Pierogies in England?

Alright so this post is a little past the date that I did this, but I still wanted to blog about it anyways.

Heaven wrapped in dough...(are you salivating yet?)

This little adventure all started when one of my friends here, Sarah, sent me a link to a recipe on pierogies. Now, if you don't know, I LOVE PIEROGIES. It is one of my favorite foods back at home and obviously they don't make/sell pierogies in England. So when my friend sent me that link, I was going to do whatever it took to make them. We shared the idea with our friend Chelsea, who is of Ukrainian descent and it is a holiday tradition to make them in her family. So instead, she managed to get her family's old recipe that feeds 50-60 people!

50-60 people?? Hmm...We had a decision to make. Either make all the pierogies and freeze them for a later time or...invite people over for a pierogy dinner! Apparently, pierogy-making days in her family are a 1-2 day event, but we decided to make it a 2-3 hour event. Recruiting some help, we decided to get pierogy-makin'!

A plate of pierogies with the famous recipe.

First we had to make the filling, which is basically mashed potatoes with cheese, onion powder (or whatever else you want in it). Then you let the potatoes after you mash them and cheese them up cool down. Whilst the potatoes are being cooled down, then you have to make the dough. Unfortunately, we did not have enough eggs to make the optimal amount of dough, since you are to keep making dough until the filling runs out, but it still worked.

Now in Chelsea's family and probably Ukrainian culture, probably why the pierogies took so long is that the woman of the family would sit around and talk and gossip whilst making them. Trying to keep in historically accurateness, we tried to gossip while making the pierogies, but that was of course a fail.

Back to the pierogies. So after you make the dough, you cut out circles, fill them with the cheesy potato filling and pinch the sides so that they stay closed. Then you put about 10 in at a time into a pot of boiling water and after some time, you fry them on the stove. We decided to fry some with bacon and onions and that was a good choice.

The pierogy-makin' station!

In the end, we made around 40-5o pierogies, so we were pretty close to the end result. About 10 or so people showed up to the event and we ate the pierogies until they were all gone. And of course, we had my favorite pierogy topping...sour cream!!

The group digging into pierogies!

My mouth was salivating writing this blog post...I wish they had pierogies here! Not to worry though, because my friend and I decided we are going to make them over Spring/Easter break. It is an Easter tradition in her family and since we are both going to be here over Easter, why not make them? I'll update you all on part 2 of pierogies in England!

A Stranger in Strangers’ Hall: What a mess!

Today, for the entirety of the three and a half hours I volunteered at Strangers' Hall, I organized craft cabinets. Why may you ask? For some odd reason, I thoroughly enjoy organizing (even though oftentimes my own room isn't so) and when they asked me if I wanted to do this task, I sprung to it. With a cold coming on though, perhaps sorting through pipe cleaners and bits of paper wasn't the best thing for me.

My boss briefly explained where the things were located and what she wanted done. Organizing some cabinets and writing lists of supplies seemed easy and mindless enough. Boy was I wrong. Since the museum is very much involved with children's activities, they have massive supplies of random objects. They had enough paper and pens to last them a few years and yet they had only one measly box of crayons and about 15 children's scissors. Clearly, nobody had sorted through their craft supplies in quite some time, so I set to work.

The supplies, activity guides and materials were all over the place with no sense of organization. I managed to make one cabinet only for supplies, one only for the activity sheets and the other for extra supplies such as pens, scissors, glue, etc. Even just that small task made a huge difference. Then I had to sort through everything...what a nightmare!

They tried to have separate bins for each activity with supplies in it, ready to go. Of course, that was not the case when I sorted through them. Many were filled with trash, lacking in supplies or instruction sheets and had no order to them at all. I tidied them all up and made a list of supplies that were needed. I even alphabetized the bins in the cabinet for easy reference. So maybe I'm a little "OCD."

I then moved on to make some order of the huge supply cabinet. Nothing was labeled or in any order. I've realized over time that most people really won't take the time to search through boxes or things to find something, unless it is labeled for their convenience. There were the usual supplies of paper, yarn, fabric and then the unusual supplies such as baby socks, nutmeg and floor tiles. After the cabinet was labeled and organized, I thought that my tasks were done, but then I turned around.

I noticed on the floor of the supply room that there were piles of random papers and objects that looked like they might have been for crafts. Guess what, I was right. Now I had a whole other pile of things to sort through that weren't in any bins. I found more activities for the activity bins, useless scraps of paper, and other random activities that might possibly be used in the future. Once again, I sorted and organized, found places for these objects and left a pile of miscellaneous items that I had no clue about for the curator. Whew!

