Internship with the Baltimore Museum of Industry - Summer 2021
Claire Brocato

Blog 2: Progress of Project and Value of Internship

In my previous blog post, I explained that my goals for working with the BMI were to learn about the ins and outs of collections management and to learn more about what it means to be a public historian, and through the BMI, I have been able to make progress on both of those goals. So far, my day-to-day work in the collections department at the museum has varied a lot, but from what I have seen and heard at the museum, that seems to be the norm for everyone who works there. At the beginning of the summer, most of each day consisted of processing and cataloging recent acquisitions in the Past Perfect program and conducting general collections care. However, the research on old accessions turned out to be the most complicated part of the internship. 

At the BMI, there are a lot of items that are uncatalogued but have been a part of the museum’s collection for a long time. As a result, if an item is found without a tag or mark to indicate its accession number, research has to be conducted in the Past Perfect database to see if the item was ever accessioned. If the item cannot be found in the database, it is assigned a temporary number and added to the database. Also, researching miscellaneous items is a necessary step in conducting an inventory of objects on exhibit and inventory in the BMI’s offsite warehouse. Additionally, I was able to dive deeper into why the work I was doing day to day matters through Anne Fahy’s book Collections Management. According to the book, if due diligence is not done for cataloging and taking care of material culture, a museum can get into legal trouble, and that is why the BMI goes to great lengths to inventory each item. 

Furthermore, the BMI has presented many opportunities to network with museum professionals. Both of my supervisors in the collections department are people who I greatly respect. The Director of Collections & Exhibitions, Jane Woltereck, is a former Smithsonian employee, and I have learned so much from her about collections management, and the Assistant Registrar, Curtis Durham, is John Hopkins alumni which is one of the grad schools I am considering for the future. Another networking opportunity was with Danielle Nekimken, the designer for the new exhibit Fire & Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Bethlehem Steel. Danielle Nekimken works for an independent design firm, and I was able to meet her when I was assisting in the installation process of the exhibit. This experience also helped me better understand what I learned in the book Exhibit Makeovers: A Do-it-yourself Workbook for Small Museums because I was able to see what goes into making an exhibit happen.

Overall, working with the BMI has been very valuable. First, I have discovered that I learn by doing much more than by reading, so having the ability to learn how to do collections management firsthand is vital to my education. Second, I have been able to gain a clearer understanding of which aspects of museum management that I enjoy, but I will dive more into that topic for my next blog post.

Blog 1: Collections Processing and Goals for the Internship

 

Internship with the Baltimore Museum of Industry - Summer 2021

Claire Brocato

Collections Processing and Goals for the Internship

    To learn more about what it means to pursue a career in public history, for the summer and fall of 2021, I will be working and learning in the collections department of the Baltimore Museum of Industry (BMI). Because the various industries of Baltimore have played a significant role in the history of the city, the museum plays a vital role in keeping that history alive. In a small way, I will assist in that goal by working with the collection that helps tell that story. The position will be two days per week in the collection department, and my duties will include processing and cataloging recent acquisitions, conducting an inventory of objects on exhibit, and conducting inventory in the BMI’s offsite warehouse. 

    Additionally, I am excited about the opportunity to work at the BMI because it will help me learn more about what it means to be a public historian. Presenting history to the public is a very involved process, and I would want to learn more about some of the jobs and work that make that process possible. Because the BMI is a medium museum, the collections department also works closely with the education and archival departments, and as a result, I am excited to learn more about how a museum is run in unison. More specifically to my interests, my goal is to learn more about the careers that are related to material culture which, for the BMI, means working for the collection department. 

    Another goal for my internship with the BMI is to learn the specific ins and outs of collections management. Because the internship project will include processing, cataloging, and inventory, I would like to learn how to do every step of the process firsthand from people who do it for a living. As previously stated, the collections department works with the other departments of the museum, so I am especially looking forward to working on exhibits. More importantly, my main goal is to discover what a career in a museum would look like on a daily basis.

Assistant Librarian Technician at the National Gallery of Art's Vertical Files | Blog #2

 Update - New Projects, New Lessons

Preface

    It has been quite a while since my last post! Autumn has (more or less) settled in, with winter not too far off, and likewise my internship at the National Gallery of Art has also gone through some change. Working within a research library is bound to have new projects in managing such a collection. While taking on new responsibilities can be daunting in its own regard, it is also an opportunity to learn from both successes & failures in that process. As you read through these new experiences encountered during my internship, take time to think beyond your goals, expectations, and the initial logistics of learning your job, at least for a brief moment. 

