University of Delaware Museum Studies Program

Free Lecture!

2011-09-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

The Delaware Humanities Forum cordially invites you to attend the 2011 Joseph P. del Tufo Annual Lecture.

"Where do Religious Voices Belong In Public Conversations On Same-Sex Marriage?"

Dr. Mark D. Jordan, Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School

Thursday, October 6, 2011
6:00 p.m.
First & Central Church
1101 N. Market Street
Wilmington, DE

For additional details, click here.

Hooray for Rodney Square!

2011-09-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

Rodney Square, the heart of Wilmington's downtown, is being added to the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of places in the United States deemed worthy of preservation. Also included are the Du Pont and Nemours buildings, the Wilmington Public Library, the City and County building, and the former Post Office, now part of the Wilmington Trust Center. Several of the people that I've been working with while creating the walking tour of Market Street have been trying to get Rodney Square recognized in this way for years. Their hard work has finally paid off. Congratulations to all!

Here's a bit of historical background on the development of Rodney Square.

In 1902 the Du Pont Company's president, Eugene du Pont, died. The remaining family members were going to sell the firm, but were challenged by Alfred I. du Pont, who bought the company with his cousins T. Coleman and Pierre S. du Pont. These younger men initiated a period of modernization, reorganization, and consolidation. No longer a family business that could operate out of the small office on the Hagley property, the Du Pont Company needed more office space for its increased numbers of management personnel. Wilmington became the best choice for the site of the new headquarters, satisfying Pierre and Alfred's desire to keep the company close to the Brandywine as well as Coleman's insistence on an urban setting. In 1904 the Company bought land on the high ground at the corner of 10th and Market streets for their new building.

The twelve-story Du Pont Building provided the impetus for creating a monumental heart for the city of Wilmington. The initial structure housed 549 employees, while the 200-room Du Pont Hotel, added in 1912, featured a grand ballroom, theatre, and restaurant. The county courthouse, built in the 1880s, looked small and out-dated when compared to the modern office building across the street. John K. Raskob, Pierre S. du Pont's assistant, led the effort to tear down this building and build a grander city-county building on King Street. He was driven by a desire to bring the City Beautiful Movement to Wilmington, in the hope that a well-designed civic landscape would impress visiting businessmen. In time, the Wilmington Public Library and the Wilmington Post Office buildings would complete the square, creating an anchor for the city's downtown area.

Want to learn more? Read about the nomination on Delaware Online.

This is why I don't live in California...

2011-08-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Like many other East Coasters, I experienced my first earthquake on Tuesday afternoon. Despite the fact that it caused minimal damage and no serious injuries, it was still a bit of a scare. I was in the DHF office on the tenth floor of the Community Services Building in Wilmington when everything started to shake. At first I thought that there was just a big truck going by on the street. When the shaking continued, however, we all got rather nervous. Following the tremor, my coworkers and I decided to exit the building (using the stairs, of course). Virtually everyone else seemed to have the same idea, although we were not officially evacuated. We waited for a while in Rodney Square, until we decided it was probably safe to return to the office. Upon checking my email, I received a helpful (if belated) message on "What to Do During an Earthquake." Well, now I know.

Apparently, the last time the East Coast experienced an earthquake of this magnitude was in 1944. At that time, the Dravo Corporation on Wilmington's riverfront was busy building vessels for the U.S. Navy. A great image of the shipyard in full swing is available through the Hagley Digital Archives. You can still see a few of the whirly cranes at Dravo Plaza, which is now used as a gathering place for concerts and other events.

Not too much else to report on my internship. I continue to compile information on Wilmington's industrial history...although I have to admit I'm a bit distracted by reports of hurricane Irene, which should hit this area on Sunday. Thunderstorms and earthquakes and hurricanes, oh my!

From Wilmington to Washington

2011-08-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the site of the University & Whist Club in Wilmington, Delaware was once considered as a location for our nation's capital? While serving in Congress, Dr. James Tilton, a Revolutionary War hero who became the first Surgeon General of the United States Army, proposed that the capital be built at Bellevue, the property of his friend Bancroft Woodcock located to the northwest of the small town of Wilmington. Centrally located, the site's elevation provided impressive views of Philadelphia, Maryland, and New Jersey. It's interesting to think of what might have been, had the Virginians not been successful in building the capital on the Potomac.

Yesterday I visited Washington, D.C. with my coworkers at the Delaware Humanities Forum. While in the city we toured the Supreme Court, the U.S. Capitol, and the Library of Congress. The highlight of the day was meeting Jim Leach, the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, at the organization's headquarters in the Old Post Office. He very kindly invited us into his office and chatted with us for a few minutes. The Old Post Office is the third highest building in the city, after the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol. I really enjoyed seeing the magnificent views of the D.C. area from the clock tower.

Here are some photos from our trip. Enjoy!

Top to Bottom: Supreme Court, U.S. Capitol, Library of Congress, Old Post Office, View of U.S. Capitol from Old Post Office Tower (all images taken by Anne Reilly)

A Pear of an Experience; Thanks to everyone at the NAA!

2011-08-14T09:29:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, this is my last 'Hello!' from the Newark Arts Alliance!

For this last post, I wanted to start with a shot of one of the pieces from our newest (and current until September 10) show--Deborah Arnold's Quite a Pear. Above is a work entitled, "Pages from a Pear Diary: First Draft." Out of the entire summer (excepting the Member's Show of course!), this is my most favorite exhibit. Why, you ask?

1. It features a food.
2. It FEATURES A FOOD!!

How serendipitous that this is the last show I will enjoy as an intern! Perhaps my most favorite piece, however, is more of a metaphor than literal:

This one is entitled, "Pear Party Garden Dress" and as you can see, was created around a McCall pattern for a pear-shaped dress. I was enchanted when I first saw it. If only I didn't have a live on a graduate student's budget, I would have already bought so many pieces from the NAA! Every single show touts works that I end up adoring daily when I go in.

In other news, Friday was the day of the opening for Deb's show. Guess what she brought for refreshments?! That's right, a completely peary menu!

Below are some shots from the table of delicious goodies (and to the right is a shot of a work called, "Red Bartletts"):

There was pear upside-down cake, pears over brie, dried pears and gouda, hot milk sponge cake with pears in champagne, mango/pear salsa, pear chutney over cream cheese--you name it, if it had pears, it was on that table! Everything was delicious and the table was beautiful. I really enjoyed talking with the members and Deborah about her show. Here are some shots showing the crowd enjoying (both literally and figuratively) the "ripe metaphors of pears":

Over the summer, I have to say that I've learned more about grantwriting and how non-profits are organized than I ever thought I would. I am sad that today is my last day--it was a truly wonderful experience. Although I'm not at liberty to say right now, it seems that Terry and the board of the Newark Arts Alliance has made some arrangements for me to stick around and be involved. I shall update the blog one last time when I find out for sure what their plans are.

For now, here's a tally of all the grants I either wrote, edited, or assisted in researching this summer:

The Lenfest Foundation, Chichester duPont Foundation, The Brandywiners, Gannett Foundation, The Christmas Shop, Delaware Supermarkets, Inc. and Chipotle are all grantmakers for which I mailed in applications--that is, their goals match our needs most aptly. What this list doesn't communicate, however, was the time and effort put into researching (and some writing before I learned that they really wouldn't fit our needs) around 50 or so other foundations that do NOT provide funds for our organization. Lesson learned: researching and grants is no joke but if you can learn how to spot funders and how to write effectively using rhetoric, it can be a very fulfilling job.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Terry, Carol, the board of the NAA and the members for allowing me to have such a fantastic experience at this wonderful organization. If nothing else, you'll surely see me around taking some classes--if there's one thing this place has done, it is inspire my artistic side!! :)

P.S. Check out THIS link to see a clip from WHYY (I'm the one doing the tie-dye in the video) about our Camp Imagine!!!!

Into the Wild

2011-08-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

While I had been pulling out documents to scan, that had not been the only highlight for the past few weeks. Of course, it would not be an archiving adventure in Delaware, without running into bugs, insects, or other animals. It is interesting to work and do archival work on state park territory; I have been running into all sorts of wildlife since the commencement of the internship.

Besides the bugs, insects and the majestic herring that I have recently mentioned, I have seen deer frolicking about in the woods that surround the site. On another day, as I was driving near the site, I saw a flock of geese going by. They were right in front of my car and I had to come to a screeching halt so I did not run them over. The geese forced me to wait patiently as they took their time crossing the road. Fortuitously, I remembered my camera and snapped some pictures, while I waited for them to cross. On yet another day, I saw a groundhog standing majestically on its hind legs, but when it noticed my car approaching it darted away, under the cover of the bushes.

Canadian Geese

As of late, it has been raining cats and dogs. Hearing the downpour from inside an old mill built with a flat roof is a difference experience. From inside it sounds like the storm is fast approaching, coming closer, almost as if it could come pouring through the roof and leave one a soaking victim.

The power has also gone off again. It went off once and did not come back on for almost two hours. I guess I spoke too soon from last post (where I lamented the power cutting off). One cannot do much archiving in the dark. However, the next time the power goes off, I am prepared. I can make my way to the door quicker with the handy-dandy, heavy duty, weather ready flashlight now in my possession.

But when there is light I am busily pulling out files to be discarded.

Camp Imagine Recap

2011-08-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hey out there!

Well, after a two-week hiatus in Gallery Shop goings-on, the place is back to normal. I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you all more about what happened during the two weeks of Camp Imagine and post more pictures from the performance last Friday.

Before I get to the specifics, I'm going to take a minute to give you an overview of what our goals are for Camp Imagine students and what the application process is like for the students who wish to come to Camp Imagine.

First, applicants who wish to be considered for the camp must submit a letter/essay explaining why they want to come to camp. We do this for a couple reasons. The most important reason is that Camp Imagine is a full-day arts camp with two groups of 12 students starting at 9:15 and ending at 4:15. Students who come to camp without a genuine interest in participating unfortunately do not last long in the camp. They end up distracted and usually ruin the experience for other kids at the camp. Second, sometimes parents sign their children up for camps during the summer without actually asking the child. We want to prevent this from happening by establishing the interest of the child in our program. When the students write a letter of interest, it shows that they both know about the camp and that they have an interest in the arts.

One thing I love about this camp is how Terry decides the amount to charge for each student. She has a sliding scale, based on income that determines how much each student's guardians must pay. By simply providing a couple pay stubs, parents can send their children to a camp that normally costs $200 per week for about $40 per week. I really admire how the Alliance keeps aiming to fulfill its mission of developing community through the arts. Where else could you get such a high-quality experience for your kids for so cheap?

I don't mean to brag, but Camp Imagine is pretty darn awesome. During the last two weeks, I saw kids create some awesome art, sing a lot of beautiful songs, learn to dance some fierce dances and even do improvisation. Each day, the kids had a couple hours of art with either Rowena or Terry, dancing with Tania, theater with Stefanie, and singing with Molly.

I'm not sure if this is going to work, but here's a video of the performance of "Fireflies" by Owl City. The kids learned the song, and Tania taught them the dance. I won't lie, it brought a tear to my eye!

