Museum Studies in Motion Fall 2012
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Be at the center of things.
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Volume 5, Issue 1
NEWSLETTER OF THE MUSEUM STUDIES PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
Summer 2012 Internship Adventures Museum internships shape graduate student careers
Every year, the Museum Studies department receives a new group of graduate students from a variety of departments, including history, archeology, and historic preservation, that are eager to gain professional development through museum internships. This summer eleven grad students completed internships at some of the most renowned museums, parks, and institutions including Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library, Hagley Museum and Library, Auburn Heights Preserve, the Historic Odessa Foundation, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Classical Institute of the South, the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington in Seattle, the Carter House Museum on St. David's Island in Bermuda, and the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, WY. Whether spending their time on-site or working on components of their internships from home, grad interns enthusiastically joined museum staff, often juggling multiple projects over the course of the summer. They performed tasks such as cataloging and documenting collections objects, writing grant proposals and contacting donors, assisting in public and school programming, developing workshops, and creating exhibits for multiple museum departments including Education, Development, Archives, and Collections. All of the interns walked away with a set of skills and completed projects which will strengthen their resumes as they enter into their desired museum professions. For example, Della Hall, a second year Hagley Fellow, worked to upload images from Hagley's collections to the Historypin website and wrote blogs posts to publicize the project and could potentially present her work at museum conferences. Interns were faced with a few surprises along the way, but adapted quickly to their environment using the knowledge they learned in courses that they took at UD. Alexandra Mairs-Kessler, a second year History PhD, sites the Curator and Conservertorship course for giving her the skills she needed to cont'd on pg. 4
"Uninvited Guests" workshop in Historic Odessa a success! Back by popular demand, Sustaining Places repeated its two-part workshop "Uninvited Guests" on October 1st and 15th in Historic Odessa.
In this issue... Summer 2012 Internships, pg. 1,4
Tom Parker, President of Pest Control Services Inc., introduced integrated pest management to participants who were somewhat familiar with pest management strategies for their historic sites. Participants walked away from the workshop with a handful of goodies including glue traps, bug lights, handouts, and identification charts.
Director's Message, pg. 2
Sustaining Places, pg. 1-2, 3
Paul Redman Talk, pg. 3
Welcome Aboard!, pg. 4
www.udel.edu/museumstudies
Director’s Message
Studies. It is great having so many different perspectives in class. The cohort ranges from recent college graduates eager to start their careers to people planning for fulfilling retirements as museum volunteers.
KATHERINE GRIER, PHD kcgrier@udel.edu Even though the academic year has only begun, we’re very busy in the Museum Studies office. Stephanie Lampkin, our new MSST graduate assistant, has taken on our weekly e-postcard, MuseWeekly, and editing this newsletter. The IMLS-funded Sustaining Places (SP) project is now nine months into its threeyear grant period, and our grant activities are well underway. (You can subscribe to our project listserv at sustainingplaces@udel.edu.) Kelsey Ransick continues as our SP web guru, and Gretchen Pruett, a new Master of Arts student in American history, is now our second SP graduate assistant. Kelsey and Gretchen have been having fun with SPencer, the little cartoon character who is the SP mascot. They keep giving him new things to do in line with our workshops; here is “Podcast SPencer.” The introductory MSST seminar is oversubscribed, with seventeen students from History, the Center for Historic Architecture and Design, the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, the Longwood Program in Public Horticulture and the Master of Arts in Liberal
Our students are creating new materials for the Sustaining Places project website. Kelsey is coordinating new additions to the “Two-Minute Techniques” video series she created during the summer. Students from the “intro course” are also creating narrated PowerPoints on various topics and writing instructional manuals for collections-care kits that will be available this winter for checkout by the staff of small museums and historic sites. We are always looking for new links to add to the website; do you have anything to suggest? And we are already beginning to plan for the January 2013 Collections SWAT Team. Several historic sites have nominated themselves for the project, and this year students are going to visit these sites to select a location. The Museum Studies Program is 40 years old this academic year, and we are considering ways to celebrate this achievement. I would like to hear your thoughts (kcgrier@udel.edu) on a way to celebrate that both commemorates the program and strengthens it for the future. In the meantime, keep up the good work!
