Smithsonian Freer|Sackler Internship

I was hired in spring 2017 to be an intern at the Smithsonian. I work in the Freer|Sackler Museums of Asian Art. I am employed as an intern of Visitor Experience, which is very similar to my job with the History Department. The only difference is, I help hundreds of people a day navigate their way not only around the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, but also around the eleven other museums and galleries located on the National Mall and the six other museums in the greater National Capital Area.

There are many aspects of Visitor Experience in a museum. As an employee who manages the experience of visitors, most of my job is being in the museum and observing our visitors. I do walkthroughs of our exhibits to make sure our museum is presentable and clean for visitors. I work at the front desk and talk to visitors and assist them with understanding the layout of our museum. I study our exhibits and research the questions our visitors have about any of our artifacts. I attend training on future exhibits, so that I am able to give tours to visitors and answer questions. I also analyze data about visitors, so my department can make decisions based on the research I compile.

When I first started working at the Sackler, my supervisor suggested I walk around the museum and learn about our current exhibits, so I could work at the desk and tell visitors what they could find in our gallery. My favorite exhibit I learned about is our main exhibit, Inventing Utamaro, in which we reunite three of Kitagawa Utamaro’s famous paintings—Cherry Blossoms at Yoshiwara, Moon at Shinagawa, and Snow at Fukagawa. This is the first time in 140 years that these paintings have been seen hanging side by side. The third painting in Utamaro’s triptych, Snow at Fukazawa had actually been missing for about 70 years until it was rediscovered in Hakone, Japan, in 2012. The Okada Museum of Art in Japan had the painting restored and announced its return in 2014. The Okada Museum of Art has kindly lent their piece to the Freer|Sackler Gallery for this exhibit. The Sackler Gallery has also borrowed Cherry Blossoms at Yoshiwara from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Connecticut. Charles Lang Freer owns the Moon at Shinagawa, which is displayed as the middle piece in this display. Freer requested that Moon at Shinagawa never leave the Smithsonian. Because of his request, this will probably the only time in a long that anyone will be able to see these paintings together.

Another experience I have found enjoyable is sitting in on Docent Training. Our docents are the volunteers who give tours to visitors and tourist groups. Once a week, curators will hold a 2-3 hour-long lecture where they present to docents and other employees research and information about their upcoming exhibits. The lectures will go over every artifact in the exhibit, the reason it is being displayed, the history behind it, and the layout of their exhibit.

This is just the first month of my internship— The Freer Gallery of Art is closed currently for renovations. In less than two weeks, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will be closing for a three-month reinstallation. When there are no more visitors, my job will change again.  I know I will be assisting in the preparation for our reopening weekend, but I do not know exactly what I will be doing. I will update you at the end of July to let you know what happened!

National Electronics Museum

National Electronics Museum Internship:

Pioneer Camp

               I was hired by the National Electronics Museum as an education assistant in February of 2017. I really was only responsible for giving tours and assisting the Museum Educator with the various workshops that NEM offers. I was also working part time at the American Visionary Art Museum, and planning on beginning research for my thesis over the summer. This left me with a bit of a problem when it came to also completing an internship over the summer. As the school semester began to wind down the position of Museum Educator opened up at NEM, and I applied to it. I did receive the position, and that allowed me to quit at AVAM. However, it still left me with figuring out what exactly my internship would be over the summer. NEM has an internship program that is run by Alice Donahue and these interns split time between archiving and education. Since I was now in charge of education at NEM that did not make a whole lot of sense, and I did not and do not want an internship that focuses on inventorying and archiving. The majority of my history experience is in archives and I wanted an internship that would expand my resume and skillset. So, I spoke to both Alice and Dr. Meringolo about ideas for my internship. Dr. Meringolo suggested that maybe there was some special project that I could work on as part of my job; one that was not just giving tours and leading workshops. This made me immediately think of NEM’s yearly Pioneer Camp, and after discussing it with Alice Pioneer Camp became my internship project.

               Pioneer Camp has been going on since 2007 and has traditionally been held twice each summer at NEM. Each session has been two half days where kids learn about some principle or facet of electronics or magnetism. Previous years had focused on communications, magnetism, or rockets. My internship is to develop this year’s Pioneer Camp and then lead the camp each session. Each session is going to have 40-45 campers from 8-10 years old, since this is traditionally what it has been. Earlier I mentioned that Pioneer Camp has been two half days, and this has actually been a primary complaint from parents. Some parents cannot pick their children up in the middle of the day and wanted camp to last all day. So this year I decided that Pioneer Camp will be two full, 8 hour days.

