Journal entry 2 Second Week of NAMA Internship

                                                                                                Francis Patrick Fowler

                                                                                                Aug.6, 2020

                                                                                                Internship in History

                                                                                        

Journal entry 2

Second week of NAMA Internship

Today is Aug.6^th 2020.  It is my day off.  I did not write a journal entry for last week, so I will bring up some highlights from my second week before moving on the third.

 

 About but not written Monday July.27^th

Looking back, I remember I got my ID in the morning.  I did not have a shirt yet, but the Department of Interior badge made me feel good.

The Conservator and I cleaned graffiti, one foot in length, from a lamppost near the War World II memorial.  It was someone’s name.  It was not obvious to the public.  It was in white out.  The Conservator and I applied acetone.  There was a little bit of ghosting (remnants of the graffiti), but it was minimal.  I looked about me.  From War World II The Lincoln Memorial is to the West, the MLK Memorial and Jefferson Memorial to the South and the Washington Monument is to the East.

As we headed south to the Tidal Basin, we were stopped by a park policeman.  Congressmen John Lewis’s funeral procession was stopped at the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial.  The pr Tidal Basin past War II and the Washington Monument.  It would turn to the Lincoln Memorial.  Two Park Rangers in full uniform saluted the procession.  We waited.  I reflected.  But I do not remember what sat in my head.

I think back now but it is heavily mediated by time.  My thoughts lead to something that happened two days after the motorcade at a NPS picnic (see July.29^th entry).  I would find out at a picnic on July.29th that the MLK and Lincoln memorials were favorite sites for the Civil Rights leader to visit.  It was fitting that his motorcade stopped at the sites for one last visit.

The Congressman liked to walk around the Mall in the evening.  He was friendly to NPS staff and always willing to talk.  He would not ask for any special treatment.  But crew members were often reluctant to interrupt the man’s sojourn.  He could be found at the Lincoln Memorial’s steps, sometimes unnoticed by the stream of humanity filing in and out.  He was at Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorial at dusk.  He had been at the groundbreaking and its dedication.    

The rest of this memory is abstract and imagined.  Should I have asked, were the cherry blossoms in bloom?  To give a sense of time was it Spring, Summer, Winter or Fall?  Was the Congressmen staring at the statue or looking at the Tidal Basin?  Maybe, Cormorants flew by him as he stared at his mentor and friend.

What was it like to know someone in the flesh and blood who was now rendered and emerged from stone, bathed in light from the evenings last rays and the reflection of marble?  I can imagine many questions, but I do not want to intrude on those thoughts.

Elenore Roosevelt’s bronze statue is a five minute from MLK’s marble likeness at the FDR Memorial.  She once remarked near the end of her life about the loving and painful memories flooding back to her strongest at twilight.  “The night” she would say “has a thousand eyes.” 

They most have been powerful for the Congressman, in this imagined moment from a secondhand recollection.  But as we waited and the hearst waited, I cannot honestly remember what I was thinking.

I could make assumptions about my thoughts as the motorcade went by from what I feel now sitting at my table with my laptop handy.  Yet, it lacks the strength of immersive observation, be heavily mediated by time and be as abstract as imagining Congressmen Lewis standing at some unknown evening on the Tidal Basin and connecting it to a his funeral procession waiting during the afternoon. 

In these days of joy and panic observation, time and abstraction do not seem to always follow a linear course.  What I imagine and what I hold as fact must sit close by in my brain. 

I would have to explain to anyone reading that I was not a reliable primary source for a historian.  I would explain John Lewis’s posthumous note in the New York Times captured the moment more than I could.  President Obama’s eulogy encapsulated Lewis’s call to “good trouble”.

I remember one thing about the motorcade that is fact.  As it passed, I placed my hand on my heart and said, “Safe travels, sir.”  I was told later by my mom, a retired Navy commander, that this is a proper civilian salute. 

About but not written on Tuesday July.28th

I hanged out with the Preservation Crew at Brentwood D.C.  I learned from one of the preservation crew’s mason’s how to replace pavers down at the Archives building.  We removed and replaced two pavers.  The first one we used hand tools.  The second one we used an electric chisel. 

The Mason expert stressed the importance of working smart and not hurting myself.   I was greatly appreciative.  As it neared 100 degrees at noon, he took over and banged out the job in ten minutes.   It was a good experience, but I do not think I will be pursuing a career in mason work.  However, it was an important skill to be aware of even at my novice level.

In front of the archives I realized that the last time I had been hear was a year ago when the Nationals won the World Series.  Before a Pandemic but during a time when racial injustice was still ongoing, I was obliviously high fiving strangers.  The world has changed, but have I?  To use an expression from New Zealand “yeah, nah, yeah.”