So you might be wondering--what did I do during all of this madness? Well, to be honest, a bit of everything. I mostly spent my time telling kids not to make holes in the wall, distributing afternoon snacks, and reminding campers to keep the art on the paper instead of themselves but I also got the rare opportunity to teach them how to tie dye!! I haven't tie dyed since I was in Girl Scouts ages ago so it was pretty fun! Here's a shot of the awesome shirts that another intern, Cassie, and I taught the students how to make:

Pretty neat, right? We had a lot of fun, but the credit really goes to the teachers, Terry, and the students. It was definitely a group effort to make this camp a success but it was totally worth all the hard work! I am almost certain that the students enjoyed themselves.

Here and there I was afforded the opportunity to work on the Chichester duPont grant, but this place was pretty much overtaken by munchkins by day one, making it a little tough to get things done.

However, now that everything's back to its normal, quiet, self, I've managed to actually finish the Chichester duPont grant request for $10,000. It sits waiting Terry's approval. I'm pretty excited about this one because it's a significant amount of money and I really hope that I've done a good job.

Also, I discovered that Macy's gives out district grants which is helpful as well! Their process is much easier and it's all done online which makes my job much less complicated.

Well! That's all for now. I shall leave you with a few more pictures of the cuteness that I was surrounded by for the last two weeks:

Oh yeah, one more thing--ALWAYS wear gloves when tie-dying!!!! :)

This is a shot of some of the younger group of kids doing the Rockin' Robin! Aren't they adorable? They were so excited!

And this is from the older kids' group--they did an improv tableau where they had three seconds to freeze after the teacher, Miss Stefanie, called out a theme. This was "A Day at the Beach":

Congratulations to all the awesome kids who worked so hard!

Peter who?

2011-08-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already August! Where did the summer go?

I'm really pleased with the narrative that I've been able to develop for the tour of Wilmington. Of great help are two books by University of Delaware history professor emeritus Carol E. Hoffecker: Wilmington, Delaware: Portrait of an Industrial City (1974) and Corporate Capital: Wilmington in the Twentieth Century (1983). If you want to learn more about this area, I would recommend adding these titles to your summer reading list.

Unfortunately, I keep coming across fascinating stories that don't fit with the tour's focus on the city's industrial and economic development. Luckily for me, I can blog about those things instead! So here's your weekly dose of Wilmington trivia.

Did you know that Peter Spencer founded this nation's first independent African American church in Wilmington? Born a slave in Kent County, Maryland, Spencer (1779-1843) was freed following the death of his master and came to Wilmington, where he joined the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1805, upset by the church’s treatment of blacks, he and about 40 others walked out and formed their own congregation. They continued to associate with the denomination until further interference by the white congregation led to the creation of the African Union Methodist Protestant Church (A.U.M.P.) in 1813.

During a major urban renewal project in 1967, the city decided to build new office buildings for federal and state employees. The Mother A.U.M.P. Church occupied the site that the city selected for this project. After a period of negotiation, the congregation relocated and the city demolished the church building. In its place the city created "Peter Spencer Plaza" on French Street between 8th and 9th Streets (left). At the heart of the plaza is a statue that commemorates Peter Spencer (below). "Father and Son" (1973) by Delaware sculptor Charles Cropper Parks depicts a black male figure cradling a sleeping child in his arms. Larger-than-life and dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, the man is not a direct representation of the religious leader but rather a symbol of the hope in the future that he inspired. The remains of Peter Spencer, his wife Annes, and ten of his followers are interred in a vault beneath the statue.

Today the plaza is a very quiet place. Every now and then a government worker will pass through, or rest for a few minutes in the shade, but few actually stop to look at the statue. In contrast, the memory of Peter Spencer is at the heart of the Big Quarterly, which will be held at the end of this month at locations throughout Wilmington. This festival, which has been held annually since 1814, brings African Americans together to celebrate religious freedom.

Planning & Scanning

2011-08-01T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

It’s been a while, but don’t worry, I’ll have you all caught up with what I have been doing these past few weeks. My duties have been rather repetitive lately, not much new and exciting, but still important within the world of archives. I am finally done with pulling out documents that will go out for this round of scanning. There will still be other documents to scan, but they will go to scanning later. I had previously pulled out many ledgers, and now I have added minute books to the mix. Some of the minute books are rather old, but all are informative. Apparently, a lot of the board of directors meeting for NVF took place in South Beach. The fact that Victor Posner had business in Miami, and NVF held meetings there makes me feel like this internship was a perfect match, as I am originally from Miami. NVF had plants located in different states besides Delaware and even had international locations: two plants in Canada and one in France. Besides the ledgers and minutes books, I have been prepping numerous amounts of blueprints for scanning. Many of the blueprints are rolled up, so I unroll them and lay them down flat in an over-sized carrying case, layering blueprint on top of blueprint until the case is full. Because the materials will be undergoing outside scanning, it is imperative to know exactly what has been sent out. Therefore, I have cataloged all the blue prints; to date, I have 25 typed pages of blueprints. It’s a lot of work, but well worth it.

blueprints

So many possibilities...

2011-07-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

Internship projects have a way of evolving. Since I last blogged, the focus of my tour has switched from one that highlights Wilmington's memorials and monuments to one that explains the city's economic and industrial development. We decided that this tour will dovetail nicely with the Forum's Delaware Industrial History Initiative. The DIHI is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities' We the People program, which exists to enhance the understanding of American history, culture, and democratic principles among all citizens. The goal of the DIHI is to digitally document Delawareans' experiences with industrialization. To explore a DIHI project that is already up and running online, visit Delaware's Industrial Brandywine, a database by Hagley Museum and Library that documents the businesses that operated along the Brandywine River in Delaware.

This week, in addition to reading more about the city's history and looking into podcasting and website building options, I have met with representatives of several Wilmington organizations to discuss opportunities for heritage tourism. The good news is that there are a lot of people doing great things in an effort to revitalize the downtown area. The challenge is to make sure that these efforts compliment, rather than duplicate or compete with, what others are doing. Communication is key.

If you're looking for something to do this weekend, I would suggest taking a walk along the Christina River. Once the heart of Wilmington's shipbuilding industry, the riverfront is now home to restaurants and other attractions. Remnants of the area's past remain, however, in the form of repurposed warehouses and brightly painted cranes. As you stroll along, make sure you read the signs that describe the industries that once stood along the river.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Wilmington, here's a view of the city from my office window. From left to right you can see Market Street, Shipley Street, and Orange Street. I added a yellow arrow to help you find the Christina (which looks larger in person, of course).

Classes and Camp Imagine Ca-raziness!

2011-07-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well, classes are in full swing here at the Newark Arts Alliance! This post is definitely going to be picture-heavy because these kids are soooo darn cute! I will compose another post to explain more about how we do classes and Camp Imagine but for now, enjoy the pictures!

Also, WHYY rolled in today with cameras to tape the kids during dance class so look for us on your local public television station!

Very intense painting session. Looks like she's concentrating pretty hard!

These gals are so proud of their fish!!

Eric Carl style
Here are some pictures that Terry snapped of the kids during our first couple days of Camp Imagine:

They made some awesome clay pots!

The kids are singing "Fireflies" and Katy Perry's "Firework"

They learn some traditional visual arts as well!

Stretching before dance class!!!

Noah proudly shows off his creations during After Care on Tuesday!

My next post will explain what's going on in more depth with Camp Imagine and classes. For now, we're all just trying to keep up with these enthusiastic kids!

All Good Things Must Come to an End...Or At Least be Put on Pause

2011-07-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that my internship is technically over! While I have accomplished more that I expected to with regard to completing my project of writing an audio tour for the New Castle Historical Society, there is still a lot to do before the tour is ready for the public.

In my last post I talked about the process of recording the test version of my tour. While I was rather hoarse by the end of the week, I managed to get all of the tracks recorded, edited, and exported in an MP3 format. My last few days at work consisted of getting the tour ready for testing over the next couple weeks and tying up loose ends.

Our test group of individuals is going to include a number of people familiar with both the history of the town and its layout, in addition to a group of people who are not familiar with any of these things. Having a varied audience is important because while those familiar with the layout and history will be able to both fact check the tour, they will have a harder time evaluating the directions because they are already familiar with the different stops and their names. Have a group of people who do not know their way around will give a better sense of how the average visitor will be able to maneuver their way through town. Directions have to be specific enough for them to find their way, but not too complicated that they are confusing.

Each visitor will be given an MP3 player with the tour pre-loaded onto the device. They will also be given a handout that consists of a map of the town on one side with the stops numbered, with directions for how to use the MP3 player and a list of the stops on the other side.

Right now the tour is 2.5 hours long, and consists of 49 Tracks or Stops, which encompass 60+ buildings. It is a lot of information and a long tour. So part of what we want the test group to pay attention to is where the tour is the most interesting and if anything is repetitive. While the tour is long, it is designed so that individuals can skip through tracks if they desire. In addition, the idea is that someone can check out the tour and have it for the day. So a person can take breaks, go on museum tours, grab a bite to eat, etc. As such, we will have to wait and see what the test group say.

While I am technically done with my internship, I will probably help with getting the final version ready once fall begins. The next steps include:

1. Testing the tour with the test group.
2. Processing their comments and critiques.
3. Editing the script for the final recording.
4. Final Recording.

This has been a great project, particularly with my interests in digital media and how to use technology to reach new audiences, and I look forward to seeing the final product.

Ex Libris Rosenbach

2011-07-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

This summer I am serving as a Collections Intern at the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia, PA!

The Rosenbach began as the private collection of a rare book dealer, Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach, and his brother Philip. Following their testamentary gift in the 1950's, the Rosenbach became a public institution focusing on literature, history, and art. A few highlights of the Rosenbach's collection include Maurice Sendak's original children's book illustrations (including drafts and final drawings for Where the Wild Things Are), the manuscript of Ulysees by James Joyce, and Bram Stoker's notes for Dracula. Visitors can take tours of the Rosenbach brothers' historic home, wander through the museum exhibits, conduct research in the library, or attend special events such as Bloomsday.

My main duties include:

cataloguing a collection of manuscript pages by entering information about them into the museum's PastPerfect database.
conducting historical research on Daniel Defoe's political pamphlets for an upcoming exhibition.
digitizing the first lines of verses found in 17th-century commonplace books. (I wrote about this project for the Rosenblog!)
selecting two items to go on exhibit and writing interpretive labels for them. (Right now I'm leaning toward an American dime novel called The Female Trapper as well as an 1846 letter by Charlotte Brontë regarding a toothache she had.)

I have also:

helped de-install an exhibit of letters and newspapers.
staffed Bloomsday, the Rosenbach's largest event of the year, as an attendance-counter and question-answerer.
assisted with tent set-up for the Civil War Road Show.
played Boggle with staff members during lunch. (They are extremely good at word games!)
learned to handle rare books (and got practice when I re-shelved books from the personal library of the poet Marianne Moore).
tested out a cryptogram activity for museum visitors.
visited the Mutter Museum on an intern field trip. (The curator gave us a tour and took us behind the scenes!)
eaten many a lunch outside in the Rosenbach's garden.