               This first month of my internship has been devoted to planning Pioneer Camp. The theme this year will be the Electromagnetic spectrum and it will be held on July 26-27 and August 15-16. My whole idea for this theme is it allows me to use radio, light, and infrared experiments so it was broad enough for me to get enough activities for a two day camp. This was important because my initial theme was just Radio and I really struggled with finding enough activities that were radio focused for 8-10 year olds. Since we were trying to keep costs down and focusing on a younger age group I immediately ruled out soldering workshops and activities, which eliminated a bunch of the suggested radio activities I found. So I had two choices, broaden the topic of pick an entirely new one. NEM has its own licensed Amateur Radio station/club and I really wanted to leverage that for Pioneer Camp. So, instead of changing the topic entirely I expanded from Radio to the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Lights! Radio! Wavelengths? became the new title for Pioneer Camp and allowed me to broaden the types of activities for the camp.

The majority of this month has been in finding/creating enough activities to fill two full days. I went through the workshops binder the museum created, multiple activities books the previous Educator had, and scoured the internet for ideas. I selected 23 different experiments and activities for Pioneer Camp. The campers are going to make their own crystal radios, investigate infrared, learn about radar, try out amateur radio, and much more. I have the instructions for all of these activities, their materials lists, and the cost of the materials. I was also in charge of developing the registration site/link, and the price per camper. In past years Pioneer Camp has been $45 per camper, and my parts alone cost over $60 per person. With that in mind, I went to Alice to help me hash out a price and in the end we came up with $80 per camper. That is less than twice what past camps have cost, even though we have doubled the length of the camp, and it still allows for a profit for the museum. Once that was settled, we took it to the Director, Michael Simons, for approval. Michael agreed and then Alice helped me set up the registration on Constant Contact. I also needed to create a flyer for Pioneer Camp. This turned out to be a learning experience as I created one using a previous year’s template, and quite frankly it sucked. Michael, pointed out that one of my co-workers went to school for graphic design and that it would be better to ask them. They could do it in 30 minutes, while it would take me hours.

Now that June is coming to a close Pioneer Camp has been finalized, and we already have 20 campers registered between the two sessions. I still need to finalize the two day agenda for the camp, prepare a lesson/overview of the electromagnetic spectrum, and I will need to order the materials and prep the mall for the camp. But it has been a great experience planning this camp, and it is exactly the type of work that I want to learn how to do/add to my resume. I have worked/interned in archives for years and while I don’t hate it, I do not want that to be my sole career path. Learning about museum education and the creation of educational activities and camps is something I really wanted to do while I was back in school. So far this internship is letting me do just that, and I am enjoying it more than I ever did working in the archives. I am hoping as my internship progresses and the camp actually happens I will still feel this way, but even if I don’t I am extremely thankful for the chance to broaden my profession skill set and experience.

Talbot Historical Society

After two attempts to gain a summer internship, I hand wrote a letter to the Talbot Historical Society, located in the town of Easton in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore. So far, this internship has been great for me. It's a five minute drive from my house, I have met so many influential and knowledgeable community members, and have learned so much about the small town I have grown up in, as well as the surrounding areas, and how the Historical Society operates.

What I find so unique about the Historical Society is that it is located in downtown Easton in an antique store. I have passed this place numerous times before but I never knew that Tharpe's Antiques and some neighboring buildings were home to the Talbot Historical Society. I work in the basement of the antique store. They have a massive vault with smaller vaults within the vault, that stores furniture, clothing, paintings, photographs, glasses and dishware, and other artifacts. Since the building is pretty old, I've heard a handful of ghost stories about the the basement and third floor.

I work closely with the Collections Manager and another committee member to catalogue a collection of donated photographs of various people and places of Talbot County. We use the PastPerfect database, which was pretty easy to get the hang of.

The first major task that I took on was dismantling an exhibit, while helping assemble a new one for the 150th anniversary of  Unionville. Unionville was essentially created by Quakers in the mid 1800s, Ezekiel and his son James M. Cowgill, for African American ex-slaves and free blacks. The other Cowgill son, John, served as Captain in Company A, 108th Regiment U.S. Colored Infantry. The Cowgill's offered the 18 veterans their own plot of land for serving the Union. While dismantling the previous exhibit, which showcased the historic homes of Talbot County, I met the many volunteers that work with the Historical Society and learned how to put things away in the vault, by looking at the accession number and the home location of the artifact. It took about four hours to get all of the artifacts in their right spot. For the set-up of the Unionville exhibit, I assembled a soldier's uniform on a mannequin, and also put up a good portion of the exhibit myself. 


The second major task so far is planning for a new exhibit that will go up at the beginning of August. I have been able to sit in on two committee meetings to discuss the logistics of this new exhibit and what photos and artifacts would best represent the material. I assembled two displays for the committee to approve, which they did!

That was all in my first month of my Internship, and I can't wait to see what July has in store for me.