I will say that it was nice to get to know the mason.  No stone or pavement is placed without labor and precision in this city.  After explaining his love of building things encouraged by his father he went on to explain that regardless if a piece of construction is the size of a pebble, the logistics of fitting it in and making it work with the built systems in place can be monumental.  No job is small in masonry.  Mason work is an honorable profession and should never be looked down upon.

About not written on Wednesday July.29

Every part of my body is sore!  The mason was right about working smart.  I was wrong. OUCH!

Today I did some cleaning with two preservation crew members.  I have done brass waxing on some of the signage around the memorial with the conservator.  Today, we were cleaning some of the leaves out of the empty pools.  The water system of the memorial will be turned off till the Fall. 

I am starting to get a keener eye for looking at the statues.  I noticed what I thought was a fracture on FDR’s funeral procession relief.  I snapped a picture and sent it to the conservator.  She explained it was a casting flaw.  I looked underneath FDR’s collar by his main statue.  Found some green here and there.  But for the most part the brass looks good with a nice dark brown. 

I am not getting to bogged down by definitions like Patina, or the hundreds of descriptions of cracks and rusts.  But I am slowly getting more comfortable asking questions the preservation crew and conservator.

I finished the day with a small picnic at Hain’s point that NPS hosted.  I got to talk with the head of the preservation crew about his thirty years with the Park Service.  He talked about his experience seeing the Grand Canyon.  He talked about sighting Congressmen John Lewis along the National Mall. 

He also mentioned growing up in D. C’s Navy yard and one time riding his bike with his friends to Roosevelt Island.  He said that too nine-year-old it was like finding a lost world.  I got a chance to talk with NAMA’s superintendent.  After my shift at Brentwood I went to the Arboretum to see the famed Capital Columns.

 

Journal entry 1 Second day at NAMA Internship

                                                                                                            Francis Patrick Fowler

                                                                                                            July,22, 2020

                                                                                                            Internship in History

Journal entry 1         

Second day at NAMA Internship                                                                                       

Hello.  My name is Francis Patrick Fowler.  I attend the University of Maryland Baltimore County.  In the Spring of 2021, I will graduate with a major in History a Minor in Public History.   The author has the honor of being the National Park’s Service’s Conservator intern for the National Mall and Memorial Parks (NAMA).  NAMA partnered with the National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE) to make this opportunity possible.   

This is my second day at the internship.  Yesterday, the conservator and I drove around Washington D.C looking at statues, memorials and monuments only read about in books or heard of in class.   My supervisor’s attention to detail assessing memorials, signs, and statues is amazing.  Marble, granite, and bronze, she has a hawk eye for seeing needed improvements in stone and metal. 

The flaws and sometimes intentional flaws by artists she pointed out have been like a veil being pulled from over my eyes.  A piece of material cultural looks different after she has assessed it.  I had not known there are different types of marble, or that bronze has a chemical coating on it called the patina which can be mixed.  Corrosion on bronze statues is usually green but sometimes for that old weathered look new statues will have a little green mixed into their coating.  A fracture in stone and bronze is bad.  But sometimes there are imperfections from the bronze forge that are fine. Sometimes when stone is cut at the foundry there are veins of minerals that look like a blemish.  Keep an eye on the hairline cracks.  Chips, spalls, dimensional losses, pitting, iron deposit, calcium crust, biological soiling, and atmospheric soiling.  I nod my head enthusiastically not understanding a bit of it!  I could not be happier.  I have months to get it down.  I look forward to learning from NAMA’s conservator to protect cultural and natural resources with a sharper eye for observation.

It would be remiss to not mention that after my second day I was on top of the Jefferson Memorial!  Words to describe that scene might come later, it still feels surreal as I sit at home after the days end.  I remember the observation of the domes cleaning.  I remember the Washington Monument, the Tidal basin, the bridges, the cars and Washington D.C. 

How to explain the built and natural environments coming so close together from such a vantage?  They are artificial words from that high.  Again, I am hoping that developing shaper observation skills will help in my writing.  This is going be fun!

 

Third day at Nama Internship

Three notes when cleaning bronze statues. 

1.         Be wary of hornet’s nests hiding under statue armpits, hats, and packs. 

2.         Do not forget your gloves, the metal on the power washer gets hot.

3.         Remember that a Preservation crew member has the mindset of a Conservator.  Do as little alteration as possible and preferably if you change something make sure it is something that can be returned to its original state.  Example: When cleaning a wall with inscriptions use short bursts.  You want to remove atmospheric soiling not the inscriptions.  The Nation mall’s Conservator has an official PSI pressure that all contractors must follow.  But the main things are to be mindful.  Watching one preservation crew member’s time, I decided no longer then six second bursts.  