All said, I love my internship! The staff is fantastic, and every day I'm learning something new.

Can You Hear Me Now..........?

2011-07-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe how fast this summer is going by and that I am into the recording stage of my audio tour. Last week Mike, my supervisor and Executive Director at the New Castle Historical Society, and I made some final edits to the test script for the audio tour.

While the final version of the tour will be more complex and with a variety of narrators, Mike and I decided that recording a test version would be best for a number of reasons.

1. I really want to see as much of the process of creating an audio tour as possible, which encompasses: research, writing the script, recording, trying the tour with a test group, editing/ reformatting the tour as necessary, and then re-recording.

2. It's summertime, and it will be difficult to schedule the different people in the time that remains for my internship, so me recording just myself is much faster.

3. Having a test version is invaluable so that the test group can really get the feel of an audio tour, which is much different than fact-checking the script. Using this version we can check the directions, determine if there is a lull in the tour, and where to cut out information.

So for this week, the kitchen table of my apartment has been turned into a makeshift recording studio. I chose my apartment because it is a quiet environment and essentially an isolated location in which to work. We could have set up in one of the rooms at the historical society, but I knew it could be more difficult to get work done, since there is always an interesting distraction going on or people moving in and out of the museum.

Podcasting Station

In terms of equipment I am using the software Audacity, which is an open source editing and recording software. While there are many different kinds of software, I am familiar with Audacity and its usability and Free nature makes it and ideal tool. In terms of other equipment, I am using a Behringer Podcast Studio which is essentially an a full recording studio in a box, with a microphone, headphones, and mixer (which lets you control the recording levels). These sets are relatively inexpensive, but I was able to borrow the equipment from University of Delaware's History Media Center. Don't let the equipment intimidate you though, the possibilities are endless for this type of project, and recording can really be done with any sort of microphone or tape recorder.

Screen Shots of Audacity Software

So what is the recording experience like? A LOT of work!! Even though the finished product will probably be under 2 hours (we know we need to cut out some information, but cannot decide what!), recording and editing takes much longer. Once you get used to talking to yourself in an empty room to a computer screen, you have to keep in mind varying your voice, talking at a relatively slow speed and not tripping over your own words. You find that some of your elaborate and fact filled sentences look great on paper, but result in complete tongue-tied-ness when speaking out loud. I have also discovered that the human voice, or at least mine can only handle about a half day of continuous speaking before it gets tired, so I try to balance out recording and editing. Editing is a fun process, but can also be time consuming, depending on how long the section or how many mistakes I have to edit out.

With fingers crossed, my goal is to have all of the tracks recorded, edited, and exported in an MP3 format by the end of the week so that next week we can have people start testing it. I am finding that this is an ambitious deadline, but I want it to be available to test as soon as possible, so I have a few long days in store this week.

If you would like to be involved in testing, get in touch with us at the Historical Society, we would love to have as many people as possible!!

Photo Credits: Jesse Gagnon

Wilmington: “A Place To Be Somebody”

2011-07-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

Greetings to one and all!

You might think that it's a bit late in the game to be introducing myself on this blog, but I actually just started my internship with the Delaware Humanities Forum on Monday. (For the first five weeks of the summer I was teaching a history course at UD.) The DHF promotes the humanities by connecting the people of Delaware with humanities specialists and creating a network of civic, educational and cultural institutions. The organization provides a variety of resources, including grants to nonprofit organizations and public programs, and is supported principally by an annual grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This summer I'll be working on creating a walking tour of Wilmington, the largest city in Delaware. We're not sure yet what the final product will be but we do know that we want to help people who spend time in Wilmington discover the city's history and cultural heritage. Our goal is to reach out to residents and weekday workers as well as tourists.

When I first discussed the project with DHF director Marilyn Whittington, we envisioned a tour that would focus on Wilmington's monuments and memorials. Monuments exist to commemorate the people and events that we consider (or once considered) significant for understanding our identity. Yet often we become so used to monuments as fixtures on our landscape that we don't even think about who or what they represent. How many times have you walked past a statue without noticing it? If someone stopped and asked you who it depicted, you might be able to say, "Oh, that's so-and-so." But could you explain what "so-and-so" did to be memorialized in such a way? Organizations and individuals in Wilmington have already created a landscape of memory with monuments, plaques, and street names. The purpose of the tour is to direct our attention to these memorials and deepen our understanding of the place that is Wilmington.

As I develop the tour, I would like to use this blog to introduce you to some of the city's monuments. Perhaps more than any other monument, the equestrian statue of Caesar Rodney (above) symbolizes Wilmington. Dedicated on July 4, 1923, the statue was designed by New York sculptor James Edward Kelly. The statue is somewhat unique in that it depicts the horse in full gallop, with its two front legs in the air. To balance the figure, Kelly heavily weighted the horse's tail and placed Rodney slightly to the rear of the horse's forward rear hoof. The overall effect is one of motion. Unlike most other equestrian statues, the monument does not celebrate the accomplishments of a general, king, or president, but rather an event: Rodney's ride from Dover to Philadelphia to cast Delaware's vote for the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The historical record calls into question the accuracy of this account. Rather than galloping into Philadelphia at the last minute, Rodney may have been there for several days prior to July 4. Moreover, he may not have arrived there on horseback at all. The goal of the patriotic group of citizens who erected the statue was not to realistically depict the event, but rather to celebrate the critical role that their state played in the founding of America. As Delaware poet George Alfred Townsend wrote, "Here this day is made a nation, By the help of Delaware."

At this point, I'm still settling into the office and getting acquainted with Wilmington. Although I've lived in Delaware for three years now, I haven't spent that much time in the city. I'm enjoying discovering its history on walks and in books. I am also very excited about the prospect of collaborating with many longtime advocates of the city's history, including the generous staff of the Delaware Historical Society. It is very clear that many people are interested in rejuvenating Wilmington and ensuring its future as "A Place to Be Somebody."

As a Massachusetts native, I'm not as familiar with this area as many of you may be. So here are two questions for you:

What would you like to see included on a tour of Wilmington?

What format do you think would be best for encouraging people to take the tour? A website? Printed map?

I looking forward to sharing more as my internship experience continues.

Best, Anne

For further reading: Robert T. Silver, Outdoor Sculpture in Wilmington (Wilmington Arts Commission, 1987)

Photograph Credit: Anne Reilly

My Photos Are So Delicious You Can EAT Them!

2011-07-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hello out there museum and art enthusiasts! Sorry for the hiatus! I was so busy helping put up the artwork and sorting out the artists the last week and in Wisconsin over the 4^th of July—I just plain forgot.

But hey, great news: the Arts Alliance accepted not just one but TWO of my photos to display in their Annual Member’s Show! Although they do accept one piece from every member who submits artwork, it’s generally very special to have two pieces selected. So I know you’re all DYING to find out what they look like:

The first is a shot of raspberries from my garden at home in WI and the second is a shot of some bandaged cheddar that I used to sell as a cheesemonger (also back in WI).

Both of those are the actual photos taken by me! (I took a shot of the pictures hanging in the gallery but they had too much reflection so I thought it'd be better to just post the originals.)

When it comes to photography, and practically everything else in my life, food is priority numero uno!

Here are some other shots of the other member’s artwork. I would say that we have some pretty talented people around this place.

So in other news, I have currently been spending most of my time working on two sources of funding. The first is a letter to The Wilmington Flower Market. And the second is a letter to The Brandywiners. We have received funding from both of these places in the past so hopefully my carefully worded letters will strike a chord with them in the form of loosening their purse strings!

Both of these organizations are really interesting because they support completely different types of arts and culture programs. The Wilmington Flower Market is a group of women in the Wilmington area who organize a huge fair every year during Mother's Day weekend to raise money specifically for programs that benefit children. The Brandywiners support local performing arts groups. Since we qualify as both of these types of programs, I hope that applying for their grants will be fruitful.

We are looking for grants mostly to support our Camp Imagine program. It's a two-week arts program for kids aged 7-12 with both traditional art projects along with dancing, singing, and even yoga! The great thing about Camp Imagine is that kids can get scholarships that covers almost the entire tuition if their families are low-income. This is a great opportunity for kids who might not have positive role models or places to go in the summer.

One side note/reflection: something I'm beginning to learn is that my rhetoric training is starting to come in handy writing all of these letters. The key thing is to really do your research for all of these grants. The more you know about what they prefer to fund, the more you can angle your proposal to fit their requirements. It's a surprising amount of work but I think that my experience here is really going to benefit me in the long run. Unlike a lot of the sciences, humanities majors like myself find themselves short of funding much of the time. The current economic climate also changes the approach. Funders prefer to give money to organizations that are already financially stable. Paradoxical as this may seem, it makes sense to them to see that they are supporting something the community already values. All in all, I'm glad that Terry is helping me along with all of this stuff and giving me tips on all the whats, whys, and hows of grantwriting. I may not be doing archaeology but I do feel good that I am helping the NAA find more support so that it can go on providing the awesome programs and classes that Newarkers love so much!

Archaeology for a Day?! --Don't Mind if I Do....

2011-07-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about working at a local historical society is that there is always something new going on. For the last two weeks, the Dutch House, one of the museums that the New Castle Historical Society operates, was the home of an archaeological dig. While the Dutch House has two garden areas, one is about to be turned into a Delaware native plant garden. The planting of trees and shrubs will potentially disturb any existing archaeological sites as their roots penetrate the landscape. For this reason, now seemed as good a time as any to begin this type of project.

The Dutch House (back view)

While NCHS has conducted some archaeological research at the Amstel House where their offices are located, this was the first time any digging occurred at the Dutch House. For the past two weeks a team of archaeologists from John Milner Associates, Inc were on site aided by a number of volunteers from the community. I was lucky enough to take a break from my tour writing to volunteer one day. And what a blast is was!

Ground Penetrating Radar (commonly referred to as GPR), historical surveys, and maps were used to give the archaeologists some idea of where there may be anomalies beneath the surface and where earlier structures existed. Most of the excavations entailed creating 2.5' by 2.5' test pits, or units, that were excavated layer by layer. In each layer the dirt was sifted and we put any objects we found into plastic bags with a specific description of which unit and at what layer it was found. Without this information the objects have no context, and would therefore be near useless. Among the activities I got to participate in included sifting dirt, picking out objects, cleaning the objects, and then re-bagging them to be taken back to the lab to be processed later.

The Dig Site

Many of the excavation sites turned out to be at least 3 feet deep if not more, much deeper than the archaeologists were expecting, and in one unit it was more that 5 feet before the eighteenth century surface was reached. These excavations suggest that the New Castle landscape, which is today rather level, was most likely much more varied in elevation.

Amy, one of the Archaeologist working on one of the units.

In terms of objects, I was amazed by the variation and amount of material found in just 10 test pits, a small fraction of the garden's total size. Many of the objects included pottery shards, including a piece of Borderware, which may date to the seventeenth century; glass pieces; nails and other metal ware, clay marbles, buttons, and a thimble. In what is believed to be a trash pit, a near in-tact mineral water bottle from Wilmington was unearthed. This trash pit also produced a number of larger pieces of pottery.

