STEAM the Museum is an exhibition that sees junior curators from the Opportunity Class at Sturt Public School solve a real problem that the Museum of the Riverina has.

These problems were shown to the class at our first session. Each student then elected their top three problems to work on, and was placed into a group.

Historical object detectives: 3D printing

Problem

The Museum, like most museums, has some objects that are broken or incomplete. However, sometimes it is hard to make the public understand how significant or important an object was when it is broken or looks old and unloved.

The Museum would like you to complete an object. However, following museum practice you cannot fix it with new pieces, but need to make sure the object is undamaged and your changes can be removed. The public needs to be able to see what is original and what is new.

You will need to research the object – how it looked when complete, dimensions and other information. You will then need to draw the missing pieces in drawing software like TinkerCAD and 3D print them.

You will also need to tell the story of how the object came to be broken or have parts missing. You can be creative in this story telling process, but your information needs to be historically accurate. You also need to explain why museums keep objects that are broken or damaged.

Potential object for 3D fixing - Pullitop Bell, damaged in a fire in 1951