PRM: Content and Features!

It's getting down to the wire. I'm starting to make final edits to my label copy, and I've gathered many of the photographs to be featured in the exhibit into a single document and placed them in their respective folders. But there's still so much to do.

Over the next two days, I will be meeting once again with Ron Dupree, a local Model T expert. He has graciously agreed to loan the museum a few of the objects he has related to the Model T: user manuals, joke books, parts, etc. I'm excited to comb through his collection to find the perfect pieces for our exhibit. On Thursday, I will meet with John Butte, the owner of the Silver Streak. We will discuss the progress with the project and with his book, and I will record his memories about how he came to own the Silver Streak. It's going to be a busy couple of days, but these steps are very important to the process of finishing up the project.

Over the next week or so, I will be putting together the interactive map of North America that will allow visitors to the exhibit to trace four of the trips made by the Gypsy Coeds. I was introduced to the software today, and I think it will be a lot of trial and error in terms of putting the product together. But I know the expereience is valuable; this will just be one more skill I can add to my list!

Gathering up the photographs of the Gypsy Coeds for their bios has been an interesting (and somewhat frustrating) process. Trying to get in touch with far-away family members has been quite the treat, and getting people to respond to me has been even more fun. But they are almost all collected now and I really think the visitors will enjoy learning about the women's lives after the Silver Streak.

One portion of the exhibit will highlight Route 66. On their way to California in 1940, the Gypsy Coeds traveled Route 66 from Bloomington, IL to Amarillo, TX. To show this connection, I've picked a few spots on Route 66 in Illinois that are within driving distance of Peoria to examine how the tourism industry really grew up on Route 66. As part of this research, I happened upon the NPS website for National Register buildings on Route 66, and I got in touch with the NPS Route 66 Heritage Corridor Preservation program.I've been in touch with them about permissions to use certain photographs in the exhibit; in the process, they've revealed that they're excited to know that a project like this is happening. They were happy to hear about it! Knowing that other historians are interested in this project makes me so excited to finish it up and really make it fantastic.

I also put together a flyer that Kristan McKinsey sent out to antique car clubs across the state and Midwest to share. Knowing that this step has been taken--that the word is getting out--is really starting to make this exhibit real to me. It's getting so close, and I feel that I've grown as a professional through this experience.