Jen, another archaeologist working on the trash pit, which you can see was expanded past the 2.5' by 2.5' size typically excavated

Excavating the mineral water bottle in the trash pit.

It was an interesting diversion, but my tour is also well on its way as my internship moves into its final weeks. The script is almost finished and I will soon begin recording a test version of the tour. This version will be used on a test group to find out what people like and dislike about the tour, as well as a time for final fact-checking with a group familiar with New Castle's history. While I am rather nervous about being the voice behind the audio tour for this test version, the plan is for the final recording to have a cast of characters to narrate the different histories, stories, and primary source excerpts. So stay tuned!!

** All these photographs were taken by me!

Happy 235th Birthday Home of the Red, White, and Blue!!

2011-07-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

Today I am back at work at the New Castle Historical Society after a nice and refreshing weekend celebrating Independence Day. It seemed appropriate to blog on this first day of the workweek because Independence and the Revolutionary War play such an integral part in the history of New Castle, some of which I want to share with you today.

On June 15, 1776 the Delaware General Assembly passed a resolution stating that Delaware was fighting in the American Revolution. Today every June on the first Saturday Delaware and particularly New Castle celebrate Separation Day in honor of Delaware being the first state to separate from England.

Delaware was home of three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Thomas McKean, Caesar Rodney, and George Read I. In perhaps one of the most famous events in Delaware's history, Caesar Rodney rushed to Philadelphia in July of 1776 in time to break the deadlock in Delaware's vote for Independence, because George Read voted against it during the July 2nd vote. While Read was a leading opponent to British taxes, he was worried that Delaware was not quite ready to separate from England. Nevertheless, once the decision to declare independence was made, Read also signed the document.

(George Read I)

In New Castle, George Read is perhaps most revered for being a signer of all three great state papers: the Olive Branch Petition of 1775, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of 1787. Read was incredibly influential in convincing Delaware's leaders to adopt the Constitution, and Delaware became the First State by approving the Constitution on December 7, 1787, a designation Delaware holds onto proudly even today.

This is just one story that I am working into my tour as the summer progresses. Sometimes there is a tendency to emphasize the Revolutionary and Federal periods while discussing the town because they are perhaps the most recognized by visitors. But the town has so much more history, 235 years worth in fact. In addition, it is important to see the shades of gray in every story, like that of George Read I who was conflicted regarding whether he was making the right decision or not, and what the outcome would be.

Sources:

1. Image from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GeorgeRead.gif

2. Fradin, Denis Brindell. The Signers: The 56 Stories Behind the Declaration of Independence. New York: Walker & Company, 2002.

Inside the Archives: Files, Ledgers, and…Darkness?

2011-06-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I am back to detail another week of working in the archives.

Last week I shared with you the agenda for the summer. Just to recap: I will be weeding out files and documents that Auburn Heights will then discard. I will be pulling out documents to scan, I will construct a temporary finding aid, and will analyze the files to find ways in which they are useful historically and for research purposes, amongst other things.

The process is in full swing! I have started the procedure of weeding out files. Even though various documents will be disposed, I still keep track of them. I developed a master file that includes all the files, ledgers, and document, plus their location within the room. I have another list that includes documents that I am pulling out for scanning, and yet another list that include files and documents that the repository will eventually discard.

So far, I have pulled out many ledgers, which will go out for scanning. The ledgers date from the 20^th& 21^stcentury, as early as the 1920s. It’s incredible to see documents that have such age and history on them. I have to be careful when handling these ledgers, both for my sake and for the ledgers’ sake. The ledgers are old and worn, the binding on some are starting to fall apart, the pages of others are brittle and fragile, and some are growing mold. So, care must be taken.

My experience thus far within the world of archives has been filled with discovery and adventure. I have stumbled upon a bird’s nest and have spotted a herring. This week proved no exception. However, this week was not as spectacular. For five minutes, I was thrown in complete darkness. I could not make heads or tails of anything and could not see my hands outstretched in front of me as I blindly made my way out of the room, searching for a source of light. The power had gone off! Luckily, it didn’t last long and I was able to get back to work! I’m all for adventures, but hopefully no more of ones where I’m plunged into absolute darkness!

Retz

Catalogs, Photographs and InDesign. Oh My!

2011-06-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe my time at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts is almost half way over! After spending the first two weeks of my internship completely engrossed in the catalog for the DCCA’s first satellite show, Young Country, I thought that sending the raw materials to the publisher meant that our part was complete, but boy was I wrong! Once the designer was finished working his magic he sent the PDF back to us and everyone in the office got a copy and we all went over the catalog with a fine-toothed comb making sure that everything was perfect. I’ve learned about aspects of Adobe Reader that I never knew existed!

Now that the Young Country catalog has officially gone to press, my duties have shifted back to the everyday duties of a curatorial assistant. My big project has been to organize files on the DCCA server. There’s a lot of redundancy in the computer system, so it has been my responsibility to restore order and clear out duplicate files.

Another of my tasks related to the computer has been resizing installation shots of the exhibitions at the DCCA. One of our generous board members comes in at the beginning of every exhibition and takes photos of the work in the galleries. The shots he takes are beautiful, high resolution .tif images, which if I placed on our internal server would take up all the space we have, so it has been my job to resize the images and file them away in their respective artist’s files. While doing this, I noticed that not all of the installation shots from previous shows had not been resized before they were filed away, so I am now going through and resizing all the images from the past six years of installations. It's a daunting task, but something I enjoy doing.

Also during the past two weeks I have dusted off my InDesign skills and created Call For Entries for both the upcoming MFA Biennial and the 2013 Member’s Solo Shows. I have also been doing a lot of research on curatorial practices and theories as well as artists who use social media as a basis for their artwork. It’s really exciting to see first hand how popular culture affects the art scene. Next year the DCCA will be having an exhibition dedicated to social media’s influence on contemporary art.

DCCA Summer Art Camp 2011: Explore, Imagine, Create started this week and even though I’m not directly involved in that aspect of the museum, I cannot wait for the end of the week showcase where the children will present the projects they have been working on all week.

Money, Money, Money, Monayyyyy, Money!

2011-06-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

After a week-long hiatus and a trip back to my hometown in Wisconsin, I have returned to the NAA to continue my work. Unfortunately, however, this post will be mostly sans pictures as I have been spending much of my time working on collecting information for grant opportunities.

The Newark Arts Alliance, Inc. is funded partially by the Delaware Division of the Arts, sales from the member and exhibition gallery, membership dues, and donations. But a big part of their funding also comes from grants being that they are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. What this means is that every year, the Alliance must apply for grants to fund its programs such as Camp Imagine (an arts camp providing scholarships making participation virtually free for underprivileged youth), Art to Go (a program that brings art projects to at-risk youth in the community) and various other events such as Drum Circle and Poetry Readings.

So basically, what this means is that I, as an intern, am charged with the task of researching various funders for grants so that the Alliance can keep paying the bills and rent every month!

What I have found is this wonderful opportunity through the Delaware Valley Grantmakers. Through its common application form, the DVG allows non-profit orgs to apply for various grants from different funders without having to deal with the hassle of figuring out the requirements for each specific grant. It really streamlines the process and although I still have to make sure they accept the general cover letter and various attachments, for the most part, it makes my job much easier. I have already identified 4 funders who provide grants for which we are eligible. My next task is researching the ins and outs of applying for grants so that I can write something cogent and persuasive to each of the funders.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, I'd like to include some pictures from the Garden Tour 2011 which was held on June 11. We sold over 70 tickets and it was a hit!! Check it out:

This is a bench artfully created as a seat for Garden Tour participants to take a relaxing break from their stroll

Lori, one of the gardeners, poses for a candid shot in her garden.

There were even art and plant sales at the Garden Tour! People could purchase plants and art to decorate their own homes.
One of the ponds full of carp on the Garden Tour. So relaxing to sit next to the running water!!

Next, we have a Members Only Exhibit coming up next week. Starting this weekend, members of the Newark Arts Alliance can drop off art pieces and they will be juried into the show for next week. On July 8th, there will be a reception with all of the artists/members whose work will be displayed.

Call me crazy, but working here at the Alliance has really inspired me. I plan to submit a piece of my own this weekend and see if it's accepted into the show. I won't be bitter if it's not, there is some serious competition around this place and some really talented artists. Tune back next week to find out if they choose my work and a preview of the rest of the show!!

Meeting of Minds

2011-06-21T17:33:00.001-07:00

Hi all, it’s Retz again.

While I have been mostly in the archives at the mill, I did resurface from beneath the piles of files. During the week, I had a meeting with the director concerning what to do with the files. The meeting took place at the mansion in Auburn Heights. The grounds there are beautiful and breathtaking. Auburn Heights has the largest collection of operating steam cars and there’s even a steam train on the site!

After the meeting, we decided that for the duration of the summer, after the appraisal process, I will double check records recommended for disposal, so records that important records are not accidentally discarded. Working with the Historic Site Manager, I will help determine the importance of the collection, its long-term value for research and historical purpose. In essence, this means determining which records will interest the present and the future generation.

Auburn Heights plans send out to scan older records, ledgers, and documents in a more delicate state that they will keep in the collection, after I have prepped them for scanning. Scanning the documents will provide longevity to the collection and will open up the material to a wider audience. After the documents come back from scanning, I will check the files back in. I will also construct a temporary finding aid for the collection. This finding aid will help locate files and folders quickly until the records are stored in a permanent location.

Back at the mill site, I always encounter something interesting. Last week, I discovered a bird’s nest inside the archives. This week I spotted a herring. The mill is located next to a creek and one day I saw the awesome creature gliding above the water, with its huge wings spanned out. Wonder what I’ll discover next week!

So Much History, So Little Time

2011-06-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

After a couple weeks at my internship at the New Castle Historical Society I seem to have a handle on the layout of town and at least a basic knowledge of all the history that New Castle has to offer.

Last week I had the opportunity to accompany Bruce Dalleo, Education Coordinator at the NCHS, as she gave a presentation to a group of students about reinterpretation regarding the Society's museums. Reinterpretation is important because it has to do with how to tell all the different stories embodied in one building. Buildings, like people, can change enormously over time, and house museums particularly have the job of telling all those different stories through different exhibits and tours.

For example, regarding the Amstel House: does the historical society tell the story of Dr. John Finney who built the house, Nicholas Van Dyke (Sr.) who became Governor of Delaware and lived in the house, or Van Dyke's daughter Ann who lived here with her husband Kensey Johns after Governor Van Dyke moved out? And that only covers the period from 1738 when the building was constructed until around 1790 when Ann and Kensey Johns moved into their new home in town. What about the time between 1790 and 1929 when the building was opened as a historic house? It seems to become more complicated the more you think about it!

I am encountering the same issues as I work on this project. For a tour that will cover nearly 200 years of history and possibly 60 to 70 sites, I am finding that researching all of the history of these buildings and the individuals that lived in them is perhaps the easiest part, it is the logistics of organizing the tour that may be the most difficult.

And some of the logistics I am thinking about off the top of my head include:

* Determining a walking route that flows both historically and physically (After all, you don't want people criss-crossing back and forth all over town!)