What I thought was going to be a day of mindless work turned into a day of organizing genius. I had no idea (and I think the museum workers as well too) of the amount of craft items and activities the museum had in possession now that it was all organized and labeled. I can understand why things get like this in a place like a museum, especially after a busy holiday, but it is just incredible just how unorganized it can get. At least I'll be leaving in a few months so I won't have to be there to organize it when it gets cluttered up again. I think I would cry if I saw it in disrepair again so soon.

Hours logged: 3 1/2
Total hours: 15 (technically I'm done, but I'm going to keep volunteering there anyways)

A Stranger in Strangers’ Hall: When a reproduction just isn’t good enough

Last Friday I went to Strangers’ Hall with the notion that I was going to be helping out with some children’s project or making another “robot” out of a box. Sadly, today was completely normal. After learning about what I was supposed to help out with today, my boss and I got on the subject of my research paper. This enthused her so much that I ended up doing research for my project instead (which I am not complaining about in the least!).

For the couple hours I was there we bonded over “museum talk” or the pains and joys of being involved with museums. In a mere two hours or so that I was at Strangers’ Hall, I learned its life story and why it is the way it is today. She brought out dozens of newspaper articles and photo albums of the museum in its heyday, about 30 years ago. Seeing the museum as it is today compared to what it was back then I couldn’t believe the difference.

What I noticed the most through my exploration of Strangers’ Hall’s history was the massive collection the museum houses. But what I noticed even more was that about 1/18 of that is on display today. I had no idea about the amount of “stuff” the museum owned. I learned that the Hall owns about 25,000 objects and artifacts, but the majority of them are stored away. Even the objects strewn about the museum today are reproductions. With reproductions it allows a museum to become “more accessible” to the public because it makes them feel like there are less barriers around and that they can touch “historical” objects.

This got me to thinking about what is better, accessibility to museums (through reproductions) or having more of the “real stuff” on display. I briefly discussed this with my boss, who told me a story about the National Trust in England. The National Trust basically protects, preserves and funds sites all around England. What the National Trust is supposedly doing now is working with certain museums to “bring down the ropes” or the barriers behind authentic items to make objects and museums more accessible and have the “real stuff”.

Although that may sound like a great idea, I happen to disagree with the National Trust. In my years of working in museums, I have learned all to well that it is the adults you have to worry about more than the kids when it comes to handling objects. I’ve witnessed adults open closet doors, pick up priceless artifacts, try to go past “No Admittance” areas and even touch my personal objects. Sure there are also plenty of children that can be as bad and be reckless, but I believe adults are just as bad, or even worse.

Despite those qualms, I am a fan of reproductions and authentic items and I think a museum needs a balance of both. I love reproductions because people can actually handle historical objects and understand more the lifestyle and people of the past. And I also love authentic artifacts because people do come to museums to “see the real thing” and there is so much more meaning in seeing a real, historic object compared to a reproduction of the same thing. My question to any of you reading this entry is, what do you think?

Hours logged: 2 1/2
Total hours: 12 1/2

A Stranger in Strangers’ Hall: If you give a child a box…

Two weeks ago was the re-opening of Strangers’ Hall to the public, thus meaning it would be busy today. I got placed in the Undercroft, which is where they hold all the children’s activities. Once again I was instructed to make a robot/invention sort of thing for the children to look at. That fell way to the many little visitors that soon took up all the table space.

After learning about Victorian cleaning tools and techniques, the children were instructed to make some sort of cleaning invention or robot. Now with children there from ages 2-10 you can imagine the variation in things being created. I saw a total of 3 castles being made, 2 homes, 4 rubbish cleaning bins, a beauty bin and a video camera. I thought it was incredible watching the children who were given a box and a table of various papers and bits and see their imaginations at work. And I was also surprised that the children took to the craft. I must admit I was a bit skeptical about the idea of the craft, but the children had a great time and really used their imaginations.

Before the children came down to make crafts, a woman from the press was at the Hall to take pictures of the conservation that was happening. Today there was no conservation happening of course because it was just re-opened to the public. So we had to put together a sort of “scene” that made it look like the museum was still conserving something. One of the volunteers was used in the pictures to demonstrate how the equipment was used. He kept nicely arguing with the photographer about how he is supposed to be properly using the equipment compared with what she wanted to make a good picture. In the end, it is always what makes a better picture than wins, not the accuracy of the scene. And I know that is how most things are with the press and the media, but it still frustrates me as a historian…I’m all about accuracy, accuracy, accuracy! I guess we’ll see what the museum has in store for me later this week!

Hours logged: 4
Total hours: 10

A Stranger in Strangers’ Hall: When working in museums, make robots?

A few Saturdays ago I offered to come in and help out at the museum, not really knowing what I would be doing. Strangers’ Hall for the past month or so has been having a “face-lift” aka conservation work done to it, among other things, so they have been closed to the public. The day I decided to come in and help out was definitely a whirl-wind day for the museum and I was glad I could be there to help!

