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Expert Profile



Benjamin Melgard
Pronouns:
He, Him, His
Availability:
Available
Full or Part-time
Position Type:
Salem
Oregon
United States of America
Email:
Years in the field:
1 – 5 Years
Areas of Expertise
Curatorial/Collections, Development/Sponsorship/Institutional Advancement, Exhibits development, Grants/Foundational Giving, Operations, Partnerships, Project Management, Research & Evaluation
Researched, photographed, labeled and archivally stored the entire department’s historical collection
Developed a cataloging system for the department’s 300+ item historical collection, based on a trinomial accession number
Wrote a Plan of Collections and Collection Policy/Mission Statement with a committee made up of Vancouver Police Department (VPD) officers, local historians and other VPD personnel
Worked with a computer programmer to design, implement, and refine a custom historical collection database on Microsoft Access
Researched archival best practices and adapted these to the department’s situation, reorganized the entire collection
Developed and implemented procedures for taking in and disposing of items of the collection(Donations/Deaccessions)
Researched and implemented a monitoring system and protocol to track humidity and temperature in collection storage areas and displays
Met with and accepted donations from local citizens with local law enforcement connections
Researched, wrote and designed labels for 22 previous unlabeled and undated historical photographs on display at two department locations
Performed extensive and far reaching historical research on the department that included interviews, emails, meetings with current and former officers and staff, members of the public, with the Washington State Archives staff and local historians Pat Jollota and John Gentry along with hours of microfilm and library research,
Areas of research included VPD unit history, badge and uniform design development, history of women and people of color in the department, notable crimes, award design, and Chief of Police chronology
Mentored college intern
Assisted with grant application for the department’s successful award of $6826 from the City of Vancouver Culture, Arts & Heritage Grant