* Choosing which buildings and which stories you want to tell, because you can't tell them all, and there are SO many interesting ones! (While I may find everything interesting, I have to make sure that the tour is long enough for people to learn important things about New Castle, it can't be so long enough that they lose interest.)

* Balancing the types of information you want to include. (For example these tours are meant to appeal to everybody in some capacity, thus you have to make sure you strike the right balance between architecture history, history of the town, the stories of individuals, and between the secondary narrative and primary source excerpts)

These are all things I am trying to keep in mind as I work on writing my tour.

Summer at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts

2011-06-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I'm Laura and my summer home away from home will be at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (DCCA). My internship at the DCCA will allow me to see what goes on behind the scenes at an art gallery. There is a lot of preparation that goes on before an exhibition can go up in one of the seven galleries housed at the DCCA. So far my job has consisted of contacting artists, helping to create informational materials that are on display during the exhibitions, and researching various topics related to upcoming or potential exhibitions.

The highlights of my first week evolved around Wilmington’s Art on the Town, held on the first Friday of every month. During Art on the Town the galleries at the DCCA are open late and many of the exhibiting artists attend and give gallery talks in which they discuss their current work. Another feature of Art on the Town are the open studios at the DCCA. It was great to get to see not just the works in the galleries but also explore the work and practices of the artist’s who keep studios at the DCCA.

During my second week at the DCCA I sat in on a staff meeting, which was great because I was able to hear everyone talk about their responsibilities and what was coming up in their respective areas. I have also been doing a lot of work centering around an upcoming satellite show the DCCA is organizing called Young Country. Young Country, an exhibition devoted to rural themes in contemporary American art, will open at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts on July 6, 2011 and will run until July 28, 2011. For this show I have been helping Maiza Hixson, Gretchen Hupfel Curator of Contemporary Art, at the DCCA prepare the exhibition catalogue for publication. It has been a really eye-opening experience seeing what goes into putting together an exhibition, from initially contacting artists to hanging the final show.

My Bird's Nest

2011-06-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, Retz here!

I cannot believe that summer is already underway. I am excited to have started my internship at the Auburn Heights Preserve. At Auburn Heights, I am primarily working in the National Vulcanized Fibre mill (NVF) and am currently sifting through their records.

NVF was the product of the Marshall family and stayed under the direct operation of the Marshall family until 1953. The company created vulcanized fibre, a laminated plastic made of paper. By 2007, the company filed for bankruptcy and closed for good. Now under the management of the Delaware State Parks, the site is slated to become a museum where the paper making process and the story of NVF will be highlighted. My job is to explore the treasure trove of material and help Auburn Heights tell the story of the mill from the archival material left behind.

After completing my first week, working with archival material in an unprocessed state and in an old building is proving to be quite an adventure. In a world of cabinets, drawers, files, and folders, who knew I would discover an actual bird’s nest. Unfortunately or fortunately, no birds accompanied the nest. It is amazing what one can find in the world of archives. The mill is not a glamorous place and there is the occasional fly, wasp, and stinkbug, however a treasure waits in the telling the story of the mill. Like the literal bird’s nest I discovered, the NVF mill is my nest for the summer.

Bird's Nest

NVF Mill

The Archives

My Current Summer Home: The Amstel House

2011-06-08T14:03:00.001-07:00

Happy June Everyone!

This is Jesse at the New Castle Historical Society, and like Amy I am also finishing up my first week of my GIDAC internship here in New Castle. And what a busy week it has been!

NCHS has preserved New Castle's history for over 75 years and was established in 1934 to save the Amstel House, which is the current business office for the Society. The Society currently operates three historic buildings available for guided tours for both individuals and groups: the Amstel House (1730), the Dutch House (possibly late 17th century) and the Old Library Museum where new exhibits are housed. If you are interested, follow the NCHS on Facebook!!

New Castle, the colonial capital of the first state is quite honestly an adorable town located right on the Delaware River. Designated a National Historic District, the 135 acre district is made up of 572 historic sites, including over 500 historic buildings!!

As an intern for the GIDAC program, my project is to research, write, and hopefully, if time permits, to record an audio walking tour of the town for the historical society under the direction of Executive Director Mike Connolly. While I had a vague notion of the history of New Castle, I quickly learned that what I knew barely scratched the surface. As such, this past week has mainly entailed lots of reading and walking around town to become acclimated to this beautiful town and its complicated history.

So stay tuned for updates, and if you are looking for something to do this weekend, consider stopping by Historic New Castle for Separation Day this Saturday, Delaware's 235th "birthday" to celebrate Delaware's separation from England and Pennsylvania and the formation of the State of Delaware. There will be parades, all-day music, vendors, activites, and most importantly Fireworks!! at 9:30pm.

Here are some photos from my strolls around town.....

The Amstel House

Kensey Johns House

The Academy

Delaware Wharf

Stay tuned....

Odds, Ends, and Introductions to the Newark Arts Alliance

2011-06-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Amy here, writing to you from the Newark Arts Alliance. I am just finishing up my first week here at the NAA and I wanted to share some pictures from my first week and information about events we have coming up.

Before I give you a recap of what I've been doing this first week, I wanted to mention that the Newark Arts Alliance keeps its website quite up to date and all event details and information about the organization can be found there. Check it out! http://www.newarkartsalliance.org/

The Alliance is supported by members as well as grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts. They house two different galleries, the contents of which, are shuffled monthly to incorporate new displays and artworks submitted by artists. In the first gallery (the one you walk into immediately upon entering), all of the art is for sale, and all of the artwork is submitted by members only. The second gallery houses jurored displays usually following a certain theme. Currently, the theme is "The Child in Art," juried by artist Debbie Hegedus. Here are a few select pieces which have been photographed for your viewing pleasure:

The Children Green and Golden by Jen Mrozek

Her Kind also by Jen Mrozek (this is by far my favorite piece in the show)

Boy Sleeping -- and embroidered piece by Karen Schueler

Two Creations by Rowena Macleod

The photos really do not do justice to the fine textual details of these works and their various media. Stop by 276 Main Street (we're the place with the murals lining the doorways) to see the awesome originals!

On June 3rd, we had a reception for the artists--of which I was privileged to be a part--and I was afforded the chance to meet and discuss the art with the artists. Although most of my job here at the Alliance is to research grants and help to set up various organizational systems so that other people's jobs are easier, much of what I do deals with artists and the public. During the Artists' Reception, I even received some tips and encouragement from them about pursuing my own photography. Here are a couple shots that I took at the reception (they give you a good idea of what the Alliance looks like from the inside!):

Having a spirited discussion over art!

Artist Karen Berstler's daugher (also the subject of her current work in "The Child in Art") admiring artist Karin Lang's boxes

Karin Lang's boxes, entitled, Boxed Memories of our Childhood, contain real pieces of ephemera from her and her brother's childhood in Germany. On the left is her brother's box, and below is her own.

As you can see, there are many exciting things happening around here! This weekend will be the Garden Tour around Newark--you can find information about it here. Like us on Facebook!

My continuing work this summer will be mostly in organization, general operation, and grant writing. And, I suppose I titled this post "Odds, Ends, and Introductions" because it has a lot of introductory info but also touches on the tidbits of different jobs I hold under the umbrella term of "intern." Executive Director Terry Foreman has really helped bring me into the fold of the plethora of events and activities happening daily so I feel that in the future I will have many more varied things to blog about. Last, I have began to research and collect information on possible grants, so stay tuned for more updates each week!

-Amy

(Photos of artwork are courtesy of the Newark Arts Alliance and I, myself, took all the other shots! Good as the photography might be...you should really come in and see the art for yourself... : ) )

2011 GIDAC Interns!

2011-05-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

The recipients of the 2011 Graduate Internship in Delaware Arts & Culture have been named, and they are as follows:
Jesse Gagnon, Department of History, New Castle Historical Society
Amy Powis, Department of English, Newark Arts Alliance
Laura Cox, Department of Art, Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts
Retz Monroe, Department of History, Auburn Heights Preserve

Stay tuned as they blog their internship experiences!

Update from Melanie Scriptunas at DHF

2010-09-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

DIHI was featured in a recent News Journal article!

Greetings from the Delaware Humanities Forum

2010-08-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

As summer intern at the Delaware Humanities Forum, my primary duty is to help publicize and develop a consortium for our Delaware Industrial History Initiative in the Digital Humanities (DIHI). With support from the "We the People" program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, DHF has made grants available to nonprofit organizations for digitization projects related to Delaware's industrial past. We are currently working to construct a federated search engine that will allow researchers and educators to access the collections of participating organizations via a central platform. Our request for a second round of DIHI funding from NEH has just been approved, so we are also in the process of recruiting potential grant applicants and inviting them to join our consortium. We have DIHI planning meetings scheduled in each of Delaware’s three counties during the month of September. Consortium members from New Castle County will meet in the Community Service Building in Wilmington to discuss how the digital platform might benefit their repositories. Similar meetings will occur in Kent County at the Delaware Public Archives and in Sussex County at the Milton Historical Society. The purpose of the meetings is to ensure that the digital platform best serves the needs of nonprofit organizations featuring humanities content. More information about the Delaware Industrial History Initiative is available at the DHF website.

In addition to assisting with DIHI, I have taken on the task of digitizing our own collections. DHF houses a variety of materials related to programs and events that we have sponsored since our founding in 1973. Among these materials are: photographs from the release of If You Lived Here You Would Be Home Now, a film about Delaware artist Jack Lewis and his longtime residence, Bridgeville; photographs from several Annual Chautauqua Tent Shows, when they were hosted by DHF; 18 mm reels of films on Pennsylvania German art and rural life, sturgeon fishing on the Delaware, the town of Lewes, and the Chesapeake Bay; slides of the Felton, Houston, and Leipsic Heritage Programs; cassette tape recordings of the Art Furniture Symposium at the Delaware Art Museum; and dozens of VHS tapes of DHF-funded films. These items need to be properly stored and preserved in digital formats.

When I am not working on either of these projects, I am helping with the planning and execution of other DHF programs and events. We recently hosted a Grant Application Writing Workshop at the Kirkwood Library, where representatives from various nonprofit agencies gathered to learn more about our current grant programs and how to apply for them. Agents from nearly thirty organizations—including Winterthur, Hagley, the Delaware Art Museum, WHYY, the Newark and Port Penn Historical Societies, and UD’s Museum Studies and Department of English—turned out for this event. The workshop explained the mission of the Delaware Humanities Forum, answered questions about our application process, and provided a unique networking opportunity for Delaware’s nonprofit and academic communities. DHF holds workshops like this one periodically throughout the year.

Another DHF public program is our Annual Lecture. I am excited to report that we recently confirmed the details of our lecture for 2010. National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Jim Leach will visit the campus of Delaware State University on Tuesday, November 9th. The festivities will include an 11 a.m. lecture and meet-and-greet opportunities. Chairman Leach will visit Delaware as part of his 50-state “American Civility Tour,” a nationwide initiative to promote awareness of the need for civility in public discourse. "Civilization requires civility," Leach maintains. “Words matter. Polarizing attitudes can jeopardize social cohesion.” Leach began his four-year term as NEH chairman in August 2009 after serving for 30 years as a congressman representing southeastern Iowa, where he founded and co-chaired the Congressional Humanities Caucus.

