The Developers Edge: Bring Your Kids to Bring Out the Story
Summer – 2009
ECOS has been developing a new museum in the Big Horn Basin, Wyoming over the last two years. Located in north-central Wyoming, the museum is focused on a rich paleontological and archaeological history and highly active current research.
As part of the content development, ECOS has been working extensively in the field with scientists in developing the storyline and gathering artifacts and video/photo assets for the exhibits. We’ve spent numerous weeks exploring the Basin – most extensively this summer as we prepare for a May 2010 opening.
University of Wyoming archaeology dig site at Black Mountain.
In July, I traveled the Basin from field camp to field camp to help put the final touches on the storylines…but I didn’t travel alone. Having been wandering the area for two years, this particular week of research seemed an ideal chance to (selfishly) bring along my six-year old daughter, Sophie. Initially nervous about imposing my family on the work, I reluctantly brought her along. Little did I make the connection that this would prove a tremendous asset for fieldwork.
Sophie scouring the Basin for fossils.
The science work at these field camps has gained international recognition is the study of climate change and early-peoples research, so dozens of visitors tramp through the camps each season. I feared I’d be just another one of those visitors – demanding precious time in a four-week field season. A six year-old’s freshness and natural curiosity is exactly the type of inquiry that makes a museum relevant – and the scientists saw this curiosity and fed it. I was simply along for the ride.
Dr. Jonathan Bloch and our young paleontologist show off their findings.
Sophie prospected for fossils for days along with the pros, even finding relevant materials, ate in the camp kitchen, shared the latrine and camped out. She was a welcome addition to the field camp (especially for the scientists who left their kids at home as well as senior scientists who fondly recalled their own family’s visits to camp). Her freshly found love of the material is precisely the kind of embrace we desire in our visitors. The stories and passion from the scientists rose to the surface in a much more natural way than if just another professional showed up to pull their needs out of their work.
A find! Ancient molars from a 55-million Y.O. early sheep!
So, should I bring Sophie’s four year old sister to the next all day charrette? I think I’ll save her for the next field trip instead.
