Blog post #1: 5/25/22
My task today was to work with the Education staff at the museum. I worked with Mrs. Kathleen Gleditsch, a senior education curator. Her jobs included giving tours of the museum to school groups, creating “carts” (portable desks, placed in exhibits, stocked with artifacts that visitors can touch and ask questions about), and community outreach work through newsletters and social media. The first task I completed was to write a biography of Millie Dunn Veasey, a Black postal worker serving overseas in WWII with the 6888th postal battalion. This was very interesting, because I didn’t know that the military, even today, needs whole battalions to deal with mail. My short biography will appear in the Museum’s staff newsletter. My next task was to shadow one of the docents as she used the cart to answer visitors’ questions about the “Story of North Carolina” exhibit. The cart was centered around antebellum yeoman farm life, and included things like tobacco seeds, farm implements, and a model butter churn. I enjoyed working with the docent as she interacted with visitors. I was also given tours on that day of the parts of the museum that only staff get to see- like the offices and storage facilities. Lastly, I was able to meet Mr. Ken Howard, the director of the museum, and discuss the museum’s upcoming renovation.
Blog post #2: 5/26/22
Today, I worked with the Curatorial staff at the museum. I worked with Ms. Ayla Amon, the curator of Political and Cultural History at the museum. The museum has 11 curators, all responsible for a different part of the Museum’s collection. Ms. Amon oversaw artifacts relating to government, protest, and popular culture. With her help, I was introduced to the Museum’s artifact database, called Proficio. With the software’s help, the database of thousands of artifacts can be easily searched. This is important because the museum receives 4-5 new artifacts every week. When new artifacts come into the museum, an “acquisition form” must be completed, where the source, history, and significance of the artifact must be listed. I competed two acquisition forms- one for a “Krazy Ikes” toy from the 1950’s, and another for a “Galvanic Healing Medal” from the 1890’s. I did research on each of these objects and created a profile about their historical significance. My next task was to help Ms. Amon conduct an interview. She was interviewing a person whose area of expertise was African-American brewers in North Carolina, a topic that the Museum might cover in a new exhibit. Lastly, I was able to tour more storage areas in the Museum.
Blog post #3: 5/31/22
Today, I worked with Ms. Ayla Amon, and continued my work in the Curatorial section of the museum. I was also tasked with distributing and answering a survey about what young people want to see in the Museum in its newest renovation. I was happy to give insights on what I think the museum should tell more stories about, and what exhibits in the past have been exemplary. I was also able to meet with Mr. Bryan Bolduc, the Exhibit Installation Designer at the museum, whose job was to create cases for artifacts, and help with the graphic design of the museum’s exhibits. I was very interested to see how different skills like woodworking and interior and graphic design come together to create a visually appealing exhibit.
Blog post #4: 6/1/22
On my last day at the museum, I was able to work again with Ms. Ayla Amon, and also meet the artifact conservation staff. I was also tasked with helping choose which out of a series of protest buttons would convey best the story of the fight for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. I took into consideration factors like color, size, relevance, condition, and continuity. Through this task, I was able to be a part of decisions that both exhibit designers and curators have to make often. When meeting with the conservation staff, I was able to see many interesting artifacts like an iron lung, a permanent wave machine, and an x-ray machine from the mid-20th– century. I also learned about the different ways materials can be conserved, and how textiles can differ from solid materials like wood or iron in terms of methods of conservation. I was very interested to see all of the tools and chemistry knowledge that goes into artifact conservation.
Conclusion
Overall, I was able to learn many techniques and see many artifacts that I thought I never would get the chance to. I have visited the North Carolina Museum of History since I was very young, so being able to see the work that gets put in to create the exhibits was very interesting. This Work Experience has inspired me to find a summer internship at another historical site in the Raleigh area.