For up-to-date information about DHF programs and events, find us on Facebook, and visit our homepage to sign up for our e-news.

Melanie Scriptunas
English Department
University of Delaware

Anna - Biggs Museum of American Art

2010-07-26T09:15:00.001-07:00

Greetings! I'm a PhD student in art history at the University of Delaware, working as an intern at the Biggs Museum of American Art this summer.

The museum is quite small, with only four full-time employees, so I am getting the full experience of working in a small museum by doing many different tasks. The museum's collection was the private collection of Sewell Biggs (you can read the story at http://www.biggsmuseum.org/about/history.html) and is housed in a handsome building in Dover, capital of Delaware. The museum has recently expanded to occupy all three floors of the building, so right now thing are in flux but everyone is excited about the expansion. Sewell Biggs' main focus as a collector was on American art and furniture from early colonial times to the early 20th century, with an exclusive interest in representational art. The permanent collection is exhibited on the second and third floors of the museum. We also have a rotating exhibition space on the first and second floors, which is currently housing the Award Winners exhibition (read about that at http://www.biggsmuseum.org/exhibitions.html). The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 9-4:30, and Sunday 1:30-4:30. It's free, so please come by and visit!

I am currently working on writing a collections page for the museum's website. I plan on formatting it as a timeline, similar to the Metropolitan Museum's art history timeline, but focused solely on American art, and, for the 20th century, on art from the Delaware and Philadelphia region. I have also taken time from this project to help the rest of the staff paint one of the rooms we recently acquired so it can be used as a children's activity space and reception area. Other projects I have worked on include writing a grants database for the museum; writing a self-guided tour on fashion in the collection; learning how to correctly move furniture and paintings in the exhibition space with the curator, and setting up a multimedia exhibition space for the Award Winners show.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic summer!

Greetings from Dover!

2010-07-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

Robin Valencia
Historical and Cultural Affairs
Department of State
Dover, DE

I’m currently interning at the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs for the Department of State, located in Dover, DE. This department houses collections from museums all over the state as well as objects that belong to the state directly. In my office there are two departments: collections and archaeology. Though we are technically separate, the camaraderie between the two sides is undeniable. Listening to the projects going on around the state and learning what they are discovering about Delaware history is truly fascinating. Just in case you were wondering, visitors are welcome to view and study the collections, but only by appointment.

My current project is to catalogue and photograph the artwork collections of Jack Lewis, Howard Schroeder, and Orville Houghton Peets. Mostly working in watercolors, they each represent a different style in depicting the Delaware landscape and its people. In addition to scenes of Delaware they also worked in other locations around the world and a small sampling of these works are present in the collections. For this summer, I hope to finish all three collections and maybe move on to others that need catalogued if there’s enough time at the end.

Now some of you may be wondering why I chose to work in Dover for the summer. Frankly, I had never visited Dover before my internship started. I’d always drive past it on Route 1 on the way to the beach. Many ask me, “What’s in Dover?” when I mention that I’m working there. My answer tends to be, “Not much, but there are some really cool museums!” In fact there are some neat museums including the Biggs Art Museum, the Johnson Victrola Museum, and the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover AFB. There’s also the Delaware Visitor Center & Galleries located at the Public Archives. From my tours around Dover, I’ve discovered that it’s a neat little city that’s worth at least a visit.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their internships!

Alana Staiti - Chemical Heritage Foundation

2010-07-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

This summer I'm interning in the Special Collections department at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) in Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia. The CHF is an organization that promotes research in and education about the history of chemistry. I'm particularly interested in learning about the CHF's relationships with other institutions, including cultural organizations, chemical companies, and academic institutions. I'll get back to that shortly, but first I should tell you about how I spend most of my time. I have been scanning and cataloging advertisements from the Dow Chemical Company from the 1920s through 2006. The company's archives were formally acquired by the CHF in 2008.

Some of you may have never heard of Dow, but you have certainly heard of their products. Dow is a huge multi-national company that was (is) responsible for making Saran Wrap, household cleaners, herbicides and pesticides (including DDT in the 40s and 50s), plastics, industrial chemicals, and aircraft equipment. The ads that I'm scanning are geared to ordinary consumers and the magazines they came from include The Saturday Evening Post, Time, Newsweek, Better Homes & Gardens, and the Country Gentleman. Judging from the above list of products, it's safe to say that Dow has pervasively influenced American consumer culture; at the very least, who hasn't heard of Saran Wrap?!

I really enjoy being able to read through all of the ads. The former environmental science student in me, however, struggles with the new-found knowledge that while Dow's old products may have helped shape an American consumer lifestyle, they also probably contributed to many forms of environmental degradation. I was especially stunned to learn that Dow pushed for DDT's use in mid-century agricultural magazines (of course, this was before people knew about DDT's negative effects on animals). I brought this up to my supervisor and asked whether the museum tries to negotiate these issues at all through exhibitions, programs, or lectures -- namely, the unintended consequences of chemistry broadly. She said that they would like to probe these issues, but it's difficult for the CHF to present controversial subjects because of its affiliations with certain chemical companies. Cataloging Dow's ads has helped me recognize the historical significance of this company; at the same time, it has led me to think about the broader political and environmental consequences related to a chemical company's long-lasting influence on American consumer culture.

2010-07-10T20:08:00.000-07:00

Rebecca Pineo
DE Dept. Health & Social Services Garden Project
New Castle, DE

As a Fellow in the Longwood Graduate Program for Public Horticulture, my internship experience is a bit atypical compared to other MSST students. The Longwood Graduate Program, which trains its students for management positions in public gardens, arboreta, and similar organizations, is focused strongly on experiential learning. Thus the yearly Professional Outreach Project, affectionately referred to as “POP.” It’s a summer-long effort in which all ten students (five first year students and five second year students) work together to complete a pro bono consulting project within the field of public horticulture.

Leadership positions are another mainstay of the Longwood Graduate Program, in which each student is assigned to manage various aspects or activities within the program. For my first year, I served as Assistant POP Leader. Now, in my second year, I have been promoted to POP Leader, charged with coordinating all aspects of the project. I’ll be organizing meeting logistics; managing the budget and timeline; ensuring good communication between students, our advisory committee, and all stakeholders; and, of course, informing people about our adventures both here and on our own Longwood Graduate Program blog.

The end of April marked the first stages of planning for this year’s Professional Outreach Project. The five rising second year students began by discussing topics we’d like to explore, narrowing it down to the big three: community outreach, urban greening, and volunteer programs. Then, we canvassed a few local institutions to see whether they might need assistance with a project in one of these areas.

After some thoughtful discussions, top-notch meetings, and tough decisions, we decided on our summer project. We’ll be developing landscape design concepts for a new 1-acre garden at the Delaware Psychiatric Center in New Castle, DE. A joint venture between the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, the Delaware Department of Agriculture, the New Castle County Cooperative Extension, the University of Delaware’s Center for Disability Services, and the Delaware Center for Horticulture, the new garden will incorporate principles of universal accessibility and sustainable agriculture. It is envisioned as a venue for horticultural therapy, art therapy, and community gardening, as well as a place for respite and reflection.

Sounds like a great project, right? We think so too. Stay tuned for more information, and I promise, no “POP” quizzes!

In early June, we met with two of the project masterminds--Faith Kuehn, Plant Industries Administrator for the Delaware Department of Agriculture, and Ray Majewski, Director of Therapy at Delaware Psychiatric Center. We also had a chance to chat with Bruce, head of greenhouse operations.

In addition to explaining the project, Ray and Faith gave us a tour of the future garden site.

As you can see, we have a blank slate to work with!

The Civil War Home Front in the Brandywine Creek Area

2010-06-23T05:53:00.001-07:00

Kevin Impellizeri

Hagley Museum and Library

Wilmington, DE

Greetings, fellow museum enthusiasts, from the photogenic grounds of the Hagley Museum and Library. The Library is preparing to host an exhibit highlighting the home front of the Brandywine creek area during the Civil War. I have been tasked with compiling a narrative on the subject, examining how the region responded to and was impacted by the War Between the States. The region played a significant role in the Union war effort, as E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Co. supplied over fifty percent of the federal government's gunpowder. Moreover, I will be calling attention to useful primary sources and potential exhibit objects from Hagley's impressive collection.

I began my internship last week (June 14) and spent most of the week getting myself acclimated with the material, researching general histories of the Du Pont family, the powder mills of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, and the local communities (such as Eleutherian Mills, Squirrel Run, Henry Clay Village, Rising Sun and Waters Banks). Harold Hancock put together some fascinating studies on the subject during the 1950s and 1960s, which provided an excellent starting point for me. By the end of the week I had begun to investigate the correspondence of members of the du Pont family, beginning with Sophie du Pont, the wife of Commodore (and later Rear Admiral) Samuel Francis du Pont.

Some of the topics I plan on investigating include the following:

Defense of the community, and especially the gunpowder mills: For the people of Delaware, the Civil War was never far from their doorsteps, and the region faced the persistent threat of Rebel invasion. The powder mills were an especially lucrative target for Rebel invasion or sabotage.

The role of the du Pont family: The du Pont family was intensely pro-Union and several members of the family contributed to the war effort. A number of the du Pont men served in the military. For example, Henry Algernon du Pont served in the Union army, where he earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. Several of the du Pont women joined charitable organizations and coordinated relief aid for Union soldiers.

The efforts of the Brandywine community: The du Ponts were not the only people involved in the war effort. Local residents joined volunteer regiments, held fund raisers, sewed winter clothes for soldiers, and participated in various other activities during the war.

Public celebrations and commemorations: I would like to see how residents responded to the activity of the Civil War through their celebrations. For example, the Union naval victory at Port Royal, led by Samuel F. du Pont, and Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

The powder mills during the Civil War: Workers needed to keep up with larger than average orders for gunpowder. Moreover, the mills were subject to no less than eight explosions during the course of the war, exacting a heavy cost on production and human lives.

Other topics I plan on investigating include the everyday lives of community members during the war and the handling of residents sympathetic (or suspected of being sympathetic) toward secession or the Confederate war effort. Over the next few weeks I will provide periodic updates on my progress and what you can expect in my final report. It is an exciting project and I feel fortunate to be playing a part in it.

Keep choppin'

Kevin

Update from the Delaware Art Museum

2009-08-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

Theresa Handwerk,

Delaware Art Museum,

Education Department Intern,

Wilmington, Delaware

www.delart.org

Summer is winding down, and schools and museums are getting ready for the academic year. At the Delaware Art Museum, one of my projects is wrapping up and my energies are being directed towards my other major project.

My project of researching stories from the turn of the last century is, comparatively speaking, nearing completion. I still have several to scan from books and microfilm, but I have standardized the process and completed the majority of the task. The main goal of the project was to collect the stories to have them on file for access by the docents (and curators, if needed). The next logical step of the project might be to read and summarize all of the works; however, while some of the stories are very brief, many are in book-length form. I broached this topic with my supervisor and she agreed that with a collection of stories that will ultimately number about 75, it would be a monumental task to read and summarize them all. For the time being, the project will stand as is, with each reader summarizing a work as they wish.

