Reflection

I actually just finally dropped off the keys to my internship office, albeit about 3 weeks late. I also dropped off the photographs I compiled for the Duncan Street Miracle Garden alleygating proposal. As for the future of this project, I have no idea. I plan on trying to stay in touch with Jen as much as I can to see how the project is going.

In general, the NDC internship was a good experience. I got to try my hand at conducting some oral interviews, which definitely made me pretty painfully aware of how immediately terrified I was to do this. Now having done it, I'd say I feel a lot more comfortable in that role. This should help a lot over the next year since a large component of my thesis research is going to involve oral history.

It was also a tremendously gratifying experience to work with Mr. Sharpe at the Duncan Street Miracle Garden. I've lived in Baltimore for nearly ten years now and this is probably the first time I've felt like I've really contributed something of note back to the community. The mural for Mr. Sharpe is supposed to be completed within the next two weeks and I definitely plan on stopping by to take a look it once it is finished.

Having said all of that, I still feel a bit aimless in my career goals. Baltimore is going to be my home for the foreseeable future and I'd still like to find a space/place where I can engage with it's diverse, and often underappreciated, community even if not professionally. It remains to be seen. Jen told me about a project that she will be assisting with in Curtis Bay which might involve conducting some historical research on various sites. The idea being to create a catalog of the unique and important history of the neighborhood in order to preemptively stave off potentially irresponsible development in the near future. Basically the same kind of work that NDC helped with on the Old Goucher Vision Master Plan. This is something I most certainly would be interested in, time permitting. Ironically enough most of my internship didn't involve much actual historical research, which is something I do regret a bit.

What did the (aspiring) public historian do?

I have completed my internship at the B&O Railroad Museum, Ellicott City Station and I can say that it prepared me more than I ever thought it could. I remind you of my second post in which I talked about what deems something to be preserved. We went through all of the archives, inventory, and exhibits to see what the main museum, the B&O in Baltimore, wanted to keep preserved. Through many meetings, the site manager and the directors from the Roundhouse decided to lease large exhibit pieces to Howard County. After that, I do not know what will happen. My point in telling you this is that being able to see this process and experience it made me see the realities of the field that I want to be in. Sometimes the days will be tough, sometimes you will not be able to do something you had your heart set on, but the days that are good make the struggle worth it. I was able to have conversations and give tours on a small level and this made the environment better for communication and interpretation. I believe that my experiences talking to people on small to medium size group levels prepared me for my future. I learned how to approach people with the museum’s interpretation and communicate it accurately across barriers. I also learned the process of creating, researching, and planning exhibits and events. I believe that having the opportunity to complete my internship at a small, local museum made a huge difference in how I will approach my professional goals. This experience taught me that it is less complicated to reach people than I previously thought. My internship has prepared me to take on a professional career in public history and I couldn’t be more satisfied.

Internship at Casais & Prias PLLC Law Firm 3

My final weeks were spent researching and developing answers and affirmative defenses for the case from the beginning of my internship. During this time, I was also able to reflect on my time at Casais & Prias PLLC and the similarities between the history and legal fields. In addition to the similarities between the two disciplines some of the things I experienced also recalled historical court cases from my studies.

The motion we had previously filed to strike the plaintiff’s counts was not approved so we had to proceed to answers and affirmative defenses. This entailed returning to the original counts and now disassembling the counts point by point. This part of my internship reminded me greatly of analyzing sources and the writing of historians. In the history discipline breaking down arguments and examining their strengths and weaknesses are essential not just for reading but writing your own arguments.

This ability to closely examine arguments was just another aspect of the legal field shared with history. Through my internship I had the chance to utilize skills from my studies in history directly in research, assessing evidence, in addition to analyzing arguments. At the start of my internship I expected some cross over between the skillsets of both fields, but I did not expect the similarities to be this thorough. At its bare bones, the historical discipline teaches us to analyze information and then develop arguments. In that development, we have to recognize and expect opposing viewpoints. These skills prepare students of history for various different fields, one of which is the legal field.