4. The preservation crew members are awesome!  Their approach is less terminology and more kinesthetic.  I learn from them by observing.  This is not to say that the conservator will not get her hands dirty.  Assessments and scopes reports are not her only job duty and she is often out on the Mall with them.  But when she is tied to her desk, she relies on an incredible team.  The preservation crew have reminded me to not get too bogged down by terminology and to just do it.  Today we cleaned the Korean War Memorial for an event later this weekend.

I felt remarkably close to my Pop Pop on this project.  Memories of him taking my brothers and I (when I was ten) hit me in the chest with a force stronger than anything I could throw back.  When the memorial and I were a bit younger, Pop Pop was confronted with his past.  He talked about it in ways he had not done before.  It was letting a little bit of the past go.  The ways we try to let pressure go.   And in the end the built-up energy evaporates in the sun. 

It may come back.  There will always need for more cleanings.  But (and you can't see it in this picture), I swear there was a rainbow when the water hit metal and the steam cleared. In the National Mall's founding document one of its listed values is "a place to heal for mourning".  Grief and healing do not happen in one event.  They are continuous.  But I think Handsome Harry, started that cycle at this site.  I know I continued my own yesterday over his passing.

The 19 soldiers are not a true platoon and there are a mix of Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force statues.  The trench coats hide rank.  It would be hard to tell where Pop Pop would be in this group.  Regardless, I have a connection to this site whether I am ten, 32 or a hundred and thirty-three.  I think Handsome Harry and Pop Pop would be proud.

 

Internship at Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum Post #2

 One of the major projects I was involved in here at the museum is developing a program based on mead. Mead also is known as honey wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey. Historically, the mead has been very popular, although it has fallen out of favor in the last few centuries. Mead would have been less popular in the 18th century than in medieval times, but it would not be uncommon to find mead recipes in a colonial-era cookbook.   I got the chance to prepare Mead for a program at the museum. The program was a discussion I led on the history of the mead and its existence in colonial American and in modern times.

In the United States, the mead has a rich history.  There have been sources showing the to mead produced commercially in Ohio in the 19th century, and in Minnesota in the early 20th Century.  But mostly in America mead has been a product made in kitchens by homebrewers,  and beekeepers.

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How do you make mead?

Mead is made by making a "must,” or sweet fermentable liquid, from honey and water.  Fruits, spices, or grains- also "adjuncts" are then added if one wishes.  Using quality honey is important for making high-quality mead.

 

Yeast, a single-celled organism responsible for fermentation. Once the must is cooled, yeast is then added.  Yeast is a single-celled fungus also responsible for the creation of other foods such as beer and bread. Yeast requires care to complete the fermentation in a proper manner.  This is a large part of the craft of meadmaking-  Satisfied yeast will make great mead. For my meadmaking, this meant keeping the yeast in a cool dark place, to accelerate fermentation.

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When the fermentation is complete, the mead begins the clarification and aging processes.  The yeast falls to the bottom of the tank.  The fallen yeast is known as the finished mead is separated from the yeast at the bottom f the container.  by transferring it carefully to another vessel while leaving the spent yeast behind.  The mead also begins maturing- flavors develop and blend.  When the mead is ready, it can be bottled.  It can then continue aging until it is ready to drink. Mead takes a minimum of several months of fermentation to become tasteful.  

 I was able to get the chance to make a mead for a museum program. In modern times, Mead is prepared mainly at home over a stove, but  I was able to make one over an open fire in the cabin. The pictures below will show some of that process!

 

First I started with gathering the supplies and ingredients. I needed 2lbs of honey and a gallon of water. I also need yeast and yeast nutrients. Some other supplies that I used was a plastic funnel, a thermometer, and a large carboy.

 

This picture shows the mead and water mixture being heated over an open fire. Although in modern times, the mead is made with modern appliances, I decided to use an older method that would have more likely used in colonial times. The water was added first and once it was to a boil. I then added the honey, and I had to let the mixture cook for about 20 minutes and stir it constantly.

 

After the must has cooled which takes 30 minutes, the yeast and the yeast nutrient are added.   The lid is then added, which includes a plastic piece that contains water which will help the yeast grow.

 

 

The last step is to wait for the mead to ferment. The fermentation process takes at least three months In the meantime, I was able to move the fermenting mead to bottles and make another batch.  I am hoping to make a mead exhibit for the museum. 

Museum Education Internship at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture

 At the beginning of September 2020 I interviewed for this position at the Lewis Museum under the assumption that it would be a basic museum education internship which would allow me to learn a bit more about museum and public history work. As someone who considers myself to be a digital historian, among other things, I was excited by the possibility to learn how to create digital content for the museum. I presented my digital knowledge and skills at the interview and the position quickly changed in that they wanted me to create digital twins of their existing Freedom Bound: Runaways of the Chesapeake exhibit. Suddenly I was presented with not only the opportunity to learn, but also to create and further expand on my skillset (as well as add important experience to my CV!).

