Rita Davenport, a UB history major who completes the program this semester, is finishing on a high note with an internship at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.
Her main project at the BMI is documenting a backlog of historical objects. Recently, she has been using a database called Past Perfect to catalog products from Domino Sugar. As we all know, Domino Sugar has played a huge role in Baltimore’s industry.
Recently, the museum received a donation of four larges boxes full of Domino Sugar products such as boxes, coffee creamer, cinnamon shakers, coffee mugs, plush animals, sugar cubes, water bottles, and hats. Rita gave each of these objects a number, then labeled them with the number somewhere on the bottom(so it doesn’t show on display). She used a special archival pen. Rita says, “I photograph all angles of each object. I then catalog each object with their number into our database… I upload a photo for each object and describe the object itself and its condition.” In that way, the material history of Domino Sugar can be preserved for future scholars.
Rita finished the four boxes on Wednesday, February 7. This was her first completed task as an intern and she says she is “thrilled to finally be working in the field.” In the fall, Rita heads to a graduate program in public history.