Working with Local Communities and the Patapsco Heritage Greenway

For my internship, I am working with the Patapsco Heritage Greenway, located in old Ellicott City. This nonprofit organization is committed to the sustainability of the Patapsco river valley and watershed, as well as working to appreciate and further explore the history and culture of the region. My goal for this internship is to create a list of thirty historic sites in the towns of Relay, Halethorpe, and Elkridge, Maryland. In addition to the list of historic sites, I am developing research guides in order to help students conduct the necessary research on their chosen site(s). The list of sites and the research guides will serve as the basis for the project for the the public history graduate class that will take place in the fall.

On June 7th, I had the opportunity to attend a board meeting held by the members of the Patapsco Heritage Greenway organization. It was important that I attended this meeting, as I was able to be introduced to the board members, many of whom have lived in the area for most of their lives. That said, working with this organization and meeting the board members has made me aware of the organization’s values and vision for the future.

Patapsco Heritage Greenway is devoted to the sustainability and continued revitalization of the Patapsco Valley. Board members have expressed that not only is PHG committed to the environmental integrity of the Patapsco region, but also they are motivated to celebrate and highlight the heritage and history of the region. By doing research and exploring these three towns, I am realizing that the values of the PHG organization are also very important to the local residents. Residents are very invested and proud of the history of their town. In my next post, I will discuss more in detail the ways in which residents and community leaders perceive and continue to use community institutions and meeting places.

Although I am researching the physical historic sites that are located in these three towns, it is important that I, as well as the students who take the class in the fall, take time to connect with community members and leaders. These local residents, since they are from a small town, are very proud of their local history. Therefore, students have to take the time to build relationships with members of these communities in order to learn more about what the town and its residents mean to them. Part of being a good public historian means building trust with community members and becoming an “adopted” member of the town you are researching.

In my next post, I will discuss in more detail how meeting with community members and institution leaders has helped me in understanding the history and changing dynamics and institutions that are occurring in these three distinct small towns.

What would the public historian do?

Over the summer I am doing my internship at the B&O Railroad Museum, Ellicott City Station. Initially, my internship plan was to read and research aspects of Dining and The B&O in order to create an exhibit at this location to run from the beginning of July to the end of September. I have been researching this topic since mid-March of this year and have since interviewed a chef for a historical food event to tie into the possible exhibit.  Through this process, I gained a lot of curatorial, management, and archival experience. This internship has helped me so immensely in the short amount of time that I have been here that it is difficult to describe. However, interning at a small, local museum has its costs and benefits. I have worked in multiple sectors of the museum field all in one place so that means that I could go into the workforce with a variety of experiences. This puts me in a very good position for my future goals. At a small museum like this one, you can also reach a lot of people in a closer way than you could at a large national museum. Of course, they both have positives and negatives but I think it has been a gift to be able to have interpretive conversations with visitors on a smaller level.  But recently, this museum has had to handle challenges and uncertainties that face most state and local museums at some point in their history. While most museums will have to ask themselves similar questions, every answer will be different. Going forward I must ask myself the following: what is the appropriate moral response in times of difficulty? At what point does the history of the museum itself become part of the history to be preserved? And lastly, what would the public historian do?

My time as a Judicial Intern

I spent my spring semester working for Judge Wanda Keyes Heard of the Circuit Court in Baltimore City (I don’t have any pictures because sadly you aren’t allowed to take pictures in most court rooms in Maryland). My internship was an amazing experience. I learned a lot about not only the legal profession but about professional etiquette and the importance of networking. When I first started working with the Judge I had no idea what I was doing. On the first day the judge handed me a file and a letter from a defendant who was in jail. She told me that I had to read through the file and advise her on whether or not his sentence should be reduced. This is called a motion for modification or reduction of sentence or MMRS.

 I rushed to make my recommendation. The guy seemed like a nice man. He regretted his decisions and was ready to go out into society. It couldn’t be too hard. Why would the judge give me something difficult on the first day? Man was I wrong. As soon as I told the Judge that he should get out she immediately went to the back of the file and pulled out this long list on bright yellow paper. It was full of charges. I learned that you have to read carefully. If you think that your professors grade harshly, it’s nothing compared to what you experience in the real world. In college your grade is on the line, in the professional world it’s much more serious. On the bright side, I did get a lot better at my critical thinking skills and I made the right decision more often.

Working at the Courthouse taught me how to do EXTENSIVE research. A lot of times in school you just rush through your papers and do just enough to get by. In the professional world you have to do more than what you feel is necessary. I spent so much time going back and forth to the law library and the judge’s chambers; grabbing books, looking up laws, writing and then going back and looking up more laws. Books are much more useful than the internet. You have to understand something in order to look it up in a book. It’s a lot easier to just cut and paste information that seems relevant without internalizing what you are citing. Citations in the legal field are different from the Chicago style citations used by historians. However, the general concept is the same. Do not make a statement without backing it up with evidence.

