Engaging with Diverse Communities: My Summer with Patapsco Heritage Greenway

Hello, I’m Camilla Sandoval and I’m a graduate student on the public history track. This summer I had the chance to work closely with a local nonprofit to improve the approach and extent of its community outreach and engagement. A few months ago, Dr. Meringolo put me in touch with Lindsey Baker, Executive Director of Patapsco Heritage Greenway, who was interested in finding appropriate strategies to develop a strong relationship with Latinxs who use and visit Patapsco Valley State Park. Lindsey and I met to talk about our respective goals and interests to get a better idea of how we could structure an internship that would be beneficial for the both of us.

We split my work into three projects, one due at the end of each month. In June, my project was to create an annotated bibliography covering essential information related to community outreach. This meant reading relevant literature, finding model outreach programs from other parks, and identifying organizations or groups that work with Latinx communities. The most insightful articles I read were those that did not treat outreach and engagement as a one and done event. For example, in this study of the National Parks Service’s engagement with communities of color (or lack thereof) the authors recognize six major themes and many subthemes that are essential to engaging underrepresented groups of people. Some of the major themes were inclusive interpretation and histories, supportive workforce environment, and community involvement. I knew from my own experiences as a visitor and former intern with the NPS that I wanted my work for PHG to say what this article was saying—that a successful relationship with the Latinx community necessitates, among other things, time, reflection, and a genuine effort to understand and value cultural differences.

For the rest of the annotated bibliography, I was able to find some examples of parks that had both short-term and long-term community engagement projects. I also came across numerous national and local Latinx-led organizations that are dedicated to improving the relationship between Latinxs and the environment. Some, like the Hispanic Access Foundation, offer internships around the country as a way to facilitate long-term engagement with parks. All of this served as important need-to-know information for PHG but it also helped me with my own thesis research.

            For my thesis, I am examining the representation of Latinxs on the National Register of Historic Places. I want to understand how the National Register presents the place of Latinxs in the national story of the United States and what factors have led to that representation. Writing and researching this annotated bibliography allowed me to explore the ways in which Latinxs are involved, or not involved, in different subfields of public history. Even though my thesis is specific to historic preservation, the research I did for the annotated bibliography led me to many articles and park programs that, in one way or another, made me consider new questions and different points of view while I thought about Latinxs and public history. My understanding of the power and significance of telling the stories of people who were not wealthy, white, straight, men at our historical sites was amplified while doing this project for PHG. My first month was an awesome start to my summer internship. 

National Museum of American History Part Three

This August, I worked both as a curatorial intern in political history and as a public programs facilitator.

In curatorial affairs, I finished my project on the National American Woman's Suffrage Association(NAWSA). I got experience researching at the Smithsonian Institutional Archives, which helped me to get experience for my thesis. The time spent researching helped me to see what a career in curation would be like. I compiled a list of the objects donated by NAWSA and each time that these objects were on display. My work helped to prepare for the new exhibit that deals with the memory of women's suffrage. The exhibit meetings have not started yet, but there is a lot of preparation for an exhibit before it is even considered for funding. I learned a lot during my internship, especially about the numerous dead ends that you hit before success. Researching for the exhibit has shown just how little effort is taken in preserving institutional archives for smaller exhibits. The suffrage displays that the museum put up were not recorded, the few pictures that are out are not dated, so there is no way to know when they displays went up on came down. I loved feeling a part of the exhibit making process, but I wish that I could have seen more of the process. I wish that it would have been possibly to attend some of the exhibit meetings, but everything moves slowly in group projects and in the government.

As a public programs facilitator, I have had some really great experiences talking to the visitors in the museum. The American Experiments exhibit really uses my public history skills. I engage visitors in discussions about their beliefs in democracy and citizenship. As I interact with visitors, I am intentionally trying to get them to see the other side of the debate. I had a great interaction with a family, playing an activity "Where Do You Stand?" The game offers different statements about who should be voting. One of the questions is "People should vote online." The mother in the family said she wanted online voting, but the rest of the family didn't want voting to be online. When I asked why they made the choices they made, the mom said that everything is online, so why not voting. But the rest of the family worried about the hackability of online voting, and they convinced their mom to change her stance. As I get to interact with people, I get to see just how much they are gaining from the exhibits "American Democracy: A Leap of Faith" and "How Did We Become Us?" When visitors come into the museum they are almost always looking for the pop culture items, the Ruby Slippers, Kermit, Sesame Street, Julia Child's kitchen, and First Ladies. Getting to see people's favorite attractions and sending them to something they never expected is amazing.

I had a lot of fun working on both sides of the museum world, being behind the scenes in curation and on the front end talking to visitors.

PHG Historical Redesign Post #2

For the second month of my project I was tasked with creating a outline for the historical information on Patapsco Heritage Greenways old website for the redesign. In creating this outline, I made more concise version of the historical data already on the site in order fit it to the four major locations in the Heritage area: Ellicott City, Elkridge, Relay, and Catonsville. Originally, they had the data as one long page of text with sub headings and various links. As well as a home page that had more links attached to it that connected to various sources like books, and signage in the heritage area. My job was to boil this down into one page of text only highlighting what was important and what felt needed to tell the story of the Valley. I also provided additional information I felt necessary from my previous months project where I sourced data from websites in the Heritage area. Because of my background in history the outline didn't take me very long. It was more focused on what data was viable and made sense, and what didn't. Some of the information was repeating or extended over a couple centuries. Other data was small tidbits about areas that used to be towns but were now just part of Patapsco Valley State park. I found a lot of trouble being concise as well because naturally I wanted to be thorough for the person that would inevitably have to move the data from my outline to the website. In the action plan I created, I ended up adding notes like "You may need this paragraph, but its not necessary to." For the next months project I have a much harder task. I am going to attempt to find all historical, cultural, and environmental signage in the Patapsco Heritage area. This means road signage, plaques, park signs, anything that falls under those three criteria. With this I am creating an inventory that list the name, location, a picture, and a write up on everything I find. Im going in almost completely blind but im looking forward to this last month of work on this project.

