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. 

Final Post

Hello again,

It's been pretty busy as we are moving closer to National Trails Day. I had the opportunity this week to create a junior ranger activity modeled after some used by other parks. I am particularly excited to see the final product and see if kids take to it. As we are promoting our paddle program I'll be asking kids I meet to think about boating safety as well as the rivers that are part of the Star-Spangled Banner Trail. I hope that kids leaving our Trails Day event gain an appreciation for the Chesapeake region's unique landscape and its history - as much as I hope they understand the importance of planning and preparation for any boating trip. Tying recreation into lessons aimed at kids is such a great way to foster interest in public lands, trails, and waterways. Getting them interested at a young age is vital - hopefully inspiring a new generation of stewards!

In the office I've been working on many projects relating to the Trail. My experiences in this internship have opened my eyes to how there is often as much work to be done inside as there is out - something I had not imagined in the NPS. I imagined staff of the NPS spent their days wandering outside, engaging the public non-stop. While in some parks I am sure this exists, I realize now that in many, staff fill several roles. I have met some very talented, hard-working people in this position whose dedication to the agency is incredible.

Another reality I've grown used to is that many working in parks only stay for a few months at a time. Though I was aware of this to some extent having worked prior in state and city parks, I hadn't before stayed around long enough to get to know my coworkers so well. While this internship began in March, I've been working here in my other position since October. Now, as summer approaches familiar staff is leaving for other jobs and new staff is arriving. In about two weeks I will join the first group, as I've accepted a position with the NPS elsewhere. While I'm very excited, I will miss the people I've known here.

I am very glad to have had this opportunity, as I've gained a range of experience that will prove useful as I move forward within this agency. I am also very glad my adviser in Anthropology recommended this minor in public history to me as I know the things I've learned will be useful.


I hope everyone has a nice summer!

Black Power Mapping Project reflection Part 3

In preparation of the URCAD presentation, we had worked on establishing  a script that would be utilized while we were at our presentation. In addition, Luwam focused heavily on ensuring that there would be a picture for each entry. Kevin was tweaking the website so that he could limit the years that would be displayed at the presentation. I continued on finding and filling out the google street view for entries , as well as going back to any of the unfinished entries. Some entries would either have none of the factors listed earlier in and worked to include as many facts as possible.

            We were the last group to go up on  to present at URCAD.I usually have a sense of nervousness whenever I’m doing any public speaking, but I felt pretty good in the setting. I spoke on the overall concept of the website. Kevin spoke constructing the site, and the technical functions he took to do it. Luwam spoke out information gathering methods, and what the entries were comprised of.

                Overall, this was very intriguing experience for me. I was able to learn about parts of the city of Washington, D.C. that I have never seen before, like arts center that used to be meeting places for activists, or bookstores mainly the black arts. One of the challenges wee kept running into was the fact that for the most part, the newspapers and historians at the time cared little of the day to day activists of the people involved in Black Power, so finding certain information was very scarce. There have been times when hours of research will turn one or two helpful pieces of information. However, the opportunity to speak at URCAD was truly inspiring , as well learning through personal interviews form the  former activists themselves.

Black Power Mapping Project Reflection Part 2

After we had created a heavy amount of the database, there was a fellow student Kevin Rapa  who created an interactive website in which all of the  events put into the database  were placed onto a site that he created. In order to make sure Kevin had everything he needed, I had to review the database, and try to filter to any incomplete events . Kevin had requested that we add a component to the database of the google street view of the entries. We searched throughout the entries, and I worked with Luwam Gebreyesus  Finding pictures for the entries, so there was a visual representation of what happened.

Afterwards we  had gotten to a point where we wanted to make a submission for the URCAD.  We realized that the whole of the entries is not entirely  completed. So, we decided to focus on the first ten years of the timeline, from 1961 to 1971.  As well as continuing to improve and include onto the database, I was the main submitter for URCAD, since fellow presenter Luwam was heading her own project. As far as the technical edits that Kevin  wanted to change far the site, it was decided that we would just focus on changing the database, so it would be easier for him translate into the website.