Internships Blog

I spent the majority of my time this summer interning at the Long Island Museum, and not all of it was mentioned in my last few blog posts. As for the things I’ve done that were unmentioned previously; here is a list:

• I spent time in two other LIM camps, the first being a full week of “Making Mythological Monsters (in clay)” and the second having a focus on fashion design
• I attended not one, but two Summer Thursdays at the museum, where I…
  • helped small children design flower pots and plant flowers inside
  • spent time looking for the ice cream man that the museum hired, who didn’t show up
  • worked with various organizations, like the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind
  • gave two tours to volunteer students at the museum
• Worked more on the mailing list, which still seems endless
• Created worksheets for small children (and their parents) to do as they toured the galleries
• Took photos of kids participating in Camp LIM, the museums own summer program (and fighting with the printer to, well, actually print the pictures)
• Created a scavenger hunt, inside of a new exhibit on Lumen Martin Winter, for a company as a team building exercise
• Sorted through and labeled artwork, submitted by the public, for the Juried Art contest
• Worked as a team with the Education Department to figure out how to make pin-on buttons

And while not all of these things seem to be the point of my History internship in the Education department at a museum, I genuinely enjoyed the various activities because they all showed me what it’s like to work at a museum, not only in the Curatorial Department or the Education Department, but the museum as a whole.

However, my main focus on the last few weeks was mentioned above: my education program for middle schoolers. I had the chance to finalize the program, which you can see here. Not only that, I was able to do the program once unofficially, as in I gave the tour to the Education Department, who were very helpful with the advice they gave and the tips they shared, and then twice officially.

Beth worked with a group called ‘The Mutt Club’, which is a group of students who through their local library organize adoption events, raise money, and gather supplies for shelter pets, to come and be a trial run of my program. The group was already going to attend the last Summer Thursday, and they were more than happy to participate in a museum program. Unfortunately, I was not able to do the whole thing (as the program is designed to last around two hours), but only the three middle sections.

It was a great experience presenting to actual middle schoolers (although their ages ranged), even during the summer. The two groups that I did the tour with seemed to enjoy it, and a few of the kids even asked questions afterwards. Overall, my experience at the LIM this summer, and working within the Education Department, was really great. I feel like I learned a lot, and all of the knowledge was valuable for me both as a History major, and a Secondary Education minor.

Well, it’s been awhile…again.

 

Since my last post, I have done so much during my internship with the Salem Museum.   A rather large difference between my internship experience as opposed to the other summer interns that I have picked up on is that, while my peers seem to have specific assignments or tasks, my experience has been very sporadic.  My supervisors did not bring me on with any particular projects in mind.  That being the case, my work over the past summer has been reflective of that.  On any given day, I could come in and work on accessioning new items, or writing up a paragraph on a display, or setting up for an event, and so on.  I have done all of these things and more in the past weeks.  Since it’s been awhile, I’ll give examples of some highlights.

One day, the Salem Museum received a cylindrical display case from the Salem Library (a picture of this will be at the end).  Once we had gotten it inside, my supervisor immediately wanted it put to use.  He was planning on putting up a small exhibit to coincide with the 60th reunion of the George Washington Carver School’s class of 1957.  The Carver School was once a local school for African Americans of Salem and the Roanoke Valley, and even beyond.  Now, the building is Carver Elementary School.  My supervisor tasked me with gathering the items to put on display and doing the small write up for it.  I used our archival database, PastPerfect, to find any related items in the collection.  Alex choose what to use out of what I had found.  Then, using some of the resources in the research library on the third floor of the building, I wrote a short paragraph explaining the history and significance of the School.  That display, essentially all my own, went up for several weeks!

Another project I helped with recently is the new Roanoke College exhibit for our 175th anniversary, to be opened in the main gallery in a few weeks.  Something that my supervisor was concerned about was having a lot of information for this exhibit, but not many objects to put up.  He had me scour our archives, looking for every Roanoke College related item I could find.  I searched through both our item and photo collections, compiling an ever growing list as I went.  As it turns out, the Salem Museum had a multitude of Roanoke College items.  We had anything from a former president’s top hat to old copies of the Brackety Ack to a panoramic photo of an entire class! (I will be uploading some pictures of a few of these items at the end).  This was honestly one of my favorite experiences of the summer.  Not only did I get to quietly rummage through our archives, I also got to see, touch, and learn about our wonderful college’s history.