In reflection of my time at the internship I’ve gained an appreciation for some other historical writings. I’ve previously noted the connection between Natalie Zemon Davis’ writing on Jean De Coras, but my internship made me reflect on Lying about Hitler by Richard Evans. What was originally a frustrating read about the David Irving trial I have a better appreciation for. David Irving was a holocaust denier who sued Deborah Lipstadt on libel for declaring he was not a historian and a holocaust denier. Richard Evans was one of the historians hired to analyze David Irving’s writings. They poured through his footnotes and sources to prove he was in fact not a historian by his manipulation of sources and research for his holocaust denying. This event showed how closely tied these two disciplines can be. After seeing all that goes into legal arguments I also have a newfound appreciation not just for Evans’ analysis, but also for Lipstadt’s lawyer, Anthony Julius, and the construction of his argument.

PHG 3

During the third month of my internship, I continued to gather more information about the sites I had researched.The second week of August, I met with Dr. Meringolo and my internship supervisor, Mary Catherine, in order to discuss the sites that I had researched and how they would be divided and presented to the students. This meeting was very helpful, as we discussed how I was able to build partnerships with members of the communities in order to better understand the history and people of each community.

During our meeting, we planned a walking tour during the first few weeks of the semester, when students will meet with partners from Elkridge and Relay, and they will be introduced to them and be able to become familiar with the neighborhoods in which they will be researching. Throughout the semester, my hope is that students will take many trips to the communities in which they are working. Forming strong partnerships will help to increase the students experience in the class, and will help them understand what it is like to work in the field of public history.

Mary Catherine had a great suggestion, which was at the end of the semester, students could present their final projects in the Relay Town Hall to their peers and members of the community. If this is at all possible, I think it would help to reinforce the beginning of a wonderful partnership between UMBC and the communities of Relay, Halethorpe, and Elkridge. By having students come to the town and present their research and interpretations, it would showcase the importance of small town community history.

Although my internship has ended, I hope to be updated with the students’ progress, and will help to facilitate communication between the students and community members if need be. Lastly, I really look forward to seeing and hearing the students’ final projects and presentations at the end of the semester. Working for a non profit organization and with members of these communities has been a very positive and rewarding experience, and I will use the skills and lessons I have learned with me throughout my career.  

NDC

My work with NDC has shifted a good deal since my last blog post. Since then I have conducted three separate oral interviews with individuals associated with the Old Goucher Vision Master Plan. Basically this was a plan that was developed by a select group of residents in the Old Goucher neighborhood of Baltimore City to show the history and uniqueness of the neighborhood against the abutting more visible and prominent neighborhoods of Charles Village and Station North. NDC's function in the project was essentially to be a guide for how to organize a community based effort in terms of setting up a charrette, or community buy-in, for the residents of the community, securing funding to pay a professional design studio to create a visually captivating booklet showcasing the neighborhood's history and current standing, and a lionshare of the actual writing within said booklet. My role was to interview the various individuals who participated in the project in order to get a sense of what drives them to both maintain the historical integrity of their neighborhood, as well as responsibly grow the neighborhood going forward.

After concluding that aspect of my internship responsibility, I shifted my focus completely to working with Mr. Sharpe of the Duncan Street Miracle Garden. At the beginning of the summer I met with Mr. Sharpe to discuss some of the improvements he is eager to see actualized in the garden. Among those were the painting of a mural on the side of one of the vacant buildings abutting the garden, as well the gating of an alley to car traffic that essentially splits the garden into two halves. Mr. Sharpe's dream is to create a safe environment for children to play in this alley without the hazard of cars speeding through.