    How actively can you receive feedback for your work? Can you balance new work responsibilities while maintaining your academic obligations? As you have continued your internship, how have you been able to manage with both the workplace environment? Does your actual work flow have different pacing from how the job was initially described?

These questions are just some of the questions you could be asking yourself in regards to your internship, especially if you're considering work within public institutions such as libraries & museums. I'd like to frame this update around the idea of change since the work within libraries (maybe surprising for some!) is always changing, with slower weeks, faster weeks, and weird weeks. Keep this mind as you read!

Updates on Existing Projects

 Telework

Currently, I am doing research on our Evans-Tibbs artists and sourcing for their wikidata pages. While there has not been much of a change in responsibilities for this project, managing this project while the National Gallery of Art has moved into Phase II has changed. With the museum moving to Phase II, there is now a requirement for the majority of my hours to be on-site.

While switching to a new schedule posed its own challenges, it was important to manage my expectations when completing research on these artists -- and especially making sure to communicate this with my supervisor. It was through our conversation that this project was not a time-sensitive project & like any project I've worked on, it was always quality over quantity.

And with less hours allotted for telework, this would also ultimately mean less records processed for the Auction Catalogs project. This doesn't mean that I can't try to make the most out of this; I try to split my time teleworking so that the majority is spent on artist research since it is a more involved process . This project requires a bit of overview of Wikidata's various terms. Likewise, editing for Wikidata means sourcing according to both Wikidata & the project's standard. For me, this meant checking over common databases for sources, checking the statements to see if it matches the property fields on the spreadsheet.

While this may getting more into the technical details, it is important to consider that the tasks within a museum & library environment is detailed-oriented. As I have received new responsibilities, it has influence on how I'm able to work on other projects.

In-Person Work

- Regular Tasks -

Overall, there are three central responsibilities at the Vertical Files - labeling new materials, returning materials and, while doing this, seeing what artists & institutions are ready to 'graduate' into their own folders & creating records for them. For a good while now, filing these materials into drawers creates a practical issue, especially as the collection has been around for decades: SPACE

With the Vertical Files' drawers getting tighter, it's harder to file materials. So it is important to weed materials that don't fit the standard - for us, it is primarily weeding materials over 50 pg (verifying this through WorldCat), duplicates, paper copies of popular publications and other oddities. Sometimes, the drawers you're weeding are (mostly) fine, but just filled with stuff - this will require knowing what to unfold, what needs protective sheets and other tidying. In many ways, organizing & protecting a collection of ephemera brings new & unique issues. Some materials are very damaged to where you may question why it is even there. Others are loose materials that might be completely unidentifiable. Even in new tasks where you expect the unexpected, there are little nuances & peculiar things that you might've never considered.

- Cross-department Tasks -

    Recently, I had the chance to work with my co-worker, Charlotte, on a new project for the Auction Catalogs department of the library. Keeping a collection of auction catalogs shows how art is sold, how it moves across the world, the kind of places which these works are sold, and so much more! This time, we recently had a large donation of materials from one of the gallery's curators. It was up to me to sort these materials to figure out which belonged better to the Vertical Files, Auction Catalogs collection and what didn't fit at all. Working with co-workers during this time has been exciting, especially when it makes you learn about what drives others' passion in their work. I've also learned that making friends is not too hard either!

    As a simple task that could be completed in a few hours, it still does require a bit in analyzing these materials. On the surface, many might see a magazine for an auction house as the same as a catalog -- but for a researcher, the distinction is important and necessary to get valuable information. There are some tasks that can only be completed on-site, even if they may seem simple. These things can be spring up on you and you have to be prepared, but luckily you have others around you who can assist with every question - big, small and extra small. In the last blog post, I talked about shelving for the Circulation team as they had a backlog of books being returned at the Fall's beginning.

As a brief aside, the telework project on Auction Catalogs previously mentioned is also cross-departmental.

