University of Delaware Museum Studies Program

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!