Author: ryanc212

Today I met with Dr. Thuesen from Guilford college to discuss her life as a historian. Dr. Thuesen emphasized from the beginning that all historians jobs are different especially professors. She wanted me to understand that different schools will have different goals and requirements for their teachers. Guilford college, for example, focuses more on teaching and mentoring students, whereas UNC, a research institution, wants teachers to be able to put out material and books more. When she first went to college she wanted to go into Biology but she realized that she enjoyed researching through books and not in the laboratory. Dr. Thuesen gave me a lot of insight about keeping my mind open in college and taking unique courses in order to get a wider range of experience not just in history. When she was in college she made sure to use her connections with professors to help take advantage of her time there to help her once she got out of her PhD. I will make sure to keep these notes I took with me so can look back on all of the advice and recommendations from the historians I met with.

Today I met with Dr. Fountain from Meredith University and discussed his experiences of being a historian. Dr. Fountain grew up in Florida being involved with the church and the ideals of the Confederacy. He went to college under the pressure from his family to become a pastor but realized it wasn’t the right place for him. He took his interest in discovering new information and knowledge to become a history major. He continued his love for religion to focus on religion in slave communities and the different interactions between them. He wanted to bring to light the struggles and hardships experienced by enslaved people and how they used religion to cope and resist. Dr. Fountain gave me a lot of insightful information about getting into college and eventually grad school. He told me a story about how he was denied from his dream school – Kentucky- because he didn’t research the professors there. Dr. Fountain was one of my favorite historians to talk to and I look forward to catching up with him soon.

Today I met with Ms. Umfleet from the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Her job mostly entails working with different museums around the state to commemorate events important to NC history. She told me how she enjoys playing a Jeopardy like game with people she meets from different places from NC. She specializes in the Wilmington Massacre which is getting more national attention since the Black Lives Matter movement. She emphasized the need for the state to teach young people about these events in order to raise awareness and empathy. She also told me about how out of college she had a hard time finding a job because of how competitive the history job sector is. The most important advice I got from Ms. Umfleet was that you work in history because you love it not because it pays well.

Today I met with Mr. Howard and Ms. Smith from the NC Museum of History. We discussed the intricacies that come with running a museum especially one of such size and expansiveness. Mr. Howard detailed his continuous work that comes with trying to get more money for the museum through talking with donors and making calls. Mr. Howard took a different track to working at a museum than most because he majored in business and this was the first museum he has ever worked at. Ms. Smith is a bit different since she majored in history and then got her masters in Museum Studies before she worked at multiple museums around the country. The two work well together and organize the museums many different exhibits and newest renovations. We took a trip down to the archive room where they keep around 150,000 artifacts including furniture, clothing, weapons, and the basket coffin. They even have an electric chair which is brought out when important politicians or donors are there. The “first television” in history was also in their archives even though it does not look like the TV’s we know today. Next we took a trip to see the exhibits on display and they explained how they strive to make the exhibits as interactive and interesting as possible to ensure people keep coming back. I really enjoyed my time at the NC Museum of History and will consider getting an internship there soon.

Today I met with Dr. Lindsay, the chair of the history department at UNC, to discuss what I can do with a history degree and what life as a professor is like. We first talked about what exactly historians are good at and why they are so sought after in any sector of the workforce. Next we talked about how she got interested in history in college which was not her first major. Originally she wanted to become a diplomat- which required her to major in international studies and political science- but she did not want to work for the Reagan administration so she switched gears and focused on African History. I also have an interest in statistics so part of using this WEP is to find a way to mix history and statistics. Dr. Lindsay explained to me that a lot of what historians do is analyze and look at large amounts of data which is similar to statisticians. She also focused on the subfield of history that helps to analyze older data sets and numbers to find trends and relations throughout history. We got a little side tracked and talked about why she became interested in West African history which she explained through her interest in Nigerian pop music and her trip there. She showed me the most popular Nigerian artist, Fela Kuti, who was imprisoned for his political advocacy in Nigeria. She told me great story about how when she lived in Nigeria there were only about 200 white people in the country so she felt like a racial minority and how this changed her viewpoint once she came back to the US. I learned a lot from Dr. Lindsay about what a history professor does and I look forward to listening to some of Fela Kuti’s music.