- Annual Review & Closure -

 Having worked here for basically a full year, it was time for my annual review. This is something that some work place environments require and there can be a bit of bureaucracy involved - there was quite a bit of writing when it came to making my own self-reflection document - listing elements that were critical & non-critical. There was a need to talk over the job description's responsibilities, whether they were accurate, going over specific goals, being scored to the position's guidelines and all the sort! What is important however is that the communication about the work I've been doing had already been quite consistent & regular between my supervisor and I. In many ways, this process made more sense for a permanent employee than an intern & that set the tone for our annual review.

Annual and semi-annual reviews may seem daunting, but they're actually a great opportunity to communicate difficulties, long-term goals and address over-arching questions about your job. Honesty in presenting yourself and the work you're proud of can make for a stellar review and going over what might be expected of you later. It is important to see this not as a moment to be harsh & overly-self critical, but as a moment to just...talk about your job!

  With this being said, going through this internship this long has shown me much of what I expect from future career prospects. I hope that this has given you a bit of insight into museum & library-related careers - that under each institution, there is a network of different departments, people and systems working to maintain these collections. They might seem static on the outside, but there is a world of change beneath it all.

Blog 3: Final Reflection on BMI Internship

Internship with the Baltimore Museum of Industry - Summer 2021

Claire Brocato

November 11th, 2021, was my last day at the BMI. I was sad to say goodbye, but I was grateful for everything I learned while interning there. When I first had an informational interview with the BMI, they said that every day in the Collection Department looked different, and I learned that was definitely true. Over the five months I worked there, I learned about cataloging, researching, conservation, inventory, and much more. In terms of cataloging, finding my way around the software, PastPerfect, seemed to have the biggest learning curve. I was still discovering new aspects of the software up to my last day. However, I was able to catalog thirteen accessions over the course of my internship before switching to working on inventories, and I believe it is important to mention that accessions often have more than one object within them. In terms of conducting inventories, I learned that it requires a great deal of organization, but I also learned that it is a much bigger project than a five-month internship can really tackle.

While at the BMI, I began an inventory for zone one of the Bakery, and I worked on processing objects at the warehouse. Both were daunting tasks because the BMI has thousands of objects that have not yet been inventoried or organized. It would take a team of people years of daily work to go through everything, so it makes sense that I was only really able to dip my toes into the inventory work. However, that was something I wish was different about my internship and about the museum industry in general. I wish there was a better way of organizing everything, a better way of getting funding for everything, and a better way of paying people to work in museums. The collections management book I read had a great deal of information about the importance of taking care of each item, but it is not currently possible to do that at many museums because they do not have the funding. Additionally, to find out what object was what, I had to do a considerable amount of research in the PastPerfect software. Sometimes I could find the object, and sometimes I was not able to find it because it was never added to the software. That was often unsatisfying, but it was simply part of the job.

In the end, the opportunity to work with the BMI to learn more about collections management was an incredibly edifying experience. It confirmed my desire to work in museums for my future career, and more specifically, it confirmed my desire to work with collections over other areas of the museum field. At the start of my internship, I had thought about going into exhibition design or archives, but for now at least, I would like to continue to focus on collections management. Some aspects of the field I would still like to learn about though are conservation and grant writing. I loved learning about how to resort and seal rusted metal using wax, so I would like to discover even more conservation techniques in the future.

Writing, Research, and Administrative Intern at the DC History Center; Post #1

            Unfortunately, because of technical difficulties and a few issues surrounding my work load at the beginning of the semester, this is the first time I’ve posted to the Intern blog. My internship at the DC History Center started back at the tail end of August 2021. Through Dr. Musgrove’s contacts, I was given the amazing opportunity to work for Jane Levy, director of the Washington History Magazine.

            At first, I was informed that I’d mostly be writing for the magazine for their “Best of the Web” series--a section which examines private and amateur web sites presenting DC history and analyzing their historical authenticity and presentation. I was given examples of previous “BOTW” issues to scour through and told to go out and find some local DC history sites to review. I had never done any work like this before so I looked through old examples of the series and decided to tackle two sites, one the Kennedy’s center history of DC’s jazz scene, the other, a Howard University site on the history of their medical school. The latter was rejected; it didn’t meet the standards for the series. But, the DC Jazz history site was perfect. After reviewing the website and listening to the oral interviews of local jazz legends Billy Taylor and Frank Wess, I went to work on the article. Afterwards, Jane provided me with feedback and told me the article was great. Additionally, I found a different site called “Curbed DC” to review. 