While my internship has not necessarily been structured around one project or task, there has been some instances of continuity.  For example, I have done multiple small, sporadic research ventures for various things like those I have detailed above.  I did something similar for an antique grandfather clock that was donated to the museum, as well as with an inquiry into the old West Salem Auto Body Shop.  I really enjoy these mini projects, for they allow me to independently research and navigate our archive collection.

Currently, I am working on my own exhibit as my final project.  This will focus on Lake Spring Park, more commonly referred to as the duck pond, and its predecessor, Lake Spring Hotel.  I have already compiled notes, again, using the research library’s resources, and created a list of all of our artifacts that I can use to furnish the exhibit.  Now, all that is left is to create a write up and design the exhibit!

 

(This last picture is of some Roanoke College students at the top of Macafees Knob, just like some students do today!)

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.

Since my last post, I did not really work on anything new since my internship was coming to an end. Over the past two weeks I have continued to accession new items as well as update files for old collection items. But I enjoyed every minute that I spent working in the museum.

Throughout my internship I learned many new skills and gained valuable experience in a career field that I hope to someday be a part of. I learned how to use the PastPerfect system, how accession items, how number, re-number, and label those items as well. I learned how to problem solve issues with existing collection items, how to organize a storage space, and how to properly package and store artifacts. I learned a lot and got a lot done in the short time that I was at the Bowman Museum.

Along with the skills and valuable experience that I acquired during my internship, I also received tips

and advice for pursuing a career in the history field. I plan on using the advice that I received in the future to help me prepare for a career after I graduate.

Since my internship was specifically working with collections in a museum, I was able to get the number of items that I worked with or accessioned, and I think that is really cool. This allows me to be able to get an idea for how many items I handled and what I was able to accomplish during my internship.

I am very glad that I had the opportunity to be an intern at the Bowman Museum and to be a part of this program. I learned a lot this summer, and I really enjoyed my time working in the museum. Although I was only there for less than 3 months, I already miss it.

Some of the items I found while working at the museum. The first is a pocket knife shaped like a gun, the second is a war time record player that still works (I got to learn how to play records on it).

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.

 

Over the past couple of weeks I have continued my usual accessioning work at the museum. I have also begun to work on a small project inside the museum. I have had a lot of fun so far interning at the Bowman Museum this summer and I hope to continue to learn more as my internship winds down.

I still find the work that I am doing to be very interesting and fun! As I am digging through forgotten boxes of collections items, I often come across interesting objects and occasionally these objects require some research or I get to play around with them and see how they work (or if they still work). The best example of this so far happened last week. Some volunteers and I found an old train set, which had a Caboose and an Engine modeled after a Prineville Railway train. So we spent 2 hours assembling the metal tracks and getting the train cars put together. However, we discovered that the Engine to the train (which had the transformer to make it run in it) was on display so we are still unsure if it still runs like it was made to. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun getting to play around with the train set.

I definitely feel like I am making a contribution to the museum. I have contributed by working on boxes and projects that needed to be done, some were difficult, some were pretty easy.  Throughout the summer I have gotten a lot done in the museum and I have learned quite a bit about collections care and management in a museum. I have not only learned about the Bowman Museum, but I have also learned a little bit about museums across the country and I had a lot of fun doing it.

Since I have mostly finished going through old accession boxes, I have begun a new project. One of the collection storage spaces in the museum is oddly shaped and the storage process of items in this space was not originally planned out very well. So over the past week, and the continuing weeks, I have been working on re-organizing this space to make it a little more functional so that it will be easier to get objects out in the future. It is a long process since I am also working on re-labeling the boxes that I and moving and updating their locations in the files. Being able to evaluate and organize a collections storage space is an important skill to have when working with museum collections and I am glad that I have opportunity to learn this skill.

I am learning many skills that I will be able to apply to future jobs, and I hope that I might be able to apply these skills in the classroom as well. I have really enjoyed my internship so far and I will miss working the museum when my internship ends.

 

 

Photos of the train set, updating the labels on the boxes, and the space that I am reorganizing.