Both of these tasks are still ongoing and I hope to have them further along, if not completed in the coming weeks. As for the mural, Jen at NDC was able to get the renowned Baltimore based street artist Gaia to commit to painting the mural for free. My tasks on this front have been to track down the owner of the property which contains the wall and secure his permission for the project. I have also been acting as a liaison to coordinate with Mr. Sharpe and Gaia as to the time frame and logistical requirements necessary to complete the project. Aside from a few minor roadblocks, this project is looking good and hopefully the mural will be completed by the end of September/early October.

The alley gating process has proven quite a bit more tedious and difficult. As I write this I am actually going over some photos I took of the alley in question, as well photos of the surrounding networks of alleys, in order to attach them to a formal application which must be sent to the city prior to receiving preliminary approval to move forward with the project. I have had to document the space thoroughly as well create elaborately edited block maps via photoshop which show the various municipalities (water meters, power lines, trash pickup etc.) which require the usage of the alley. I am hoping to have the application completed this week so we can send it in to the city by the first week of September. Realistically I don't imagine I will be able to see this project through to it's completion since the whole process can take upwards of a year depending on how long it takes the city to review the application and the subsequent process of securing funding for the actual gates and the necessary locks for said gate. Nevertheless, I intend to spend a few more weeks on the process and see it along as far as possible.

National Electronics Museum 3

Moving into the third month of my internship at the National Electronics Museum, I had initially thought things would be settling into a familiar routine. However, that was not the case. As July ended the last big education event for the summer was the second session of Pioneer Camp on August 15^th and 16^th. Having already completed the first session of the camp, I thought I knew what to expect going into the second session. The first issue arose when I needed to order materials for the 29 campers that were currently signed up (compared to 19 the first session) but was worried about last minute sign ups that would increase the camper count. The week leading up to the first session we had an extra 8 campers register, which was fine because I had over ordered supplies so we had some for the second session. But, there was no third session so I did not want to waste the museums limited funds on excess supplies that we would never use for anything else. With that in mind I went to the assistant director, Alice, and received permission form her to put an end date on registration for the second session so that we had time to order excess supplies as needed.

That settled my supplies issue but left me with, perhaps the more pressing concern. Pioneer Camp session one had 19 campers and I had three and a half (one volunteer could only do one day of the two day camp) assistants to help me run the camp. Pioneer Camp session two had 27 campers enrolled and I had one and a half assistants to run the camp. One volunteer could be there both mornings but had to leave at lunch time. Then the day of the camp, Alice told me the front desk assistant could help me, but my primary education assistant got sick and could not help on the first day and had to leave at lunch on the second day. This led to Alice stepping in to help me run the camp, so I now had two and a half assistants, but none of them were there the first time. They were all fantastic, and thankfully the satellite demonstration and HAM radio station at our museum both came through again to give us a bit of a break during the second day.

The second session of the camp was nearly the direct opposite of the first session in behavior. The first session was well behaved on day one, but was much more rambunctious on day two. The second session was horribly behaved on the first day, partly due to the lack of familiarity of the staff with the projects, and were much better behaved on the second day, thankfully. The difference in staff to camper ratio aside the second session went very well, a part from one or two unexpected issues. The first issue was that one parent was extremely late to pick up their children, which was something the museum had never had an issue with during prior years. In prior years the camp was over at 1:00pm so if a parent was late they child could just visit the museum with a staff member. This year the camp did not end until 5:00pm, and the museum closed at 4:00pm. So the director and I had to stay until the children was picked up by their parents. The parent finally arrived around 6:00pm, which was an hour late. After this, the museum has decided that in the future they will charge a late pick up fee much like a daycare would if a camper is not picked up in a timely fashion. The second issue was that one of the tables had trouble paying attention because they were constantly trying to trade Pokemon cards, and I largely mention this because I would never, ever have predicted I would have to confiscate Pokemon cards over the summer here.