Now you are probably wondering what working in a court house has to do with History. Well here is the interesting historical part. The judge I worked with is an alumni of UMBC. She has been practicing law for over 30 years and next spring she will be the first female chief judge of the Circuit Court in Baltimore City. The judge was mentored by Judge Nance, the current Chief justice of the Circuit Court in Baltimore City. Judge Nance was mentored by Joseph C. Howard. Joseph C. Howard was the first black judge to be elected to the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City in 1968 and he was also the first black judge to serve on the bench in the U.S District Court for the State of Maryland in 1979. I met Judge Nance and got a chance to see his extensive collection of legal books. Some of the books were from before 1868, the year when African Americans were legally considered to be citizens. The experience was surreal. We have come far as a nation but must never forget the past. It is honorable to be in the presence of African-American judges when we were considered property less than 150 years ago.

This internship with the Circuit Court was a life changing experience. I met leading attorneys in Maryland as well as other judges and legal professionals. One of these professionals was Jose Anderson, a legal professor at University of Baltimore and University of Pennsylvania. He offered me an opportunity to attend the Charles Hamilton Houston Legal Scholars Program this summer. I would not have gotten this opportunity or any of the other opportunities that I had if I did not intern with Judge Heard. 

It is important to do internships as soon as possible. They allow you to get real world experience and discover your true passion. They also allow you to network and introduce you to new opportunities that you most likely would not have sought out on your own. I believe that completing internships and getting involved in your field is just as important, if not more, than studying and getting good grades. Being an intern is a worthwhile experience which requires a lot of discipline. You have to balance between completing assignments at the workplace, completing your schoolwork, other prior obligations and having a social life. There will be many days when you feel extremely tired but if you create a schedule, complete your work early, and remain consistent you will be able to succeed. I would recommend that every student complete at least one internship while they are in college. 

Post 2: Jason Aglietti's experiences as an intern at the Maryland State Archives

Previously, I spoke about my internship with the Maryland State Archives and my project of redesigning their website for their research project called Finding the Maryland 400.  I knew it would be a large undertaking and it would require thinking about the website in a radically different way. 

Tim Grove’s article “History Bytes: Website Redesign” talks a bit about the importance of website redesign that was particularly helpful.  “An organization should be conducting ongoing usability testing to remain aware of challenges its users experience on its website.”[1]  Making the “user experience” more intuitive became the focal point of my project. I did this in a few ways. 

First we tackled aesthetics.  The old website was boring and looked dated. I also wanted to address issues like the cover image for the website and by creating a new theme.  The image that was on there (see screen shot below) was a low-quality photograph of the memorial at the battleground of the Battle of Brooklyn.  While this might be a touching tribute, the image did not look great nor did it depict what actually happened. The image I wanted was a painting by Alonzo Chappel, The Battle of Long Island (1858) whose rights were owned by the Brooklyn Historical Society.  This is the only color rendition of the battle itself, and it looks much more pleasing than the previous photo. My supervisor, Owen got in contact with them and they granted us permission to use it for free. Next, we launched a new and inviting theme.  

Screen shot of previous website design.

Another problem was that the blog page was overrun with clutter from previous employees that we agreed looked overwhelming. We knew we needed to make it much easier for visitors to find the best and most relevant information quickly. So we removed clutter, switched around some of the menus (including deleting pages that people no longer were clicking on), and designed an intuitive experience that people would not get lost exploring.   (See photo of the new design below).

Screen shot of new theme, cover photo, and design.

I then started cleaning up the blog, which is most visited part of the website, with over 7,000 unique visitors last year.  Over the next couple of weeks, we transformed it from being a non-searchable endless sea of posts, to a much more engaging experience.  We changed the way the blog page looked in the new theme. We also wanted to figure out a way to highlight the best and most informative blog posts from the previous three (almost four) years. I did this by creating a “featured entries” page. I designed the page so that it would have a "post of the month" to highlight random posts throughout the year.  The intent is to try and make them thematically relevant (like highlighting a post featuring women's role in the Continental Army during Women's History Month).  We also created sub topics, each with three attached posts that tend to be more popular with users.  At the bottom, we created 10 genre categories and tagged every single post (of well over 100) with different labels to so that they coincided with these genre labels.  Within two weeks, we saw an immediate response from the public, with many older posts -- most of which have not had any clicks in years -- receiving attention.  The featured page also quickly became one of the top three pages clicked on since it launched. 

In my next post, I will focus on the biography and education pages that we created, and how the rest of the project wrapped up. 

[1] Tim Grove, “History Bytes: Website Redesign” History News, Vol. 66, No. 2 (SPRING 2011), pp. 6.