Fingers Crossed

So Monday I had a conversation with Plimoth Plantation about their internship. It sounds like it will be absolutely perfectly amazing, and that they really want me to work with them. Today I mailed in the application, and now my fingers are crossed. Plimoth is the Mecca of first-person interpretation, with them and Williamsburg standing as the cornerstones of the style. I will let you know when I hear anything more!

Follow-up

Also, the dog was handed over this morning to the City of Stonington Animal Control folks. We are planning on calling tomorrow to see if his owners found him. Fingers crossed!







Apparently stray dogs are like gremlins. Don't feed them after midnight. No, he didn't spawn other basset hounds and try to ruin Christmas, but he did cry all night long. All. Night. Long.

Run run run

So part of the whole being in Connecticut interning deal means being half a country away from my boyfriend. The poor guy is used to me not being nearby at this point, in the year and a half we've actually been together we've only been in the same city for about three months. He's been good about staying in Minnesota, whereas my family is in Iowa, I did a May Term in Paris, my grad program is in Cooperstown, New York, and my current internship is in Mystic, Connecticut. We're constantly trying to find ways to stay connected, whether its eating dinner "together" via webcam or watching tv shows at the same time.

We have, however, stumbled across something new that I wanted to share. He's pretty good about exercising, and this morning decided he was going to "run" from his place in Minnesota to mine in Iowa, as by the time he makes it I'll probably be back there for a bit. According to Mapquest its just over 218 miles between the two.

First off, I am super excited for him to give it a try, and I know that running makes him feel good. Secondly, I am HIGHLY competitive, so of course I just let the gauntlet go un-thrown. I will also participate in the challenge, though I have to modify it a bit. Running is out for me, so instead I will be doing yoga or lifting weights. I figure if I were to run, I could do a mile pretty comfortably in about 9 minutes. So, every nine minutes I spend doing yoga or weights will count as one mile. I also have to actually walk to the Y in order to do the weightlifting, so I figure every 9 minutes of that is about half of a mile if I'm going comfortably. All in all, it will be a lot of fun to see who makes it first!

FOUND DOG

The Mystic Seaport security staff and myself found a basset hound this evening at the Mystic Seaport parking lot. If you are missing a basset, or know someone who is, please contact me asap. He is spending the night with us, at the request of the security staff. All of the area animal control/vets are closed for the night. I will take him to the local rescue league or animal control in the morning. We've decided to call him Melville for the time being :)

New Bedford

This week's intern field trip took us to New Bedford, Massachusetts. We had the chance to visit both the New Bedford Whaling Museum and the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. It was a really great day, though long and busy. The whaling museum was absolutely fantastic. They have three whale skeletons (technically four, but one was still a fetus when its mother died) hanging from their ceiling. If not properly treated, whale bones secrete the oil that made the animals so popular in the first place. The floor underneath the whales is covered with little drips where the oil has fallen. They have actually begun to collect the oil dripping off of the skull of the largest whale in order to be able to answer more questions for visitors (i.e. how much drips every day).

The museum itself is undergoing a shift in their focus. It was originally started as the New Bedford Historical Society. While they want to stay true to their roots, they also want to be able to show visitors the larger story of whaling. I hope to be able to visit them again in the future and see how this shift has been executed. It looks like they are doing a wonderful job so far. I really enjoyed their new exhibit, The Hunt for Knowledge. I thought it was very well done, and did a great job of balancing the science of whales as an animal with their uses to humans and the efforts to preserve them.

The biggest surprise for the day was completely out of the blue. Nicholas Cage was wrong in stating that there were only two Resolute desks in existence. Obama currently sits at one. The second is in Buckingham Palace. The New Bedford Whaling Museum has the third. Here is intern Dayne trying to see if there are any surprises on the underside of the desk! We couldn't tell. All in all, the trip was excellent. We got the chance to speak with one of the museum's educators, and she answered every single one of my too many questions. But, hey, they are doing some cool things in the museum, and I wanted to know more about it! According to my mother, I've been asking too many questions since I was four, but I don't think it always has to be a bad thing!

The second half of the day was spent at the National Park Service site. I bought a "passport" that can get stamped at every site. I wish I would have gotten one much sooner! I've been to countless sites throughout my lifetime. Now I guess I just have to go back and visit them all over again! We didn't spend a lot of time in their visitor center itself, other than watching their video. It was alright, but especially noteworthy was that some of the scenes were shot here at Mystic! Following the video, we took a brief walking tour of historic New Bedford. I have been on some fabulous walking tours (Boston's African American Heritage Trail) and some that were just okay. This was just okay, but the volunteer was obviously staying well within her comfort zone. I think we probably just caught her on a bad day, and most visitors to the site will not have as much pre-knowledge of whaling as we did. 

