As another year draws to a close, we’re taking this opportunity to explore how the fire department recorded its actions and adventures. Larger, city-wide departments – as well as many smaller companies, whether paid or volunteer – kept records of daily life in the fire house. These records could include notes on the weather, fires large or small, promotions and demotions, or accidents, among other events. Above: This is a Baltimore City logbook that dates to 1952. It documents the various officers and firefighters clocking in and out, those who were on vacation, as well as the inspections and drills that took place. The logbook, or ledger, was maintained by the company officer(s) stationed a
Being a small museum, one of the most frequently used means of communication we have are text panels. Placed throughout the museum, they convey various bits of information to our visitors, and are designed to provide greater context for whatever object the visitor is viewing. The text panels also provide specific information about each vehicle in the collection, so that visitors can learn on their own and tour guides and docents do not need to memorize every data point about every piece of apparatus. Above: One of our older apparatus text panels, with a large block of text and limited technical information. Of course, one of the dangers with text panels is that they can become outdated. What