Curbed focused on providing short, “social media-esc” posts on touristy attractions around DC. Again, I missed the mark with Curbed. After writing up my first draft, Jane informed me that Curbed was also outside the realm of the “BOTW” criteria. Slightly defeated, Jane assigned the final website to me which they needed turned around quickly since we were going to print in a few days. Glad to have the site given to me, I went to work decrypting its format, content, and presentation. I quickly finished and submitted it to Jane. 

Jane thought the piece was good but that it would need some edits so I waited to hear back. After about a month had passed, I heard back from Jane that the last piece I submitted had undergone some serious rewrites by another writer on the magazine and she asked me if I still wanted my name as author. As I opened the edits, I noticed that my work was barely there. While it wasn’t the first time I had been edited, It was the first time I had been completely rewritten in a professional setting. I wasn’t sure if I did want to keep my name on the piece so I sought Dr. Musgrove’s advice on authorship under heavy rewrites. He suggested I ask to have my name remain as a co-author. I liked the sound of that so I did. 

I learned a lot from writing on the “BOTW” series. Jane, a wonderful editor and mentor, helped me understand the specific criteria for the series. It felt like I was freelance writing and working with a client to specifically meet their needs. I also learned what it was like to be heavily edited, which can really hurt the first few times it happens. Regardless, I learned a lot and I’m a better writer for it. 

MSA The Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Program: Penitentiary Records- Blog #2

 

As this internship approaches the halfway mark, I find that I have much to reflect on its value. I have made great progress with my transcription work, having just reached the year 1821 in the 1811-1869 records. Within these records, I read through old and sometimes barely legible or illegible records, which I then record in Excel in preparation for it becoming part of an accessible database for historians. In my weekly meetings, I discuss the findings with Mr. Haley, and we discuss further avenues of research, interesting trends, and unexpected occurrences in the records. Thus far, I am pleased with my progress in getting through the records and finding entries of interest. I have discovered numerous interesting accounts in the records. In particular, I found five cases of conspiracy to commit insurrection (three during the War of 1812) and five cases of people arrested for attempting to help enslaved persons escape.

As an archives, a major part of the mission of the MSA is to make research more accessible for the public and for researchers. My position has indeed helped to do so with part of my responsibility, after completing the first set of the 1811-1818 entries, being to help create the groundwork for the database which it would eventually be shared within. The basis, of course, comes from the transcribed entries which I have neatly recorded in Excel for ease of transition. However, the more unique aspect of this was that my feedback on how the database should be laid out was valued and sought due to my in-depth understanding of the records already prepared. The database will be created at a later date, but unfortunately it may not contain all the information within the entries. As this is the case, I provided information and suggestions on the categories to focus the database on which might be of greater importance for researchers. The first of which was to record the categories which might be able to showcase racial and economic inequity in prison. This would be able to be told by examining the complexion category for information on race, which could then be compared to the sentence and pardon categories to gain a better understanding of how race may have played a role in unequal sentences in prison. For economic inequity, I suggested that the occupation category would be most important as any comparison between occupation and sentences, or pardons may be able to show inequity due to the economic conditions of inmates. The third major category which was of most interest for placing into a database would be those which show how prisons may have benefited from the labor of inmates, which can be best investigated through examining the occupation of someone in prison compared to that of their prior occupation.

Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to learn and to network with the Maryland State Archives. I have been learning skills with transcription and research with this internship. Transcription is of course the majority of the work, and I have been learning ways to be more efficient, to read 19^th century handwriting, which is oftentimes not in the best condition. I have also furthered my research skills by working with the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I have conducted research into Maryland lynchings and located a rough potential location where one man, John Simms, was lynched outside Annapolis. I discovered this using maps from the time in conjunction with the clues from newspapers, which gave information like proximity to railroad, property owner, and proximity to the local landmark known as the Three Mile Oak.

Regarding networking, I have had the opportunity to meet with many people at the Maryland State Archives. Working with Chris Haley, the Director of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Program, has been helpful for networking. I also have meetings with Emily Squires who is the Director of Research, Reference, Education and Outreach. Outside of those who I typically interact with, I am most excited for the opportunity to meet with the former State Archivist Dr. Edward Papenfuse this Friday. I look forward to being able to meet him virtually to discuss my internship project and my investigations into the prison records and Maryland lynchings. He has left a lasting impression on the MSA and has contributed much to its growth into the institution it is today, so I am definitely grateful to meet him and to hear his perspective on the project.