Both sessions of Pioneer Camp were fairly successful this summer, and I have defiantly learned a lot about teaching kids, and running an educational camp during the summer. Due to feedback from prior years I decided to make the camp two full days from 9:00am to 5:00pm, and ultimately I believe that was a mistake. That is two days that are longer than their regular school day, and by 2:00pm the kids were getting restless and tired of being in camp all day. As a museum staff we have not had a meeting about Pioneer Camp and how to make it better but I thought this would be a good place to try and articulate my thoughts on the matter. This summer we had 4-8 groups nearly every week of June and July. These were other summer camps that would come to the museum for tours, demos, and sometimes workshops as well. We charge $2 for the guided tour, $5 for demos and tours, and most of our workshops are $10 per participant. That means a group that comes here for two and a half hours at the cost of $15 per student if they want everything. Most of our workshops we buy the supplies in bulk so the cost is maybe $5-$6 per participant plus my hourly wages, and maybe the wages to one of my assistants. So a group of twenty campers would cost $300 for tours, demos, and workshops but the cost to us would only be around $150 for staff and materials. So, in that two and a half hours the museum has made about $150, and any extra supplied go towards the next workshop. That is also a $50 an hour profit for the museum. If a group just wants tours and demos the only cost is staff time and so it is nearly pure profit. Pioneer Camp supplies cost nearly $1,000, and we charged $80 per camper, $72 if you had more than one camper register to make it easier for families. So with 46 total campers, 38 paid $80 and 8 paid $72 that means we were paid a total of $3,616. Take away $1,000 for supplies and that is $2,616. Take away another $1,120 just to pay for staffing the two sessions of camp and that leaves $1496 as the profits for the museum. $1496 divided by the 36 hours that the camp lasted for is $41.56 per hour profit for the museum. This profit also does not count all of the hours I spent prepping for the camp, ordering supplies, talking with parents etc. In light of that and the drastic increase of the number of groups visiting the museum from other summer camps.

 I believe we need to seriously consider overhauling Pioneer Camp due to the lower profit margin and its lower impact in that it has drastically less participants. The participants for Pioneer Camp have all already heard of the museum or visited, so it also is not really introducing the museum to new attendees that will tell people about the museum. Not that pleasing a base of people who already know about the museum is a bad thing, I just think it is something we need to keep in mind moving forward. I do believe we should not do full days next summer because while easier for the parents it is very tough for the kids and at that point they aren’t really learning anything anymore. I wonder if one option is to do multiple shorter “camps” that target age groups other than 8-10. Maybe smaller more intimate sessions where we can teach older kids how to solder, and focus specifically on one principle of electricity or magnetism each day of the camp. That activity/lesson lasts maybe 3 hours and the attendees pay just for whichever lesson interests them? I honestly am not sure what the best thing to try next summer is, but I am looking forward to discussing it with the staff here at NEM moving forward. I am also immensely grateful for this experience directing staff and volunteers in leading an educational summer camp for young children. It has helped me to develop better leadership, logistical, teaching, and people skills. All of which will help me moving forward in just about any job position. 

Talbot Historical Society 3

Today was my last day at my internship with the Talbot Historical Society. Over the summer, I got to step into the role of a historian and see how the Talbot Historical Society operates. During my three months, I was able to scan and catalogue over 2,000 negatives from the Laird Wise--almost the whole collection. In addition, I aided in setting up two exhibits, one of which has attracted nation wide attention. the Director of the THS has had TV and radio interviews regarding the exhibit on Unionville (More about Unionville in my first post).

The members-only event for our second exhibit,  Trains in Talbot County, was a big success. We had historian Mike Dixon give a lecture on how the trains impacted our county that was accompanied by an informative power point. After the lecture, members were able to view the exhibit and I got many compliments for my work on the exhibit and had a great opportunity to see all of the support that the society has.

Other small tasks that I helped with this month were cleaning out and organizing the attic space. We managed to create a central area for picture frames, glass, and mat board for easier access in the future. 

I had a wonderful internship experience. The people I got to work with and those that I got to meet made me realize how wonderful our little county is, and how rich it is in history. Despite my internship being over, I will still continue to volunteer at the society during my free time.