Author: Rachel Farkas

I started at Boston Children’s Museum as an educator in the East Asia Department in 2008. Because I had experience working with collections, I gradually began to use these objects in my programs. Now, four years later, I am the Collections Manager. You can guess which area of collections is still my favorite.
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Hidden Object Highlight: Sini (سینی)

Every museum with a collection has materials identified as “found in collection,” AKA objects that have been disassociated from their records, numbers, or other identifying information. Perhaps they were once familiar to former staff, but with turnover, the institutional memory is lost. These objects are often set aside to be researched and reconciled “as time allows.” But when one of these found in collection items catches someone’s attention, the story emerges. In this post, Collections Intern Sayyara Huseynli explores one of these “mystery” objects.

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A Museum Collections Highlight: The “Her”story of a Dollhouse

Women have always been the guiding force behind the Museum’s collection. They have shaped it as curators, educators, trustees, and donors. However, when it comes to this last group, many of those women are overshadowed by “his”tory. With the wonders of the internet (and a little digging), we can reveal the rich “her”story of the Museum’s collection donors.

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Working from Home with Kids: Summer is here! Now what?

The end of the school year is upon us. We made it through. Or did we? Usually this time of year we’re looking forward to summer fun: days for slowing down, get togethers with friends and family, camp adventures, time off, the general vacation daze ahead. But while businesses begin to reopen and life slowly returns to some semblance of “normal,” as a working parent, normal still feels a long way off.

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Working from Home with Kids: Anyone Else Freaking Out?

When you’re working from home with kids, it’s hard to separate work life and family life. I entered into this new social construct with all the optimism I could muster, for which I blame my midwestern roots. I give myself a gold star for having a mindful approach to this new unknown. My daughter and I made a schedule and brainstormed activity ideas, but unfortunately, the reality isn’t matching up to our initial sunny outlook. If you, too, are working remotely with your kids as your new coworkers, maybe you can relate.

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Working from home…with kids

With all this sudden change heavy on my mind, this weekend I tried to figure out how I will actually work from home with the kids at home. This is unchartered territory, but I work at a children’s museum, I have expert resources a text/phone call/email away — it can’t be too hard, right? (Insert my new favorite emoji here.) There are tons of resources for activities to do with kids – Pinterest, Instagram, the Museum’s website (hint, hint!) and while all that is great, how do I get my work done while entertaining the kids and mining these resources for fresh activities? Here’s my plan so far:

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