In the many weeks that I have regrettably and unintentionally neglected this blog, much has been going on at the Salem Museum.  The last time I updated the blog, I had started learning how to fill out accession forms for donated objects so that they can be logged into our online database and find a home in our archive.  My supervisor, Alex Burke, tasked me with filling out accession forms for a donation of a handful of objects and, once that was completed, to go through and take some brief notes on another pile of donated objects to help determine what the museum may want to keep.  Well, as it turns out, that task did not get completed until today, nearly three weeks later.  My supervisor, the assistant director, went on vacation for a week, during which the head director, Frances Ferguson, had me begin on my first major project.

I came in one day a few weeks ago while Alex was on vacation, and after some small talk, Fran told me of an idea she had had.  The main entrance to the museum is a short hallway which opens up to the foyer, which includes the reception desk and the gift shop.  On the left side of the hallway stands a table with some pamphlets and flyers.  On the right sits an old bench that is technically a part of the collection, but we still put it to good use.  Also, hanging on the wall are three paintings. I’ve walked through that hallway countless times by now, but I cannot begin to describe those paintings because I don’t think I’ve actually paid enough attention to them to notice.  Fran recognizes that this is the experience of most of the visitors to the museum, so she wanted to make better use of the space.  Her idea is to create a general timeline of Salem’s past to provide a context to the information that the museum expresses.  This is a great idea, not only because it would be a better use of the space, but also because there really isn’t anywhere in the museum that gives background information of Salem; each exhibit dives into a specific aspect of Salem’s past, but nowhere do you quite get the full story.  Once we had agreed that it was a great idea, (not that it truly mattered what I thought, she is the director after all), I began immediately doing research.  My main source was a comprehensive history of Salem written by two former directors, John Long and Mary Crocket-Hill, (Long also used to be a professor of military history at Roanoke College), which the museum sells at its gift shop.  I skimmed through all 200 some pages, picking out dates of importance.  While there was some discretion on my part, I tried to include as much information as possible so that Fran and Alex could make the definitive decisions.  Essentially, the entire week that Alex was gone consisted of me compiling that data, and then trying to put that data in chronological order.  During this time I had the idea to include population numbers throughout the years to see Salem’s demographic growth  as well.  After about a week, I had everything compiled and put in chronological order and was ready to present my research to them; however that did not come to fruition. One Saturday I was sitting at the reception desk while helping out with an event the museum puts on called “Civil War Saturdays.”  I was working on the final touches of my research notes for the timeline when I happened to glance down and see a binder labelled “Timeline of Salem.”  I picked it up and started to leaf through it, and to my dismay I immediately found information that was not in my notes.  It took me another few days, but I finally gathered everything I could find into one document and presented it to my superiors.  I’m not sure when this timeline will be finalized and brought into existence, but I’m glad to have been a part of the project!

As one would expect, I learned quite a lot while working on the timeline.  Even as someone who has lived in Roanoke and had relatives in Salem for my entire life, I quickly realized that I knew almost nothing about the area’s past.  Salem has a very rich history, going back all the way to its founding in 1802!  One day in the past weeks I was on a run around Salem for Cross Country summer training.  As I was running, I was passing some of the very places that I had learned about in my research.  For example, Lake Spring Park, better known as “The Duck Pond,” is named so because in the late 1800s, a hotel resort by the same name stood in the same spot.  A fire caused it to close down, and a little later the property was bought by the city and turned into Salem’s first public park, which it remains to this day.  I ran past the duck pond that day, reflecting on my experiences there; my parents had taken me there countless times as a kid.  While the park had been a part of my own past, I did not know about its past until very recently.  This made me think of all of the other places I had learned about, like the history of our own Elizabeth campus, and how there must be many more people like me who have lived here for many years but did not know about our area’s past.  This led to an idea: what if the Salem Museum partnered with the City of Salem to erect signs at some of these places with a brief description of their respective histories?  I pitched the idea to Fran, and then to Alex when he returned from the beach, and both really enjoy it!  The museum does have a lot of things going on at the moment, so I don’t know when or even if my idea will progress into a reality, but I am working on researching and gathering resources for it!

The time that I’ve spent at the museum since my last post has been a whirlwind.  I have been assigned and complete my first major project. I have learned every step of the process of bringing in new objects to the museum’s collection, from the initial donation to preserving it in the archive, to logging it into our online database.  I have learned how to take down an exhibit and put up a new one in its place.  I’ve also done some more mundane tasks like helping with event set up and manning the reception desk, but such is the life of an intern.  I’ve become very personally invested in the museum and am very excited for the rest of my time there.

