She's a Scientist: Katelyn Trammell

Curt Bright Author

10/14/2021 Added

56 Plays

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The anthropology collection at the University of Nebraska State Museum is going through a complete overhaul, and for the woman in charge, it’s an epic opportunity.

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[00:00:02.720]Hi, I'm Katelyn,
[00:00:03.570]and I'm an anthropologist at the University of Nebraska
[00:00:05.610]State Museum.
[00:00:06.780]Katelyn Trammell manages the museum's
[00:00:09.030]collection of archeological and cultural objects.
[00:00:12.120]The collection contains more than 40,000 pieces
[00:00:15.160]from 115 countries around the world.
[00:00:18.620]So my job is to take care of the collections,
[00:00:21.220]make sure that it's accessible to researchers,
[00:00:24.220]that everything is properly cataloged and that I'm working
[00:00:27.980]sometimes with exhibits or educational programs
[00:00:30.650]and making sure everything is preserved as best
[00:00:33.170]as possible for the future.
[00:00:35.000]Trammell's job recently became a lot bigger.
[00:00:37.990]The museum's entire collection is going
[00:00:40.440]into a new database.
[00:00:42.060]And a database is kind of the backbone of a
[00:00:43.840]collection because it tells you what you have,
[00:00:46.050]who gave it to you and where it's located.
[00:00:48.910]We have 40,000 objects
[00:00:50.460]and they are all having to be re-cataloged
[00:00:52.860]into the new database.
[00:00:54.390]And so every one has to be photographed, has to be
[00:00:57.272]described, given a condition report,
[00:00:59.830]measured, and all of it's provenance
[00:01:01.960]recorded in the database.
[00:01:03.070]So it's a really, really big project.
[00:01:05.060]Thankfully I have a couple of interns
[00:01:06.610]helping me out with it,
[00:01:07.490]but it's going to take a few years to get it done.
[00:01:09.840]Trammell calls herself
[00:01:10.980]an accidental anthropologist.
[00:01:13.350]She had planned to teach history,
[00:01:15.140]but an anthropology class in college
[00:01:17.070]shifted her interest to museums.
[00:01:19.630]I started working in museums in undergrad
[00:01:22.300]and ended up going to graduate school
[00:01:24.500]and getting my Master's in Museum Studies.
[00:01:26.710]And then thankfully got the job here,
[00:01:28.130]which is my dream job.
[00:01:29.570](drum beats)
[00:01:33.700]The more you study
[00:01:35.060]how other people are living,
[00:01:36.850]the more similar you find that you are,
[00:01:40.540]because in the end, we're all humans.
[00:01:42.600]We do some things a little differently,
[00:01:44.950]but we have a ton of things in common.
[00:01:47.670]And the more you find out,
[00:01:49.180]the more you come to be able to appreciate people
[00:01:51.280]who are different than you.

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She's a Scientist: Katelyn Trammell

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