Hello hello

Hi everyone! I'm a graduating senior completing degrees in anthropology and geography & environmental studies, with a minor in public history. As part of requirements for the public history minor I will be sharing some of my experiences as a a trails intern working for the National Park Service and Living Classrooms Foundation. I am excited to be part of this blog!

I'm late getting started in this blog, but for good reason, I swear. The internship I will be chronicling to some extent here was created through a partnership between the National Trails System and Friends of Fort McHenry (Living Classrooms Foundation). I work primarily out of Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine, which is currently base of the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. I am concurrently working weekends for the Baltimore National Heritage Area under the Every Kid in a Park program, primarily at Hampton National Historic Site.

To be able to work with park staff on website and social media material it was necessary for me to go through certain measures, be approved. This is mainly why my internship did not begin until early March and why I'm just posting this week.

I am currently completing training for this online-marketing part of the internship, and meanwhile, focusing on research and development. I have been reading mostly about the Chesapeake Campaign and the War of 1812, while scanning associated literature on different websites. An important part of my internship will be reaching out to partnering sites for updates on events, available information, and geocaching. Once I have completed necessary training I will be able to create my own posts promoting the Banner Trail and its sites, keep an eye out!

On busier days at work I spend a lot of time outside in the Star Fort (which is always fun). My favorite part of both of my jobs is informal interpretation of sites. I love talking to visitors and hopefully facilitating greater interest in public lands as well as American history and culture. Reading Freeman Tilden and discussing the development of Interpretation at NPS in Intro to Public History (HIST 300) has proved useful in these positions. In fact, in my first interview at the Fort (to volunteer) I was prompted to finish the sentence, "The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction, but... (provocation)." I was so grateful for Dr. Meringolo's HIST 300 in that moment. Since then I have been working on becoming a better interpreter, and a large part of this is connecting to people of varying backgrounds. On an average day I meet people from all over this country and some from outside. It's fantastic.

I don't know how many of you know this, but this year marks the 50th Anniversary of the National Trails System. It's because of this my position was created. We are super excited for National Trails Day on June 2nd! (Information about the 50th Anniversary may be found on trails50.org, and information about National Trails Day may be found on americanhiking.org.) In this internship I will be promoting the Banner Trail and helping to implement certain projects at the Fort. In the upcoming weeks I will post again, once I have gotten through training and started work online. My next post will be less jumbled, I promise. Until then, I hope all is well!


Gabby Alban