AMNH: Picturing the Museum

When I first moved to London I quickly snagged a job doing front of house at the Natural History Museum. Although the job itself was pretty dull and the pay was far from sustainable, one of the few things that made it worth doing was the experience of being in such an aesthetically rich environment after hours when nobody was around. When nobody is around, the museum itself becomes odd and surreal - and heaven forbid you should get lost in the maze of a basement where you don't know if you'll run into a dark room of dusty bones or the friendly folks at IT.

The American Museum of Natural History Research Library has an amazing collection called Picturing the Museum, with images from the forties documenting the museum staff at work and the displays they worked on. The collection is great, not only for the the quality of these old images, but also for some of the bizarre scenarios they create (and for bringing back whatever few fond memories I have of working in a museum).

Via BoingBoing