Having previously done work with a local African American community as well as writing some essays which included slavery in Maryland, I was hired. Unfortunately, it took about a month before I was actually onboarded and began work. This was my first important lesson in public history work! Institutions are often short staffed and/or underfunded and you have a few people attempting to do the work of many. Add on top of that that the museum was undergoing various staffing changes, it took a long time for me finally begin my work. 

Thankfully, the early stages of this job came easily to me. Thanks in large part to my experience taking the Digital Public History course at UMBC with Professor Stan Maxson, I knew exactly which tools I wanted to use for the deliverables the set for me. My first task was to create a digital version of their map of the runaways. I chose to use Storymapjs for this as it allowed me the function to add video to each entry as well as a custom photo as the marker on the map. I then took their existing research, did a bit more on my end, and created short bios for each runaway. I recently completed this project and am hoping to see it live on the site soon. Speaking of the site and of people doing various tasks, I was also charged with updating and editing their website as I had experience working with WordPress in the past!

As I started this internship a bit later than usual, I'm contracted going into next year so I don't have much more information on projects as of now. That being said, I'm excited to continue learning and providing valuable content for the museum and for the history of Maryland as a whole.

Luis Vaca-Soto

Goodbye, MCHC: West Baltimore Education Fellowship Post #3

    In this post, I will discuss my concluding thoughts on my unique experience working as the West Baltimore Education Fellow at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. Although I am sad that we were unable to finish the final oral history collection due to COVID-19 restrictions, I learned so many valuable lessons from working with the MCHC and the students at Booker T. Washington Middle School. I also believe that the students we worked with were able to feel that their personal stories mattered, both within their community, and beyond West Baltimore. 

    Initially, the MCHC team and I wondered if we could complete oral history interviews virtually. But, after engaging in some research about internet within the neighborhood and the city, we learned that this would not be possible. Twenty percent of Baltimore households lack a computer - with many of these homes being in low-income neighborhoods with high concentrations of people of color. Furthermore, Baltimore was ranked 261st in internet connection data list, with 69.6% of houses having access to internet and 74,116 households lacking access, according to a 2017 report. With this in mind, the plan is for the MCHC to resume collecting students' stories for the Booker T. Washington Oral History Project following the reopening of schools. 

    The short term goals after finishing the project were to collect the oral histories of Booker T. Washington students and to hold a student showcase for members of the community. This showcase would include the oral history interviews as well as coordinating art pieces created by the students themselves. Furthermore, patrons and members of the museum would have the ability to interact with students and ask them about their experiences and artwork. The long-term goal of this oral history project is to include the collection in the semi-permanent upcoming Civil Rights exhibit at the MCHC. Additionally, the oral histories within the Booker T. Washington Oral History Project would permanently become part of the MCHC library collections. Finally, MCHC hoped to continue a meaningful partnership with the Booker T. Washington Middle School staff and students through education, community outreach, and history programs. 

    In reflecting on this fellowship, I realize that I took away so much worthwhile knowledge from my time at MCHC. First, I learned what it was like to work on a team. Working with others on this project made it so much more rewarding to see the efforts of all of our hard work come to fruition through field trips, in class lessons, and the creation of the project itself. Second, I became much more knowledgable about the history of civil rights activism and segregation in Baltimore. To be able to teach Booker T. Washington students about these topics, I engaged in thorough research and read tons of books, articles, and oral histories to better understand the complicated history of racial dynamics in Baltimore. Third, working on this project taught me the importance of youth and minority voices within various communities. Hearing the stories of Booker T. Washington students made me realize how incorrect many outside perceptions can be about other communities; it also showed me how intuitive and outspoken the upcoming generation is. Finally, I was lucky enough to work in a museum which focused on history I am passionate about. I learned so much about Maryland's past that I was inspired to make a final decision on my master's thesis topic. My topic was based on a project I was a part of in my fellowship role. I worked with David Armenti - the director of museum education at MCHC - and the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a consultant for the upcoming Civil Rights Exhibit at the MCHC. After learning about Maryland's lynching history, I decided to write my thesis on lynching coverage in 19th century Maryland newspapers. 

    Overall, I believe that this fellowship was extremely valuable for my future career path. I intend to work in a museum, either in curation or in education. The West Baltimore Education Fellowship allowed me to gain meaningful experience in a museum setting; this furthermore allowed me to decide whether I was sure I wanted to work in such an institution. I am proud to have worked on such an important, community-based project and I still feel so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to work with such amazing students. I have nothing but good things to say about my time and my former co-workers at MCHC. I truly enjoyed completing this fellowship and I hope to gain similar opportunities in the future.

West Baltimore Neighborhood

Photo Courtesy of the Baltimore Sun.