Mounted buffalo head

34” H x 24” W x 37” D

ED1995.6001.02

Gift of E. Raymond Smith

The Curator for a Day program, of which Lily was our first participant, was the outgrowth of our desire to have the From the Vault choices reflect a variety of perspectives. As Curator for a Day, a student visits the Museum for part of one school day and is introduced to the Museum as the public sees it and to the behind the scenes side as well. The experience includes visiting the Museum vault, selecting an object for From the Vault, learning how museums connect

the object with files about it, looking at information and records the Museum has about the object and doing research about it on their own. Finally, the student writes a little about the object and why it was chosen and something about his/her research. This becomes part of a brief paper about the Curator for a Day experience to turn in to his/her classroom teacher. For students, this experience may be an introduction to the wide variety of careers available in museums.

For more about the history of buffalo in America, visit:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/where-the-buffalo-no-longer-roamed-3067904/