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As an intern, I ran many errands for the aSHEville Museum. These included getting lunch or dinner from the Mediterranean place down the street, getting exhibit craft supplies from stores, finding appropriately sized frames from Michael’s, and going to Kinko’s to have things copied and laminated. Errands like that were very much what I expected as an intern.

One thing I did not expect as an intern was handling museum funds. Before one set of errands, Heidi pressed two crisp hundred-dollar bills into my hand. I had to keep track of receipts and keep that money separate from my own. It was a big responsibility and was somewhat stressful. As I spent the money getting things for the exhibit, I realized that two hundred dollars is a fraction of what most exhibits cost.

During my time with the aSHEville Museum, I had to utilize a number of skills. The first of which was communication. From the first day of the internship, I was working primarily off site in coffee shops and libraries. This meant that communicating with my supervisors so that they could monitor my progress and pint me in the right direction (both local and at Roanoke College) was imperative. It was not easy to constantly check in and some weeks I neglected to communicate with my on site supervisor, which meant that I did some research she did not want.

A skill I used that I developed at school was research. I was in methods this past semester and learned about interpreting primary source documents, photos, and analyzing documents for context and biases. All of these skills were required and further developed for the research I did on Wonder Woman.

Time management was something I struggled with throughout the summer. I had many other things I could be doing and no hard deadlines, so I did some of my research during the day at libraries and coffee shops and some at night from my bed. This summer made it clear that time management is something I need to work on in all areas of my life.

I learned some things about museums that I had never even thought to be curious about and would love to learn more about. There is this group of local businesses on every street in Asheville and they meet to discuss how their street looks to tourists and locals alike. The Museum is on Wall Street, which is trying to brand itself as “Walkable Wall Street.” Heidi is an active participant in these and other meetings for local businesses in the city. In addition, there is an interconnectedness of the museums in Asheville. There are few, but aSHEville made several calls to the Art Museum to borrow cases, ask for advice on exhibits, and for some advertising. I do not know if this museum to museum contact is typical, but I am definitely interested in finding out more about this exchange and teamwork that takes place.

In my internship I learned about the changing expectations of bosses and how to adapt accordingly. I was, at times, given a set of instructions that changed by the next week. As an intern, I would just adapt and continue with the new instructions.

As discussed earlier, I learned that I lack a certain amount of self-discipline that it takes to meet and work towards self-set goals. I require hard deadlines and a little bit of panic to get things done. I anticipate paying more attention to this in the upcoming semester.

Overall, this internship has given me a taste of the private museum world. I enjoyed the summer at aSHEville, but I want to learn more about public museums and in the future I would like to intern at a museum or house that has its own archives.

Mrs. Magazine responded to our email! They said they would send us one of the three original copies of the Mrs. Magazine featuring Wonder Woman. We received it the other day along with a handwritten letter and a stack of cards for a free one-year subscription (pictured).

I currently have the magazine and several other posters and items for the exhibit in my home. It is

incredibly nerve wracking to be responsible for the very items that will be used in an exhibit. We have a small stand up Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman (pictured) that my cat tried to eat the other day. I have since obtained a large bin for the museum items to keep them out of little mischievous feline paws.

The focus of my research has shifted since my last blog post. My supervisor

wants a more comprehensive look at Wonder Woman instead on a focus on her as a character. After she and I discussed this shift in focus, I struggled with the broad nature of the research. There are so many facets of the history that would be fascinating to delve into, but because of limited time and space, they cannot be covered in depth. There are many contemporary issues in addition to decades of social, comic, and media history and events. Some of the most difficult decisions I have had to make are about what is essential to the exhibit. My favorite area of Wonder Woman history is her origin story, which there are several books about. Her creator William Marston had ties to Margaret Sanger and had two strong female lovers. In contrast to that, there is a ban on the 2017 movie in several Middle Eastern countries because of the choice of actress. One of the difficulties I found in creating an exhibit lies in determining the balance of historic and contemporary.

The space we have for the exhibit is small. Deciding which items and posters should go on the walls and perhaps in cases is not easy. We have several options for posters, toys, and

books, but some are more directly related to the text developed for the exhibit than others. Every item needs a caption and perhaps its own story. The process of collecting,describing, and displaying every object is more labor intensive than I anticipated. One of the vintage Wonder Woman toys we found is not in its original package (pictured), so it is my job to figure out how to display it. Updates about this unpackaged toy will be included in my next post.