National Museum of American History Part Two

Last week, I started my public programs facilitator position. Int this position I get to directly engage with visitors about their experience in the museum. I will be working with theater productions that the museum puts on, and helping to spark discussions in the American Experiences exhibit. The exhibit is supposed to help visitor reflect on the themes of the democracy and making America exhibits that are on the floor. The exhibit uses the interactive format of games to get different guests to explore the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, issues worth protesting, and the representations of ideals in America. Facilitating discussion uses the public history skills in a very direct way, as I engage with visitors, but it is also a little intimidating to be on the front lines of the visitor experience. It is different to be on the front lines of the exhibits instead of in the background like my internship. I have gotten to have some great discussions with visitors about what they think democracy means.

My internship in political history continues to progress,  as I research the upcoming women's suffrage exhibit. I am researching the different point that the materials from the National American Woman's Suffrage Association were on display in the museum. The 2020 exhibit will focus on the memory of Woman's suffrage and the control that the association had on the memory of the movement.

I have also helped to process some of the materials from the 2016 political campaigns, learning the object intake process and the cataloging process.

Space Internship Post 1/3, Introduction

My name is Christian Adams, I'm a rising Senior, and my internship is a bit...not normal. I'm doing a long distance, virtual internship with Doctor Thomas Gangale, a Space Law Historian over in California. He's preparing two papers over the summer for an upcoming conference, revolving around the history of spaceflight, the two papers detailing a pair of periods in the time frame, namely the years 62-64, and 65-67. I'm helping him process data so he can build tables, both papers are supposed to be finished by mid August. I'm about a week or so into the project, as time is of the essence. I'm enjoying the work, even if its been slow due to new technologies I'm learning to use, as well as hardware issues, and occasional internet malfunctions.

UMBC Public History Internship: PHG Historical Redesign

This summer I'm going to have the opportunity to work on projects for Patapsco Valley Heritage Greenway. This was originally brought up as part of the Public History Minor at UMBC, and as part of the requirements to obtain that focus in my degree. My adviser and chair of the department, Dr. Meringolo, suggested a few separate projects but this one was the most interesting being that it was more hands on and had more practical application of my skill set that I've learned over the course of my degree. As I was supposed to begin this internship their office, which is located in historic Ellicott City, was affected by the floods leaving us to meet at a Barnes and Noble and come up with an action plan for the internship. Lindsey the PHG director met with me and decided that they wanted me to be a part of their website redesign for the first two months of my internship. Specifically, they wanted my help with their history section and the organization of the data they already had, as well as additional information I could add. The first month I was to collect all of the websites with relevant information in the the heritage area. Because I had used medusa prior, Lindsey suggested I use the various tabs in that program to find the heritage area itself on the map. In doing so I could locate possible historical sites and facilities that I could use as potential sources of information. I found the medusa method a lot more effective then falling down a rabbit hole in google, although by the end of the month it became partially that. The searches weren't so much difficult as it became an issue of relevant data and sourcing. By this I mean: is a local historians blogspot worth consideration when they do not have decent citations included? I came to this same question often, but more or less a lot of the various museums, churches, hospitals, and even restaurants, had some information on the history of the buildings themselves or the surrounding areas that I found relevant. Using excel I was to collect the website url, location of the site, type of history it was, and a brief description of the data that was provided. In doing this part of the project I got no only more information on the area, but also an idea of how websites in the area organized data. This would become relevant as I come into my next part of the project which is creating an outline for the historical data and how it will be organized on the future website redesign. Reflecting on the first month I used a lot of the skills Ive gotten over the semesters in researching, and sourcing, and how to determine what is a good source of information, and what wasn't. The next month is more about the organization skills, and outlining I've learned over the past few years as well. I've been enjoying being part of this project and moving forward there will be more potential for me to flex my creative muscles as I help them create a history for their website.

Finally Made It To the Fourth Floor!

My name is Kayla Piechowiak and this summer I am interning at the National Museum of American History. I have interned at museums before, but the Smithsonian is always the place you want to be for museum work. I am working the Division of Curatorial Affairs, with curator Lisa Kathleen Graddy. This summer, I get to experience museum curating in a more professional capacity. For Ms. Graddy, I will be doing some research for an upcoming exhibit. The 100th anniversary of Women's Suffrage is in 2020, so I am researching some women's history objects and the changes in to the National American Women's Suffrage Association.  I will be researching some objects for the American Democracy exhibit that is currently up in the museum. Hopefully, I will also have some time to help process some objects also.

In addition to working as a curatorial intern, I received a position as an educational aid. So far for this position, I have only experienced Smithsonian paperwork. I was supposed to start my position on June 11th, but I haven't started yet, because the background check was not started until the 11th. Hopefully, I will get to start my summer job before the summer ends.

While working in the museum, I can do some research on my thesis, since I am writing on the different renditions of the First Ladies Exhibit. This summer while working on my thesis, I am going to read a number of books on exhibit design and museum best practices, that hopefully will help me to provide helpful input in the exhibit process. I hope that this internship will give met the experience to get a job as a museum curator.