(Photos included are: picture of the main source for my timeline research plus my notes, an old framed photo and knife that I accessioned, and two views of the exhibit I helped set up)

My time at the museum these past two weeks has been shorter than normal because of the holiday (July 4th). I spent my time either doing administrative work, researching, or participating in the start of Camp at the museum. Camp at the museum is not typical, and so far I’ve enjoyed it. Rather than a full summer of various activities, you’re given the choice of week-long programs. You can participate in only one or you can do all of the programs, if you’d like.

The program that I was able to assist with and observe was Cartooning. The educator for this was Mike Lynch, who has cartoons published in the Wall Street Journal, Baron’s, Reader’s Digest, and various other mass media outlets. Initially I was underwhelmed by his teaching style, a very basic: give the basics and let them do whatever. However, I found the kids in the group really responded and enjoyed the relaxed approach. During the time that I wasn’t assisting him, Mike allowed me to flip through the various sketchbooks he’d brought with him. Some of them were quick, small things while others were long and drawn out over pages. For the most part I found them humorous, while other times they were sketches of every life. During the breaks, where he had the kids doing activities or finishing up a piece of work, we talked comics and history. I explained to him that I had used Maus, a illustrated novel on the Holocaust, in a class as a textbook. He then talked to me a lot about the author, Art Spiegelman, and how it was his belief that nothing could compare to the work. At the end of the week, we began to set up for an Art Show. We hung up the kids works across the wall in a display of their portfolio, allowing the kids to have their own little museum exhibit.

Besides this, I’ve began to edge out the finer points of my research. This education program is going to focus on the divide in class that grows from urbanization and industrialization, with the introduction of mass immigration during the time period. The last section is going to involve a discussion, and working with primary resources, on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire as a culmination of the Key Points. I had a meeting with Beth, one of the educators at the museum and the staff member who has been overseeing my internship, and she gave me feedback on my Preliminary notes for the project. She was very helpful with her notes, and has allowed me to determine what I really want to focus on. She also said she likes the way this program is going, and was impressed with my notes.

The administrative work I’ve been completing are the School List (a master list of all the schools that we send information on educational programs to at the beginning of the year), more worksheets for various groups that are touring the museum (adults and children alike, as I’m trying to develop the children’s Eye-Spy further), and doing a variety of mailings for the camp session that the museum puts on.

 This is a photograph of Mike Lynch’s work. I didn’t have my phone at the time, so I couldn’t take pictures of anything that happened or of his work or of the kids work. I wish I had, because one of the cartoons was very memorable. One of the kids, in a game called “Who What Where” had picked Abraham Lincoln, Swimming, and Garbage Dump. He drew the President doing exactly that, in his tall hat, while reaching for the 14th Amendment. Lincoln, according to the kid, was trying to save it from being destroyed/crushed like a car at the dump.  Prior to drawing the picture the kid asked me if Lincoln had done anything important, like passed any amendments. (He was in fourth or fifth grade, I was willing to let it slide.)

Over the past two weeks, I have continued to work with the saddle collection. I have also continued to work through updating existing collections records. Both are interesting tasks and I have been learning a lot about the care of artifacts.

Recently, I have been focusing on photographing each of the saddles in storage. Since the stands that support the saddles are difficult to move, I had to move each saddle to a temporary stand set up with a white back-drop. This was a long process since many of the saddles are in less than desirable condition and are heavy, making each one difficult to move.

I have also been working updating files on existing collections. Occasionally this task can get a little boring since a lot of the work is doing the same thing for each item (usually 30 plus items in each box). But I usually come across an item that I find particularly interesting, or and item that proves to be difficult and requires some problem solving to figure out why the item isn’t listed as it should be. Often times the latter issue leads to me tracing back the physical paper work to find the proper paperwork for the museum’s possession of the item. Sometimes this is pretty easy to find and means that I simply have to change some of the numbers on the item. However, occasionally I find an item that has little to no presence within the paper trail. These issues are like a puzzle and I kind of find it enjoyable to try and solve them, sometimes with the help of the Collection’s Manager, Sarah.

During these past two weeks, I also had the opportunity to sit in on a Collections meeting with Sarah and the Collections volunteers. The group went through potential donations and decided what will be accepted into the Museum’s Collections and what will not. Overall my internship is going well and I am enjoying the work that I am doing as an intern!

Photo of the photographing process for the saddle collection.