"Uninvited Guests" cont'd
Left: Participants listen intently to Tom "Bug Man" Parker. Above: Addie Quinn, Paul Eisenhauer, and Daniel Gedman examine glue traps covered with bugs. 2
Museum Studies in Motion - University of Delaware - Fall 2012
Paul Redman Talk On Thursday October 16, Paul Redman, Executive Director of Longwood Gardens, gave a special presentation for the students of Kasey Grier's Introduction to Museums course. In his talk titled "A Model for Creating a Culture of Planning and Leadership," Redman gave the emerging museum professionals essential tips that are necessary when executing a strategic marketing plan for museums. Mr. Redman has a remarkable track record for improving the financial plans for museums. Previous to his position at Longwood Gardens, he worked for the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, OH.
Join us for the next Sustaining Places Workshop
Sustaining Places will host its next two-part workshop, "Attack of the Podcasters," on October 30 & November 13 from 9:30 am to 3 pm, at the New Castle Public Library in Historic New Castle. In this workshop, you'll learn how to write and record your own podcast about your historic site. For more information about Sustaining Places visit the website. You can also subscribe to the mailing list for additional online resources and news about upcoming events.
Grad students learned that the most important elements of any strategic plan is to keep in mind the mission and values of the museum, to establish a working timeline, and encourage communication throughout every step of the process.
Costumed SPencer hopes you have a spooktacular Halloween!
Paul Redman addressing Kasey Grier's Intro. to Museum Studies class.
We've got plenty of resources for you at the MSST Library! The Museum Studies Library, located beyond the red doors in 77 E. Main, includes a wide selection of resources for emerging museum professionals on a range of topics including strategic planning, civic engagement, collections care, and preservation. Course assigned texts are also available in our library. The library is open Mon. - Fri. from 9 am to 4 pm. You can check out books by filling in your information in the blue binder marked Museum Studies Program Lending Library and leaving the catalog card. There are no due dates (but we ask you return books after a reasonable amount of time). Feel free to browse the catalog. If there are books that you would like that are not currently part of our collection, please contact us with the book title, publication date, and author.
Museum Studies in Motion - University of Delaware - Fall 2012
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Welcome Aboard!
Summer 2012 Internships, con't from pg. 1
The UD MSST program welcomes two new graduate assistants for the 2012-2013 academic year.
be successful during her internship at the Carter House Museum. Not only did she inventory objects for the museum but she also served as a docent, school camp group guide, and consultant.
The UD MSST program has an enthusiastic, hard working, and creative team of graduate assistants this year. Gretchen Pruett serves as the new grad assistant for Sustaining Places. Gretchen enters the Hagley program as a Master’s student and also pursues the Museum Studies Certificate. She is interested in studying labor history, consumerism, and the social and cultural changes that developed in the course of industrialization. A native of Flint, Michigan, Gretchen is particularly interested in examining the effects of deindustrialization on both the individual and the landscape.
"The skills and experiences I gained in the Winterthur Development Department are extremely valuable no matter where my career takes me in the museum world." Lydia Blackmore, first year MA Winterthur Program Grad interns were ambitious in the number of goals they hoped to achieve during their internships and some completed their required 400 hours at multiple sites. Of all the skills they hoped to learn during their internships, ,any emphasized the desire to learn about their museum's administrative and operative tasks. Overall, grad interns appreciated working in a professional environment where they were treated like colleagues. More importantly, they left with clearer career goals, new relationships with museum professionals, and a sense of pride knowing that the work they did was significant. by Stephanie Lampkin slampkin@udel.edu
Museum Studies Grad Assistants (left to right): Kelsey Ransick, Gretchen Pruett, and Stephanie Lampkin
Stephanie Lampkin serves as our new editor for the department's newsletters, MuseWeekly and Museum Studies in Motion. She also manages the department's social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. She returned to Delaware this summer after spending two semesters conducting dissertation research in Florida. Her dissertation examines the intersections of indigenous and black populations in Florida during the eighteenth century. Kelsey Ransick, who is vigorously working through her second year in the MA history program, will reprise her role as the administrator for the Sustaining Places website, a project she started as a Museum Studies summer intern. Feel free to stop by the Museum Studies Office and say "hello" to our new team. by Stephanie Lampkin slampkin@udel.edu 4
Contact Us
The Museum Studies Program at the University of Delaware 77 East Main Street | Newark, DE 19711 (302) 831-1251 http://www.udel.edu/museumstudies museumstudies@udel.edu Katherine (Kasey) Grier, Director Tracy Jentzsch, Staff Assistant Kelsey Ransick, Graduate Assistant Gretchen Pruett, Graduate Assistant Stephanie Lampkin, Graduate Assistant
Read archives. Subscribe to MuseWeekly, our email update with conferences, internships, and job oportunities. Follow us on Twitter. Friend us on Facebook. Link up with our LinkedIn group. Museum Studies in Motion - University of Delaware - Fall 2012