The Plaque.
I never know what I am going to find when I poke around in the collection, which is one of the reasons that the digitization project (headed by the lovely Kristen) has been so much fun. See, in order for our team to inventory, document and then photograph all 20,000 items in storage, we have to physically unwrap each artifact and examine it – and that is really the best part. Sure, after the twentieth trophy or hundredth badge it gets a little repetitive, but it is the exciting easter eggs that make it a rewarding experience.
I had one of those the other day when I was poking around downstairs and Kristen handed me a big blue box and asked me to re-accession it because it had been done incorrectly some years earlier. Upon opening the box I found a plaque unlike any I had ever seen: it was an IACP/Du Pont Kevlar Survivor’s Club award. As the name would suggest, this club, formed in 1987, is open to any officer who survives “potentially fatal and/or disabling injuries through the use of body armor.” Each inductee receives the wooden plaque, a lapel pin and a locket or pin for their spouse (this is the one piece missing from our kit, and in a way I think that that’s lovely.)
A Big Deal.
I had no idea that such a club existed! They recently accepted their 3000th member, and I just think that this is a great way to promote dual recognition of these awful scenarios: the award honours the bravery and heroism of the officer alongside appreciation for the actual Kevlar material itself.
As I was accessioning the award and painstakingly recording its every detail, I came across a photocopy of the original police report of the incident. Our man was shot with a sawed off shotgun after intercepting a bank robbery (sounds so John Dillinger!) and survived numerous wounds due to his lucky Kevlar friend. My favourite part of the report details the assailant’s physical characteristics – including his “beer belly.”
Despite the incident taking place in 1984, the Survivor’s Club presented our officer with his award retroactively – an amazing way to not only say thank you, but to commemorate the amazing ways that technology and science can save the lives of the people who protect us.
Plus, its in a neat box, and for museum nerds like me, sometimes that’s more than enough…. 
Tags: artifacts · curators office4 Comments
4 responses so far ↓
All’s I gotta say is… kewl. I’m right there with ya with the museum nerd stuff. : )
Really cool post! I like hearing about “behind the scenes.”
Technology and sciences today are very effective in saving the lives of people…
Thomas´s last [type] ..glass tableware
Yah, science and technology is a great help for saving the lives of people. The high technology these days is always finding solutions to diseases how to have ways to cure it.