18 Jul Six weeks down!

There has been significant progress here at Manzanar for the past couple of weeks. For one, my supervisor and I finally removed the items from the display case where we will eventually put up our exhibit on the Paiute-Shoshone family, the Buttons. Before we took out the items that were previously on display, we worked quite a bit on the image that will serve as the backdrop for our new exhibit.

Since the Button family inhabited most of the landscape surrounding Manzanar, we decided to go with an oblique projection of the geographical area that spans from Shepherd Creek (just north of Manzanar NHS) and Moffat Ranch, where the family used to live in the early 20^th century. There are about five miles of distance between those two features, and as the star of our backdrop, we have the Sierra Nevada. After giving the image a few tweaks on Adobe Illustrator and printing out a few drafts, my supervisor and I were pleased with the results. This past week, we were able to finally put the image up in the display case. This past week also fostered a stronger collaborative relationship with the Button family. Featured in the image below are four out of the five family members whose contributions and input were instrumental in the making of our exhibit. They are very kind and generous individuals, and we are so honored to be entrusted with presenting their story to the public. So far, every single detail regarding how their story will be displayed has been met with their approval, and we can’t wait for them to see the finished result. Other than that, Latino Conservation Week is upon us. I wish my fellow LHIPsters suerte, and I hope their events are successful!