when examining the firearm's mysterious and exciting past. This particular revolver is the same model General Custer carried with him into battle but was never recovered. The aforementioned British Bulldog was purchased from a 82-year-old Cheyenne woman in 1988 less than 50 miles from the site of the Battle and may or may not be Custer's lost weapon. Another observation - no case can be completed by a single person. Without the help of Lauren, I do not think the case could have been done. It is simply too much work for one to complete by one's self. Furthermore, with the help of Lauren's brain storming and ideas the case really came together quite nicely. In the end, the journey from start to finish of designing a case is extremely rewarding. Despite its tumultuous and often frustrating development, it is incredibly satisfying to objectively observe the evolution of a case, from humble and disorganized beginnings to a polished and coherent end. JD

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