Internship at the Baltimore Civil War Museum
Thomas Pate
My internship at President Street Station, the Baltimore Civil War Museum,
was unlike the expectations that I had before I started work at the museum.
When I first visited this two story building in Harbor East, I was surprised at
how much stuff was inside the building. The site was full of paintings, flags,
artifacts, memorabilia, displays, and information. The museum manager,
Robert Reyes, gave me a tour of the site, explaining every bit of history
that he had carefully arranged into the small building. I was surprised by the
number of artifacts that had little to do with the American Civil War, such as
large German beer steins, documents from the American Revolutionary War, and
a poster of the movie Gangs of New York.Robert related this film with the gangs of Baltimore, which I found interesting.
I explained several important facts to tourists about topics such as the orientation
of the museum along President Street, which is not the one listed as President Street.
Old President Street is the one with the Marriott hotel on it, not the one connected
to interstate 83. I also explained the role of horse drawn carriages in the riot, the
groups of soldiers who passed through the station on April 19th 1861, the Pratt Street
Riot, and usage of the station after the war. I also focused on famous African Americans
who passed through the station, or escaped through the station. One of these includes
Henry “Box” Brown and Alexander Augusta.
I was given a description of the various tasks to complete such as operating a
cash register, selling books and merchandise from the museum store, asking for
donations, and arming the security system when closing up the museum.
A few extraneous tasks that I also completed was writing a banner on David Einhorn, an
abolitionist rabbi, which stands at the museum today. I will go into greater detail on Einhorn
in the subsequent paper. I also conducted restoration operations on the caboose out in
front of the museum. This involved sanding down applied putty after it had dried.
I literally and figuratively left a mark on the museum by completing this internship.
Teaching a guest about Baltimore on the eve of the Civil War.
