Meet Jennifer Adams - Curatorial Assistant

Jennifer Adams

I am very pleased to be working at the Goulbourn Museum for the summer as a Curatorial Assistant.  As a student in the Applied Museums Studies program at Algonquin College, having an opportunity to combine what I am learning in the classroom with hands on working experience before I graduate is very beneficial.

I previously obtained a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Anthropology from Laurentian University and this has proven to compliment my museum interests well.  During my time at university I was able to take part in a six week archaeological field course put on by one of my professors in collaboration with the anthropology department.  I, along with 11 other students, our professor and two graduates of the program excavated a 15th century Huron-Wendat site in Southern Ontario. We set up our tents in the field next to the dig site and spent long hours excavating, sifting dirt through mesh screens, cleaning and cataloguing artefacts and writing detailed accounts of our day.  We found broken pieces of pottery, animal bones and beads and, of course many rocks.  These findings all came from an area in old settlements called “middens” – 15th century garbage dumps.  Archaeologists like to dig in middens because of the large number of artefacts they can find there.

After less than a month I am already feeling at home at the Goulbourn Museum.  I am eager to see what this summer has to offer and look forward to working with the museum’s staff and volunteers these next few months.