My other major project, the self-guided gallery brochure, is now in full swing. I have changed and redefined my theme several times - it's still in progress - based on what works are on permanent display and what speaks to me (and, hopefully by extension, the audience). Since I have been at the museum for several months, I am trying to take a longer, more realistic view of tasks and projects - what would be different if I were a museum employee instead of an intern? As I was becoming captivated by the research and creative thought process, it occurred to me to meet with my supervisor and pose the following question: If I were a paid employee, just how much time would I have to work on this type of project? She indicated that, if no deadline is required, progress is made during time available and a self-imposed deadline created. My next step with the brochure is to develop about a paragraph of information and questions for each work of art that will pique the visitor's interest and get them thinking about my chosen theme.

In the near future, I'm looking forward to interviewing school children about their experiences at the museum, as well as participating in as many of the cool events at the museum as possible. The Delaware Art Museum has a new special exhibit, Exposed!, which explores artistic appropriation and influence. We are also offering a number of films and even a Facebook Fan Night with live music. Come check us out! http://www.delart.org/prog_events/museum_calendar.html#september

A Lesson in Historic Preservation

2009-08-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Lampkin
The Read House and Gardens
New Castle, DE

Maintaining a historic house takes a lot of time and money, both of which always seem to be in short supply. Restoration, repairs, and other construction work must occur regularly in order to keep the site intact. The last time construction occurred at the Read House was in the 1980s and it is due for repairs. For several years, the Read House staff have been planning and now, thanks to a grant from Save America's Treasures, that construction is finally taking place!

Prior to the start of the construction work on the exterior of the house to repair the masonry and 70+ windows, Michele asked me to gather information from images to determine the extent of some of the restoration work completed in the 1980s which would prove helpful for the current project. During the first week of construction, I also went around and photographed the architectural features of the interior and exterior of the house, which will be useful for the conservation easement.

I have also helped Michele to monitor the progress of the construction. As the painters stripped and washed the windows, dust and water began to make its way into the house. While most of the leakage was minor, it proves how important it is for staff members to monitor the construction work closely.

From the Collections Management point of view, objects in the Nursery, pictured left, and the Servant's Quarters, pictured right, had to be moved away from windows, and in some cases covered with sheets, so that they would not be damaged. More fragile objects have been packaged and moved to the attic or taken to the collections storage area in Wilmington. The ongoing construction, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, has also caused the museum to temporarily change its hours. Inviting visitors while the construction work was in progress was proving to be difficult. The noise from the work as well as the hazards of walking through both entrances became problematic. As a result, Michele made the decision to open the house for one tour at the end of the day. I was more than happy to act as the Read House tour guide during that period.

Watching this entire process has been exciting and very valuable. I cannot wait to see the house once the construction is completed!

The Read House and Gardens

2009-08-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Lampkin
The Read House and Gardens
New Castle, DE

The Read House and Gardens is only one of the institutions under the umbrella of the Delaware Historical Society. Located in historic New Castle, the Read House has been inhabited for over 170 years by three families; the Reads, the Coupers, and the Lairds. The first owner George Read II, who moved into the house in 1803 after it was completed, was the son of the powerful politician George Read. His father was one of the few men to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. George Read II always had aspirations to become as prestigious as his father. Though he never became as remarkable as his father, his house has become a treasure for the state of Delaware. The house, a 22 room mansion, was given to the Delaware Historical Society upon Lydia Laird's death in the 1970s and reflects the changing lifestyles and society throughout Delaware's history.

As an intern my primary focus is Collections Managment, but I stressed to Michele Anstine, the Director, that I was open to exploring other aspects of the museum including education programming, development, etc. I also wanted to have an opportunity to work in the other institutions affiliated with the Delaware Historical Society such as the Research Library and Delaware History Museum. The very first week, I jumped right in and took a detailed inventory of all the objects in the Tap Room, shown on the right, in the basement. Armed with gloves, a flashlight, paper, and a pencil, I recorded all of the accession numbers on a variety of objects including antique guns, ceramic bowls and plates, whiskey bottles, and, glass jugs.

The Read House has recently instituted a formal cataloging system and collections policy, and I have worked closely with the Collections Manager, Jennifer Potts, who divides her time between all of the institutions. Since she is only at the Read House on Mondays, I have taken on the tasks of the Collections Manager throughout the rest of the week. When items need to be packaged and stored in the attic, cleaned, moved, added to the inventory, or if accession numbers need to be added, I do it! For the remainder of the internship, I will be tracking and taking inventory of all objects in the remaining rooms including the Kitchen.

I also had the opportunity to venture down to Wilmington and take a tour of the collections storage area. Jennifer showed me the HUGE collection of paintings, jewelry, weaponry, dinnerware, textiles, toys, and furniture and discussed how they should be properly packaged, stored, and maintained.

Even more exciting is the fact that the Read House is currently undergoing restoration work! Learning about the process of restoration (which starts with hiring a consultant, documenting damage, applying for funding, hiring a contractor) has been very helpful. It has been especially valuable to observe how the staff handles the collections pieces during this process. For more information, highlights, and interesting facts, you can subscribe to the Society's blog at http://makinghistory1145.wordpress.com

Chester County Historical Society

2009-06-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Laura Olds Schmidt

Chester County Historical Society (CCHS)

225 North High Street, West Chester, PA 19380
Education Intern

I began my internship during Spring Break and will continue working both at the Chester County Historical Society and at home for CCHS throughout the summer and next school year. (I arranged an extended internship to avoid childcare during the summer when my children are out of school.)

I am interning in education, under Beth Twiss Houting, a UD Winterthur Program in American Material Culture alumna. I began my internship with lots of tours, beginning with the offices, permanent galleries, and temporary exhibits. (CCHS uses the term exhibit versus exhibition. I notice that this varies by institution.) The Society also has a library and photo archives at their site in West Chester and administers the County Archives with the County of Chester at a large government complex in West Chester. I had personal tours of each. I also followed a school program through the city of West Chester on a two-hour architecture and history walk. I reviewed all the education and public program offerings via brochures. Once I understood the Society, I began project work.

Because my schedule is sporadic, my projects are as well. Each time I’m on site, I learn about a new development that has occurred during my absence, and as a result, a new task for me to help out with. These projects range from setting up for events to transcribing oral histories taken during the recent Chester County Quilt Documentation Project. The Quilt Documentation Project resulted in CCHS’s book and exhibit, Layers. (http://www.cchs-pa.org/calendar.php) The exhibit consists of three separate installations of local quilts; the next installation opens August 1^st. If you’re a quilt fan, visit now and again after Aug 1^st to see an amazing variety of local quilts. For this exhibit, I researched and compiled an e-mail and mail list of quilt guilds, magazines, newsletters, and fabric stores for promoting the exhibit and associated lecture series. I modified existing flyers and composed cover letters that were then sent to this list of recipients.

In the late Spring, CCHS received funding for capital improvement, and a much-needed HVAC system was commissioned. This meant that their stored collection had to be packed and moved. I helped to pack objects. It was surprisingly fun. I wish that the public could see collections this way; it would make instant financial supporters out of them. I packed and inventoried fascinating objects like telegraph machines in all shapes and sizes, medical equipment that appeared more like torture devices, and even a hangman’s noose possibly used in the last hanging in Chester County (saw how powerful just the object itself can be in triggering emotion). I have never been interested in objects (people and education have always been my focus), but I had a great time working with the collection, and as a result better understand the attraction of things.

I have a long-term project as well. When I began early this spring, Beth, the Director of Education, discussed a wide variety of project ideas that are waiting to be executed. I was able to select the one that interested me the most. I selected researching the senior community in Chester and Delaware Counties. Once I understand the make-up of this audience and their needs, I will set goals for developing new programs or revamping existing ones and will research funding and write grant proposals to fund this expanded area of outreach for CCHS. Eventually, detailed program design and hopefully implementation will complete my project. This week, I created a survey for activity directors at retirement institutions and am working on creating a comprehensive contact list. I will administer my survey in a shortened form using Survey Monkey and will use a longer version to gather information by phone and mail.

That’s it for now. If you’re local, visit CCHS! http://www.cchs-pa.org/index.php

Greetings from Philadelphia!

2009-06-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

Natalie Baur
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Philadelphia, PA

I'm into my second week here at the Penn Museum, working as an intern in the Education department. I'm mostly helping out with a program called International Classroom (IC). The IC program brings together international speakers living in the area to talk to museum goers of all ages about everyday life and culture in their countries of origin. I think this is a great way to bring the Museum's archaeological and anthropological collections full-circle and relevant to our global world today. Working as an intern with IC has given me lots of ideas about developing creative ways to use any type of collection.

One of the perks of working with IC has been the amazing people I have gotten to meet and hear speak. On my first day I listened to two guest Native American speakers talk about their basket weaving traditions and their research projects at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. Last week I met a speaker from Egypt who talked to a group of school kids about her life growing up in Egypt. The kids were really curious and thought it was so cool that she grew up right near the ancient pyramids. Later that week I sat in on a program given by a physical anthropologist for high school students. In his presentation, students helped him to solve the 3,000 year -old "murder" case of King Tut (who, by the way, was never murdered as far as physical anthropologists can tell with modern analysis). For kids to have the opportunity to see a talk by an anthropologist who was worked extensively in Egypt and with the traveling King Tut exhibit is amazing. Maybe they don't realize that they are so lucky today, but because the speakers are so engaging and interesting, I have a feeling the kids will remember something about what they heard for the rest of their lives.

Among other things, I've been working on developing some educational materials for kids and teachers for the Canaan and Ancient Israel gallery. I've also been working on developing a new map key for a textile representation of a world map that was done in 1991. Along with the key I am also developing a take-away brochure that explains how the world has changed since the textile map was made and it will also include some activities for kids.

Things are busy, but get more interesting every day. I have the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people who are leaders in their fields of scholarship.

2009-06-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

Anna Rusk

Historic Indian Agency House, Portage, WI

It's been an exciting week at the Indian Agency House! Last Saturday was Flag Day, which meant that the place was overrun by Colonial Dames and local visitors who came to hear a talk about the history of the passenger pigeon. I was inside manning the gift shop, so I didn't see much of the goings-on, but I'm told it was quite a dramatic performance!

The last few days have been filled with meetings and other non-reading things, which has been nice. On Monday evening I accompanied my boss to the Portage Historical Society board meeting, at which I got a glimpse of how these things run - slowly, it seems, but it was interesting nonetheless. Tuesday was field trip day, down to the library at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. We were using their grant library to look for foundation money, since one of my potential projects is writing a grant letter or two. After a yummy lunch on State Street, it was back to Portage for a meeting about this weekend's event - a "Gals and Dolls" frontier living program. We're making corn husk dolls and churning butter with attendees, then having a tea party! Who knew the perks were so great at this place?!?!

