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.