 

 

The four exhibits in the museum that I talked about in blog post one have been there for some time. The exhibit we get the most comments and positive feedback on is Appalachian Women, featuring an interview with Sarah Gudger. The interview is a video and recording of a reading of a 1937 interview with Sarah Gudger, who was one of the oldest living former slaves in Buncombe county. In the interview she recalls her master saying she was around fifty at the end of the Civil War when she was freed. At the time of her interview she lived in Asheville with relatives. She died months after she was interviewed at the age of 122 years. The interview was digitized along with many slave deeds and records from Buncombe County. We are leading the movement in North Carolina to digitize slave records. I would love to know more about this effort to make old and controversial records more accessible for the general population. Slave records especially will help many who want more information on their ancestors and history.

The Wonder Woman Exhibit we are working on will replace a small alcove containing an exhibit on quilts. The space is limited, so the exhibit will contain only what is necessary to tell the story of Wonder Woman. Deciding what is essential to her narrative is difficult. Heidi has asked me to focus on her history as a character in comics and TV instead of the story of her creator William Moulton Marston. One of the most significant times in the history of Wonder Woman is her resurgence in popularity in the 1970’s. Gloria Steinem, who featured Wonder Woman on the cover of Mrs. Magazine in the early 1970’s, brought this new breath of life to the character. We could not locate an original copy of the magazine, but Heidi has emailed Mrs. Magazine to see if they have a copy they will loan us!

In the weeks since my first blog post, a big challenge has presented itself. My family had to go to Pennsylvania because of an imminent death in the family and we stayed much longer than expected in a place with limited Internet. It was a trip that was necessary for us as a family, but I had to take off my internship and we all had to take time off our jobs. I planned my summer so that my work and internship hours would work perfectly as long as I did not take many days off, so this threw off my plans for the summer. For the first several days, the experience of sitting and waiting with nothing constructive to do made me anxious, but I eventually figured out ways to work from my phone without Internet and positive ways to pass time with my family in a time of grief. I went to check out books on Wonder Woman from the teeny local library and I took notes by hand. I am also writing this blog post in the notes app on my phone and will post it at a later date. This unexpected situation made me realize that no matter how well you plan, life happens, that people you love will need you and often being there for them is worth more than a paycheck or class credit, and that sometimes the very best you can do under the given circumstances is better than nothing.

 

My first weeks at the aSHEville Museum have been a whirlwind. I am also working full time at a chocolate shop in Asheville, so these first weeks have found me seeking a balance between my two commitments. I have a bit of history at aSHEville Museum, so settling in was not so difficult. I remember things like the way the computers work and I already know the woman who runs it. One of the exhibits I helped with when I volunteered for them in high school, 100 Years of Sexism in Advertising, is still hanging on the wall of the entrance. There are currently four other exhibits in the museum: A Day in Her Life photographed by Ami Vitale, Loving Families: Conversations With LGBT Families, Her NOBEL Words, and Appalachian Women, featuring an interview with Sarah Gudger (my personal favorite).
At our first meeting, Heidi, the woman who runs the museum, told me to start researching women’s rights around the world. She was ultimately looking to create an interactive quiz style exhibit on women’s rights currently, globally, and historically. I began with directions to a few specific resources and areas and the goal of two hundred separate facts. The specific questions and areas to focus my research for the exhibit were female representation in politics, statistics on education, reproductive rights, women in Hollywood and the media, and motherhood around the world (midwives, birthrates, breastfeeding, infant mortality etc.). I began this research and kept it in a Google doc.
Later that week I saw Wonder Woman and I was floored. I was talking to my supervisor Heidi about it and she was just as excited. The film made both of us feel empowered and inspired, which is a rarity for superhero movies. Heidi told me to pause the women’s rights research and start looking into doing a Wonder Woman exhibit. She is looking to get people into the museum by advertising an exhibit on the history of Wonder Woman. I am thrilled to begin this research and I have already found some neat facts about the origins of the character that, funny enough, are related to my methods paper. I foresee it being difficult to narrow down my research as I delve into a topic that has so many ties to suffragettes, women’s lib, and the free love movement, all things I find extremely interesting.
Before my next blog post, I hope to be nearly done with the Wonder Woman research and continuing with the Women’s Rights exhibit.