San Diego History Center - Diego Diaz, Week 1

San Diego History Center - Diego Diaz, Week 1

Hello, everyone. July 9th (Wednesday) marked my official first day at the San Diego History Center (SDHC)!

It has been an honor and privilege to work with my fellow colleagues, understanding how a museum is a complex

multifaceted scene that works tirelessly to produce a welcoming environment to its guests. 

                                                           

My first day consisted of becoming familiar with the museum as well as its surrounding area of Balboa park.

To do this, I was given the task of selecting a few museums out of eighteen housed within the park, exploring

them as a visitor. My task was simple - determine whether or not the museum was user friendly, noting any

signage within the interior and exterior. 

While visiting the Timken Museum of Art, I explored the many elements of it, noting my critiques on a report. This report consisted of various outlined concepts I enjoyed about the museum's layout, as well as pieces I believed could be improved to offer the museum's guests a more pleasant experience during their visit. 

The following day, I received my first official task, developing a well thought out presentation of anything of my choice with ties to San Diego history. The objective of this project is to illustrate a foreign or otherwise not well known idea about San Diego's history to introduce the museum's guests, displayed in one of the curiosity carts - a paletero like cart with written statements which depict the story in an interactive approach. 

Determining what subject I wanted to hone in on was a challenge. Given San Diego's rich history, I was overwhelmed by the different approaches and subjects I could talk about. However, I became fascinated by the Lemon Grove Incident (The first major documented school segregation case in the United States which denied Mexican and Mexican American students access to public schools, relocating them to an old building referred to as “ La Caballeriza”).

The remainder of my first week was spent doing research remotely. I spent my day gathering information and

brainstorming different ideas to make the project more interactive with visitors. While I continue to work on the

project, I am excited to develop the final result as well as become introduced to the variety of different fields

within the history center over the next three weeks. 

Les cuento más en la próxima!

Diego Diaz