Note: Written in 2007
The future of historic house museums is in the hands of the young people who are visiting and participating in museum education programs today. At an important juncture in this educational progression are the college interns that work at historic sites and museums, often assuming high levels of responsibility without financial compensation.
In 2001, a few weeks after I accepted the job as Grumblethorpe Museum Educator, a young woman named Erin Tobey stopped by the museum one day to inquire about volunteer opportunities for the few weeks that remained of an extended visit to Philadelphia. She ended up spending the afternoon, during which she enthusiastically assisted me with program activities. During the next three weeks, Erin worked full time as our first volunteer intern and without her help I would not have been able to get the program off the ground. A month after she left I received a letter from her in which she told me that she had switched her major from English to Museum Education and I nearly burst with pride. Grumblethorpe’s proud past and active present had influenced this young woman’s future!
For the next couple of years Grumblethorpe suffered an intern hiatus, but the fallow period ended with a bang at the arrival of Katie Johnson, who came to us through the Philadelphia Program which placed college students from other areas of the country in internships in Philadelphia. It could conceivably be said that Katie was already a museum and historic preservation professional. For her senior project in high school Katie had successfully placed her high school in Cincinnati, on the National Register of Historic Places and had already worked for four years as an educator and intern at the Cincinnati Museum of History, During her three months at Grumblethorpe Katie served as a teaching assistant, made inroads on developing a brochure for the Grumblethorpe Education Program, created a database of schools in Northwest Philadelphia, represented Grumblethorpe at community meetings, and contributed to writing a grant.
Some time later Lamar Odhner came to us from the history program at Bryn Athyn College. She also arrived with museum experience, having worked and volunteered at Glencairn. The success of the 2006 Grumblethorpe Winter Holiday Party was due in large part to Lamar as she kept the Grumblethorpe Youth Volunteers circulating through the crowd with trays of cookies and cider. On the first day of spring classes, two first grades arrived at the same time—one of them, unfortunately, on the wrong date. Rather than send the class home we decided to take advantage of the glorious weather and run both classes simultaneously. Despite the unexpectedly large number of children, throughout the morning Lamar gamely led groups on “Garden Treasure Hunts” that ended with the kids digging for worms amid squeals of glee. Later, for her Children’s Literature course, Lamar wrote and illustrated a wonderful children’s book, Sally Wister Gets Dressed, about the various items of clothing worn by a young girl in the 18th century. (Unfortunately no publisher has picked it up as yet.) Following graduation, Lamar became the Assistant Day Camp Director at Grumblethorpe for a time.
Mentoring young people is a high point in the work of virtually all museum and historic site professionals. The interns and junior staff are talented, enthusiastic, fun to be with, and full of energy, ideas and hope for the future. The number of interns I’ve had the privilege to work with has grown over the years – all of them going on to do wonderful work, though not always ending up in the historic site or museum world. Whatever field they land in however, my great hope is that while they were interns, each of them made a multitude of silent notes—“If this were my program I would…” and they are bringing their vision to whatever field they are now in.
Note: Additional writing is likely to appear about several more outstanding interns including, in no particular order: Walker Scudder, Kaitlin Ammon, Jennifer Romanoski, Anna Kates, Heather Hartling, Alex May, and perhaps some others as time allows.
Brandi Levine Consulting 