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!