After the tour, we got to talk with one of the site's rangers about working within the National Park system. They are definitely one of the big ones of my list of "Where to Look For a Job After Cooperstown". I grew up visiting NPS sites, and have a purple sparkely caboodle in my closet full of junior ranger patches and pins. One of my big "sticky" memories took place at Mesa Verde. I was fourteen, a little older than seven, but it was I believe a defining moment in my path to becoming a museum professional. A ranger pointed to me and told the group that girls my age in that society would have been well on their way to having children and running their households. It was shocking to me, and made me put myself in the shoes of a girl far in the past. It was a striking moment for me, and in large part because that ranger took a moment and made it personal. I want the chance to do that. I want to be able to look at a visitor and show them a piece of themselves in the past. It is a challenge, and you can't do it with everyone, but I think we in the museum field, especially in education or interpretation, live for that "wow" moment, or the one that creates that sticky memory. I hope that, whether my future involves the NPS or another organization (please please please let me find a job!) I will be able to find a way to make those moments happen.

Here We Go

Today I start interpreting at the chandlery. Here at Mystic, interpreters are in their site alone. Without help. I am curious to see how it goes. On one hand, I am a good interpreter. I know this, I have been told this, I've had visitors bring me sarsaparilla and ice cream after a good interpretation. Interpreting was the first thing in my life that I knew I rocked at, and boy was that a great feeling.

However; I know very, precious little about maritime history. And the reason I've been in a constant state of near panic for the last week is that interpreting often requires a base of knowledge to fall back on. As far as maritime things go, I don't have that. Despite doing little besides reading the site manual and about anything I could get my hands on,

There is, however, a  beacon of hope. This weekend is the Wooden Boat Show, the absolute biggest draw of the museum all season. On one hand that means there will be a large amount of visitors (though it is cloudy, so perhaps fewer today). On the other hand, those visitors already know a lot about maritime everything. And as they are hobbyists, enthusiasts and professional boatbuilders, I have a hunch I can get them to talk about their craft.

So. Plan of attack for today:
1. Engage visitors so THEY  tell me what THEY know.
2. Talk about the people behind the shop, rather than the thousands of little maritime objects scattered about.
3. If necessary, steer conversation into non-maritime waters. Pun intended.
4. If all else fails, fall back on the, I'm an intern from Iowa, most boats I've been on are pontoons.

Ready, go!

One Week Down

Nine to go! I have officially completed my first week as an intern here at Mystic Seaport. It was an intense week, and I am using that as my excuse for having not written in a couple of days. Tuesday through Thursday we joined up with the new interpretive staff for their training, as we are considered new interpreters as well.

One of the biggest highlights of the week for me was getting to speak with the head "roleplayer" here. My experience with interpreting has always been in 3rd person, though in period clothing. Here, most interpreters are also in 3rd person, but in polo shirts and khaki. There are, however, a select number of 1st person interpreters who portray a number of characters from 1876. I can't wait to see them in action. I was very curious as to why they had chosen 1876 as the year to portray. I knew that it was the nation's centennial, and the telephone was invented, but I didn't realize what is probably the best reason. The whaling industry was in its decline by that point, which allows the roleplayers to explain the full breadth of the topic, rather than only specific pieces. I am also very interested to see how visitors react to the roleplayers. It doesn't sound like there is a "mandatory" introduction at the visitors center, and they wander through the grounds. It does seem like they do a really good job of working to make visitors comfortable though.

Yesterday I met with my project manager for our first meeting about my summer project. I get to do an evaluation of their new Tugs! exhibit, as previously mentioned. It is not something I have experience with, but I am really excited to learn. I think this is something that will be very helpful for me as a museum professional, and hopefully for them as they continue to refine the exhibit. If you're in the area at all, I highly recommend it.

The big job for this weekend is to study up on my sites. The Chandlery will be very difficult but at the same time not. The style of interpretation looks to be very similar to what I did in LHF's General Store, except about all things needed for a sailing voyage. That is where it gets tricky. I have no background or knowledge, really, of sailing, so I have a lot of objects to study up on. The big goal with the exhibit will be making it more than just a point and answer about the objects, and showing visitors the stories behind the shop or the things. I am looking forward to the challenge :)

1st Day

Well, today was my first, official day as a Mystic Seaport Internship. I have to say, I am really really really excited about this summer. There are eight other interns, two of whom are going into their senior years of college, the rest working for their masters or doctorate. We started off the day introducing ourselves, getting to know each other a little bit, then Elysa, who is running the program, introduced the topic of material cultures. As she said, there are four things we look at when we examine objects. Its production, its distribution, its use and its meaning. We all went around the room and pulled something from our bags or off of our persons to show and explain. I used my grandmother's cameo ring that I wear. It was a good, quick way to get to know something about each other.