The last item on the day's agenda was the Historic Preservation Commission meeting. The HPC is a branch of local government responsible for educating the city about its historic districts and the best practices associated with historic buildings. This was even more eye-opening than the Historical Society board meeting, since it's an official governmental organization. One of the major projects they're working on is changing a local ordinance regarding historic homes - they want to get buildings placed on the municipal register of historic places, and to be able to more effectively educate people about what they can and can't do to a house once it's on the register. This is really contentious in Portage, since people are afraid that if they live in a historic district, the government is going to tell them what to do. The Commission is trying to get the point across that you can voluntarily put your house on the register, and then the HPC can recommend that you not change it too much, but there's little regulation that would actually take place. It was fascinating to see how local government works, and the processes for getting even little things accomplished! Changing this ordinance seems to be about a balance between optimism and realism, as well as communicating effectively to the general public - not something that's easily done. One cool thing that came out of the meeting was the decision to put the Historic Indian Agency House on the register; it would be the first structure on the local register, so they're hoping the publicity will be good for the museum as well as the HPC.

The last meeting of the week was with a designer at a local greenhouse. The museum has had a plan in the works for an orchard/garden on the property, but it's been slow-going and has changed quite a bit over two years. Today we saw the finalized plans and got an idea of the time frame (and cost) for actually planting the trees and doing the landscaping. This has been a busy few days, but it's been really great to see all the various things that the director does. I like the idea of having a bunch of things going on at once - it keeps things interesting, even if it is a bit crazy!

2009-06-17T06:20:00.001-07:00

Elizabeth Peebles
Cultural Resource Management and Protection Section
Fairfax County Park Authority (Virginia)

This is only my second week with FCPA and it feels like I've been here much longer. I've been emersed in projects with new ones appearing on my desk almost daily - and yet I still don't have a computer user name or email, tech services seem a little slow here in Fairfax.
My task as a summer intern is to write nominations for county owned historic properties to be added to the county inventory of historic sites, assist in designing and editing interpretive panels, and create an interpretive trail guide for the archaeological trail at Sully Historic Site in Chantilly. I walked the Sully trail yesterday to take photos of the stone bridge, 3/4 foundation, tenant house foundation, and the Manassas Gap RR cut and this morning I woke up to find a tick behind my knee. Do we have workers comp as a UDel intern? I am wrapping up the nomination for the Ox Hill Battlefield Memorial Park and my next property to tackle is the Lewinsville House aka Meadowbrook but for the last twenty-five years historians have debated about when the current house was actually built.

2009-06-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hillary Mohaupt
Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Evanston, IL
Glessner House Museum, Chicago, IL

After nearly two weeks of putzing around two smaller museums in Chicagoland, I was musing over what to blog about. That is, until I went on my second tour of the Glessner House today.

Last week, the ED of the Glessner House thought I should go on a tour of the 17,000 square foot historic home designed by great American architect H. H. Richardson in order to get a feel for the story of the place; this wek, I thought it would be a good idea to go on house tour again in order to get a better feel. I've spent the last two weeks in a former servant's bedroom, now an office, surveying forty websites for historic homes, in an effort to help the Glessner House revamp its own site. After two weeks in front of the computer, though, I was ready to stretch my legs and see if I'd learned anything. So, late by accident, I joined up with today's 3pm tour and soon the docent started deflecting questions my way, as though I should know when elite housing got central heating or what year the Glessners got married. The tour became a test of authenticity -- I was comparing the docent's knowledge and style to the first tour I took, and she was testing my grey edges. (It turned out she didn't even know I was an intern at GHM. Do I just LOOK like a historian?!?!)

That conundrum of authenticity has cropped up for me at the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, too. The Mitchell is a collector's museum, so the collection is based on large donations from collectors and provenance isn't necessarily copacetic. My project for the moment is to write short panels that provide a story for each gallery of objects, organized by region. How to pick what stories to tell? Where to strike the balance between comfortable knowledge and new knowledge? Which stories are true, and which are myth?

Writing these gallery panels seems to me a lot like the storytelling at the GHM: mixing oral history, secondary sources, primary research. Everything history can be, in a public setting.

Report from the Delaware Art Museum

2009-06-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

Theresa Handwerk

Delaware Art Museum

Wilmington, Delaware

Education Department Intern

www.delart.org

Hello All,

I am a master’s student in the art history program at UD, and am very pleased to be interning in the education department at the Delaware Art Museum, a small-to-medium sized museum founded in 1912 and located in the Brandywine Valley in Wilmington, Delaware. The museum exhibits the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite art outside of England, but the balance of its holdings are American artworks. The Delaware Art Museum has important collections of works by Howard Pyle (a late-nineteenth to early-twentieth century illustrator) and John Sloan (an twentienth-century painter who focused on urban scenes), and American artworks dating from the Colonial era to the present day. In 2003, the museum closed for two years to undertake extensive renovations and an expansion.

The education department has also recently expanded, and today consists of the Director of Education, managers of Studio and Family programs, a group tour coordinator, and an Americorps Public Ally/Outreach Coordinator. I have been working as an assistant to everyone in the department since winter break, varying my hours depending on projects and my class schedule, and will continue to do so during the upcoming academic year.

My duties consist of two longer-term projects and a variety of additional tasks. One of my projects is to prepare docent materials which will be particularly significant for a major Howard Pyle exhibit that the museum is presenting in 2011. The museum holds the works of several other illustrators in addition to Pyle’s. These pictures, for which the museum has the full-sized painting or drawing, originally appeared in magazines or books alongside the stories which they illustrated. My task is to unearth all of the stories which the museum does not currently have on file, digitize them, and make them accessible to the docents and curators. This is a challenging and fascinating job during which I am finding archival materials on the internet and handling the actual documents in either the museum’s library or the library at the University of Delaware. It is extremely tempting to stop and read all of the tales!

Another project of mine is to create a museum-wide gallery brochure, geared towards adults, which encourages the visitor to think about and view selected works of art in new ways. This is an exciting undertaking for me as I am primarily interested in introducing art to or expanding the artistic knowledge of teenagers and adults. I have selected a theme – scenes of domestic interiors, a particular interest of mine – and am in the process of selecting artworks and conducting research in the museum’s archives about the paintings and their creators. The challenges include striking a tone which would be both edifying and understandable to most visitors, making the presentation exciting yet low-tech, and creating what is intended to be a lasting document for the museum’s use and something that the guests can take home with them.

The Director of Education, my internship supervisor, has been amazing at providing me with a variety of tasks within the department. I’ve assisted with the organization of and introduced a lecture by an author on a book tour, supervised a gallery talk, presented a film, administered surveys to visitors (both via self-completing surveys and sit-down interviews), documented results of surveys, ran an art project for six-year-olds at a community center, and helped create databases and mass mailing packets for group tour marketing. I have taken advantage of opportunities to participate in meetings with staff and with a regional educators' forum, and to sit down for informational interviews with the executive director as well as members of other departments. I have also attended lectures and workshops at the museum. In the future I will be surveying school kids in regards to their experiences with an ongoing local school/museum partnership and continuing to help out at community days and various museum events.

My internship at the Delaware Art Museum, my first at a museum, has proven to be even more valuable than I would have imagined possible. It is eye-opening to participate in a corporate culture so different from what I have previously experienced. For example, I have been observing with interest the synergy amongst the various departments as they work together on the same projects and within the museum’s budget. In addition, the meetings I have attended on allow me a peek into both the long- and short-term planning of the museum. At least equal to the educational gains from my internship are the personal benefits. The Delaware Art Museum is a wonderful environment, and not only because everyone I have encountered is helpful, friendly and willing to teach. Even after eight months I am still amazed that I get to spend so much time in the incredibly beautiful, stimulating atmosphere that is the museum. The possibility that I might some day work for an institution whose mission I believe in so strongly is astounding to me.

I am looking forward to the coming months and will blog as new developments occur.

Smithsonian Ramblings

2009-06-10T15:01:00.001-07:00

Matt Small

National Museum of American History, Washington, DC

Hey all. I'm here in Washington, DC reporting from the National Museum of American History. I'm working as a curatorial intern in the numismatic department. That's coins for those who weren't aware. I would just call it the coin department and save a lot of trouble, but what are you gonna do.

It's pretty exciting around here right now. My department is opening a new exhibit called "Stories on Money" that will be opening this Friday. It's showcasing American coinage, how it has evolved, and how it tells a historical narrative. Not just American money though; there are some older coins from the classical period as well. Never thought I'd learn so much about currency in so short a period. We have a reception tonight with the principal donors and staff who helped get it off the ground. It's been a great couple of days; I was kind of thrown into the chaos with little instruction. So far I've helped edit labels (thank you Museums and Modern Technology for giving me rudimentary Photoshop skills), help with certain installation procedures, and generally doing whatever I can to help make the exhibit a success.

Today was crazy on the National Mall, though, with the shooting incident at the Holocaust Museum, which is right down the street from us. Lots of sirens and backed up traffic, plus a few worried visitors running around. For the most part, it did not affect us directly, although the whole DC and even nationwide museum community will feel the effects of this for awhile, I'd say.

Well, I'm off for now! I'll let you guys know how the exhibit opening goes. I hope all is going well with everyone. Let's hear those internship stories!

2009-06-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Anna Rusk
Historic Indian Agency House, Portage, WI

I'm in the second week of my internship at the Historic Indian Agency House in Portage, Wisconsin. It's a small house museum, preserved and still owned by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, that tells the story of early nineteenth century Portage. The house was built in 1832 for John Kinzie, the first Indian Agent at Fort Winnebago. It was subsequently used as a tavern, a boardinghouse, a brothel, a trading post, and finally a farmhouse before the Colonial Dames bought, restored, and opened the house as a museum in the 1930s. The house is furnished with objects pre-1832 so it looks much like John's wife described it in "Wau-Bun," her published account of their life here at Portage.
I'm interning under the executive director (the only employee besides tour guides), doing two main projects and basically learning how small museums work. My main project is developing a pre-visit packet for teachers to use when they bring their classes on field trips to the museum - most schools in the area take a trip here when they study Wisconsin history in fourth grade. The other project I'm working on is a Hands-On History program day for kids, focusing on Early American and Native American pottery. In addition, I'll be doing a little work on grant-finding and maybe writing, and giving tours of the house.
So far this has entailed reading a lot of local history to see how our story can fit in with the larger picture, and figuring out how a field trip to the museum can support Wisconsin's social studies curriculum requirements. This week we're preparing for Saturday's annual Flag Day event, the major celebration for the Colonial Dames. I also gave my first tours last weekend, after observing other guides for a few days and developing my script.
I'm really excited to be getting experience in different aspects of the museum and learning how it's run from all angles. I'll keep you updated as the summer progresses!

Internship Positions

2009-06-10T06:51:00.001-07:00

If your organization offers an internship program, please contact our Internship Coordinator, Pauline Eversmann, at 302-753-1096. You may also send information on internship openings to: Museum Studies Program, University of Delaware, 201 Kirkbride Hall, Newark DE 19716.

Summer of 2009

2009-06-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

We have many graduate students in the Museum Studies Program at the University of Delaware doing their internships this summer. On this blogspace, they will be able to share their experiences with us.