•  
  •  
 

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Walter Angst

Keywords

Walter Angst, Swiss American Historical Society, autobiography

Abstract

Once I had a job at the Smithsonian Institution, I had to wait a whole year until my position opened, in January of 1968, and even then my position had first to be approved by Congress as at that time there was a hiring-freeze. I got hired as a "specialist for restoration" with Exhibits. We were a department of two people out of about 800. In order to justify my grade, I passed a mid-level exam, which was rather tough, as it was meant to be administered to generals, admirals, high level administrators, and Ph.Ds. Gordon, my supervisor, had difficulties with his eyes and consequently he not only disliked reading and writing, but was also suspicious of "intellectuals." On the other hand, he had an inexhaustible store of professional little tricks up his sleeve which he translated into ingenious solutions for restoration problems. I learned many things from him especially in handling ceramics, glass, metals, ivory, and stone. Since I had the basic experience of a good craftsman, it was easy for me to add new skills as needed. I was always "stealing" with my eyes. But it often happened that, after watching intently, at the second try, I could do a job better than Gordon and he got jealous and nervous. Thus I often pretended to be dense, so that my source of instruction wouldn't dry up. Of course, many other coworkers helped me and quite often improved on Gordon's techniques. As long as one did not have enemies, it was easy to find answers. There is an enormous store of knowledge, specialized skills, creativity and good will among the people who do the actual work at the Smithsonian, the lowly craftspeople, curators, and theoreticians. If one couldn't find an answer to a problem in one of the nooks and crannies of the Smithsonian, there was no answer yet.

Download

Share

COinS