After the brief intro's we were shown around the grounds by Glen Gordinier, who is head of the Munson Institute. The Munson Institute works with the academic side of Mystic Seaport, which offers graduate level classes to students and professors throughout the summer. His tour was amazing, and it was fun to hear some of the Seaport's history from someone who is obviously so passionate about it. Following our tour, we had lunch with Professor Gordinier, as well as a number of senior staff members. We were all asked to introduce ourselves by telling a formative museum memory. I had a really hard time picking, but ended up going with the 6th grade girl who was a part of the summer camp at Living History Farms two years ago. I was interpreting in the broom shop, and she actually stayed with me past the scheduled time to keep asking really deep, insightful questions about life at the times. She even managed to stump me a few times. It just showed me that, one, kids get a lot more out of those experiences than we often give them credit for and two, we can have a huge impact on someone else's life, even if it is just for a few minutes. I have a number of strong memories from my own times as a LHF camper that echoed pretty strong when I met her.

The day finished up with our readings for the next few days being distributed, and with each of us getting a chance to walk around the museum to become more familiar. I teamed up with a couple of other interns and had a good time going through the museum and discussing things we saw. Afterwards, another two interns and I went to a local Mexican place for supper. All in all, it was a really great day. Tomorrow, we start interpreter training with the general staff. I am really interested to see how different of a perspective it is from Living History Farms and the Farmers' Museum. I'll let you know how it goes!

Whaling

So tomorrow I start my internship, and I can't wait. Today I caught up on sleep, unpacked, and made a trip to the grocery store. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your perspective, its a two mile walk to the store. I've never bought groceries based on weight before, but I made it back in one piece. On my way I passed some fun things, like a voting hall, a late 1600's burial ground, and this interesting ice cream/seafood shop. Maybe this is the little Midwest girl in me, but I don't see ice cream and clams as complementary.

This afternoon I had the chance to get into the museum and walk around for a bit. I decided to stick with their 19th century village, and really had a great time. I only really stopped in a couple of buildings, but had really great conversations with the staff. It sounds like they are all really excited for the interns to arrive. While I was there, a demonstration was taking place about whaling boats. It was really fascinating to see, especially after having just read about the Essex and how her crew lived in boats that size after it was wrecked. Hard to imagine. The demonstration itself was extremely well done and I enjoyed it a great deal. I also got a hold of some brooms (groan, I know) and turns out some of them are from the Farmer's Museum! Small world.

It all starts for real tomorrow morning with an introduction, a tour of the museum, lunch with the senior staff and getting all of our reading materials. I can't wait!

Internship

Hello friends. Long time no write! Sorry to just jump right back into it, but I figure that's better than nothing. Tomorrow, I start my internship at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. I took the train in last night, and can't wait to get started. My big project for the summer will be to examine the museum's newly opened Tugs! exhibit. I will be evaluating the exhibit, observing visitors, and helping determine if and where changes need to be made to help improve the visitors' experiences. It is a different direction than my interpretation past, but I am really excited to do something new. Two days a week I will be working with the public, one of which I'll be in the Tugs! exhibit and the second we're not sure about yet. Two other days will be spent in seminars with the other interns and the final day will be field trips. Our first trip will be to Boston!

I took the train out, which was definitely an experience. My first train was running three hours behind, but I was still able to make my next train with about ten minutes to spare. I met some interesting people, including a girl from Scotland who I had a really good discussion about artifact repatriation with. Other than that, it was a good chance to read, and I managed to start and finish In the Heart of the Sea by Nathan Philbrick. It is about the whaling ship Essex, which was attacked by a sperm whale. The story was Herman Melville's inspiration for Moby Dick. It was a really interesting read, and I learned some interesting things about whaling and ships in general.

I got into Mystic last night at around 10:00pm. One of the museum staff members, Lisa, came and picked me up at the station and drove me to my house, which is right next to the museum. Unfortunately, a frequent museum goer who suffers from epilepsy had a seizure, so she had leave quickly after dropping me off, but I was glad for the ride! I can't wait until Monday to get started! The picture below is of the tugboat at the entrance of the museum. My house is the brown building there behind it. Yay for proximity!

Reprimand

So after being very subtly reprimanded by a reader/friend/blogger in her own blog for not posting, I would like to defend myself by saying A) It takes me about six times as long to do anything due to meds or trying to concentrate on not concentrating on pain, and then I'm still never sure if its done well, B) I haven't really done much of late that has been blog worthy, C) I'm not currently in Cooperstown or enrolled as a graduate student due to my leave of absence, and D) I've started writing in another blog about museum things in general, so I feel less guilty about posting non-Cooperstown things. Hopefully I can be better about posting on it!