I came into a place full of boxes, conservation equipment, paint buckets, school children, antiques, and my boss running around. This I have come to learn is normal for many museums, maybe not an everyday ritual, but definitely normal. After about an hour of running up and down stairs, following my boss around, and looking at antiques for a possible press release that was happening in about an hour, she decided it would not be the best idea to have the press come in that day. The press wanted to come in and take photos of either the conservation or the new activities planned for “half term” for the school groups. If the press came today, the museum would not have been at its most appealing, so it beat having to set up a “faux” childrens’ activities center in a half hour.

Instead, my boss plopped a big box down in front of me and said, “Make a robot.” From 8 years in working in museums, I can tell you I have never heard that in any of them. Apparently, the theme for the “half term” school events is ‘Spring Cleaning’ where they will be showing kids Victorian cleaning tools and teaching them about a servant’s day. The craft they wanted the kids to make though are I guess cleaning robots or machines, making some sort of invention. My job was to create a “robot” as an example among two other ones the staff made. Someone had made a washer with legs and someone else made some sort of Hoover. Staring at this empty box, I didn’t know what to make. After a few moments of looking through craft supplies, I decided to make some sort of trash converter with a conveyor belt and a screen. The end result was a “trash converter” that turns rubbish into food. Not one of my best art creations by far, but for coming up with something on the spot, I was pretty proud of myself.

This little project goes to show that anything is possible in museums. I think why I really enjoy working in museums is because there is always something exciting and different happening from day to day. Maybe it is not what most people would call, “living by the seat of their pants”, but I find it rather exciting. Now I am a bit curious to see what my next adventure at the museum has in store for me.

Hours logged: 4
Total hours: 6

A Stranger in Strangers’ Hall: The realization that I am one of the only volunteers under 60…

For those of you who don’t know, I am volunteering at Strangers’ Hall, basically doing whatever odd jobs they have for me. My research paper is somewhat connected to my volunteer work in that I will be observing how small, local museums are run throughout Norwich, especially since many of them are run through one organization, the Norfolk Museum and Archaeological Services. Anyways, back to my day…

On Wednesday I went to a volunteer meeting at the Hall, since it had been closed for a month due to repairs, etc. From volunteering at a few museums before this one, I don’t know why but I always forget that I will always be one of the youngest volunteers. This case was no exception. I was the only volunteer there under 60 (not that I am complaining in the least, I love the company of a person from age 1 to 99). While sipping on my “cuppa”, I listened to their gripes and groans about CRB or the Criminal Records Bureau. Basically the CRB is a background check that allows you (or not) to work with children in any kind of setting. They were complaining about the fact that despite getting a CRB clearance for one museum or organization, you have to get an individual one for each place you have contact with children, which is obviously a pain. Getting this clearance also limits volunteers until they get cleared, so places oftentimes have trouble organizing events because of a lack of volunteers due to the CRB clearance. Unfortunately for me, like a few of you are also experiencing, I will not be able to directly help out with children activities because of how long the CRB takes. It just seems ridiculous to me that it both takes quite a while for a person to get cleared and that you have to get cleared for each place you work at. I learned that the CRB is a fairly recent development and I hope that in future years they will improve it immensely.

Another complaint I was listening to was the problems of running smaller museums through one large institution, like the Norfolk Museums and Archaeological Services. When having an organization like this, they oftentimes don’t focus on the individual needs of every museum but rather use similar regulations for all of them. Although a bit of a minor problem, the volunteers and staff were complaining about the hours the museum has to be open. Strangers’ Hall, although they are open until 4, want to have the guests out of the place by 4, thus having a final tour time. The museum takes at least 20-30 minutes to walk through its entirety (and I’d say that is rushing) so ideally it would be nice for the staffers to have everyone out by 4 and not have any stragglers coming in at 3:55 wanting a tour. Unfortunately, in order to even post a “last call” time, it has to be change by the NMAS, who regulates all the times. Sure those closing times might make sense for other smaller museums, but for Strangers’ Hall, which is a pretty large museum, it doesn’t quite work. This is obviously one of the problems of having so many smaller museums run by one larger entity.

On another note, it makes me sad though that there aren’t as many younger volunteers. Obviously I know that many young kids aren’t going to be as passionate about history and museums as I, but unless we get more youth involved, it will add to (I think, among other things) more museums dying out. In every single museum I’ve worked at, there has been a majority of elders who volunteer and run the place. And they are all so passionate about it. Yes I understand that many are retired and looking for something to do on the side, but why can’t youth consider doing this too? I think with having many older people running and regulating museums, they often lose touch of what might interest younger and future generations today. I hope for the future museums can find a way of balancing these two things in order for them to survive.

Hours logged: 1
Total Hours: 2