Orange County Regional History Center Week #3


Dear YAP Familia,

In my third week, I continued with my exhibit project and traveled again to offsite to help out with inventory. This week was very different from last week however. I started working with cataloging photographs in the archives, and got the opportunity to participate in the community outreach project on Friday. After my third week, I was able to understand more the power of different expressions of art.

On Tuesday, I headed to offsite and helped my supervisor pull up some objects. The museum was doing a one week exhibition about Orlando’s sister city, Urayasu City. One of the things we pulled was very interesting, it was like an oriental American Girl doll. So not only did I learn that Orlando had a twin city but also that many schools in Orlando had participated in a doll exchange program with schools in Urayasu City. In addition, I cataloged from a weird clown toy to candy boxes. Some of the things, such as the tobacco canisters, were very rusted while others were in very good conditions. For example, the candy boxes still had the detailed leaf design and beautiful colors intact.

*Picture of some of the offsite artifacts I cataloged, including candy boxes, tobacco canisters and weird round shaped clown. 

This week, I would also catalog photographs from the Archives. Most of these photos were military wedding photos during the 1940s. The brides were typically in long sleeved wedding dresses, but the men were always wearing the military uniforms on their wedding day. Many of the photos were very serious portraits with the whole family, but other times it was just the bride and the groom displaying love and passion towards each other. With photos like these, a person can actually be in a moment that happened eighty years ago!

In addition to cataloging photos, I also went to the Chickasaw Branch Library for the community outreach event. I read the book about a very famous musician and songwriter I had already known thanks to my dad called Tito Puente. During the whole time, it felt like I was passing stories I had heard from my parents about Latinos who excelled in music to not just one or two kids but instead twenty three kids. They especially got excited when they played with their cups and wooden sticks and created the sounds that Tito Puente would make in the story. This library was more of a community center not only for children but for everyone in the area. The library provides lots of resources that helps people develop new skills, such as language and knitting classes and art activities.

*Picture of some of the children paying attention as I was reading them the story "Tito Puente, Mambo King".

 When I finished the week, I learned more about the strength of not only a community in most joyous moments, but also the importance of encouraging people to give more than one hundred percent. During my time with my Latino family and in Washington Week, the word family doesn’t mean people related by blood. Instead, it means people united by love and care for each other. Every person in the family helps each other grow and become the best version of themselves in many areas. From being there in one of the moments most filled with love or when a person is learning a new skill to eventually pass on for generations, family will always remain by your side and see you grow from a little child into a leader impacting your community.

Until next week,
Charmaine Nieves


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