Kader Attia

Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow alum Kader Attia has a show opening in Rotterdam this Saturday based on research he conducted during his Fellowship at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.

Find out more here.

This MOU will allow up to five students from Middlebury College’s American Studies Department be placed as interns during Middlebury’s five week January term (J-term). In addition to having an internship the students will have two seminars (Material Culture and Museum Education) and job shadowing opportunities across the departments giving them a full museum experience.

This past January we had Middlebury students Napol Wills and Taylor Pierce participated in this new internship opportunity. Here is what they had to say:

• “I don’t know if I will ever pay for another museum again!” Napol Wills expressing her satisfaction with her internship experience.
• “This helps for life after Middlebury.” Taylor Pierce sharing positive feelings as a result of this opportunity.

Many thanks to the John L. Gray, the Director of the National Museum of American History, Timothy B.  Spears, the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Middlebury College, Katherine Ott, Curator (Medicine & Science) at the National Museum of American History, Michael Newbury, the Dean of Middlebury’s American Studies Department and Susan Burch, the Director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Middlebury College for their leadership and support. A special acknowledgment and thank you to Rachelle Browne, Associate General Counsel for the Smithsonian Institution. Her guidance in this process was essential.

The National Museum of American History’s Department of Education and Public Programs seeks three exemplary college students committed to making a positive impact on their communities to participate in the Freedom School fall internship program. Through this program, participants will:

• Learn the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the 1964 Freedom Summer campaign first hand through dialogue with people who were there and through other primary sources

• Meet with curators and educators to explore related material in the Smithsonian’s National Collection and visit local civil rights-related historic sites

• Explore, discuss, and debate the meaning and legacy of social justice, democracy, and leadership in American history

• Visit government offices, and advocacy organizations to discuss modern activism

• Share lessons-learned with local high school students

• Publish their research on the Smithsonian website for a national audience.

Students will document their experience through regular posts to the Museum’s blog and Facebook page, Twitter Q&As, Instagram and Tumblr posts, and three short video interviews with civil rights activists designed for a high school audience.

Participating students should possess superior writing skills and willingness to peer-edit, show comfort with or interesting in learning about social media, and have a strong background in American history and/or social justice issues. The internship will last for 10 weeks, full-time, from September 16 through November 22, 2013. A stipend of $6,000 will be provided for living expenses.

Each intern will be expected to write at least two posts for the Museum’s blog, create one additional content or social media piece for the web, and to host at least one video interview with a civil rights activist. The Museum is also interested in hiring according to students having learning objectives related to the following roles and skills:

Documentarian/Audio-Visual Lead: A student with experience in creating and editing video for the web and podcasts will:

• Work closely with a graduate intern from the American University program in Film and Media Arts to assist with creating video interviews of civil rights activists and to record student experiences in the Freedom School; coordinate with the Web and New Media Office to ensure timely posting of video content to the program page.

• Work with the Director of the Program in African American History and Culture (PAAC) to review, transfer to digital, and edit existing audio/visual resources from PAAC for use on the web and transfer to the Museum’s Archives Center.

• Work with K-12 Education Lead to develop 1-2 podcasts related to the Freedom School Program

Online Journalist & Social Media Lead: A student with interest and experience in print journalism and social media production will:

• Work closely with the Web and New Media Office to prepare regular posts to Facebook, Twitter

• Lead a Twitter chat or Q&A related to the Freedom School program, share ideas for further social media

• Collect and coordinate student submissions to the blog, coordinate peer editing

• Conduct research in the Museum’s Archives Center and in object collections for artifacts to include in online resources, scan images and prepare for the web.

K-12 Education Lead: An intern with an interest in and experience with working with K-12 students in a formal or informal setting will work closely with the Museum’s Education Outreach division to:

• Develop questions and format for video interviews, create wrap-around materials for video interviews

• Work with documentarian to develop 1-2 podcasts related to the Freedom School Program.

• Develop short lesson ideas based on the content of the Freedom School to share with high school students, visit high school classrooms to conduct short trainings on civil rights history & modern activism.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested students should create an account on SOLAA. You will input your contact information and click ‘confirm’. Then you will choose the NMAH Internship as your ‘Program Choice’. You will be given the opportunity to choose your top three project choices.

If you want to be considered for more than one Freedom School internship you must put them in order of preference. There you will upload the following documents no later than midnight on Monday July 1, 2013:

• Résumé

• Transcript (can be unofficial)

• Cover letter identifying which of the three roles most interests you, your motivations for applying to the internship, and ideas of how you will share what you have learned after the program.

• Writing sample, no more than 5 pages. The writing sample may be a blog post or other article for the web.

• Two letters of recommendation

Once you have finished you must click ‘submit’ in order to be reviewed by the selecting staff.

Please submit questions or comments to:
Omar Eaton-Martínez
Intern & Fellows Program Manager
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
202-633-3556
eatonmo@si.edu

Theodore Gonzalves, associate professor and chair of American Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County has been awarded a Fellowship with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

His project is entitled, “Singing Truth to Power. The Story of Paredon Records.” It traces the cultural history of a record label whose output of recorded music and speeches documented revolutionary movements throughout the globe.

You can read more about Theodore’s upcoming research at the Smithsonian on the UMBC blog here.

Addie Maguire

In my first weeks as an intern at the American History Museum, my supervisor, Maritime Curator Paul Johnston, asked me to research the logbook of the brig Ea since the vessel may have been involved in the opium trade. The ship’s worn and weathered logbook began on February 24, 1821 when the ship departed from Baltimore, Maryland on a trading voyage to Canton, China. According to the log keeper, William Sanford, the ship reached Canton in August 1821, and left Canton on November 28, 1821 heading for Amsterdam. The brig Ea had a length of 75 feet, depth of 17 feet, 244 tons, with two decks and three masts, and was built in Baltimore circa 1815 as a merchant vessel during one of America’s busiest trading eras.

The logbook from the ship Ea with log keeper William Sanford’s signature, dated 1821

By 1793 the British East India Co. had a monopoly on the opium trade from India to China; around this time the number of Chinese and British recreationally smoking opium reached an all time high (no pun intended). The Chinese Emperor banned opium in 1799, making trade illegal. In the early 1800s, American traders realized the high profits involved and began to smuggle opium from Turkey into China. The commodity passed primarily through the complicated port of Canton, where it was bought by shady merchants on islands in the bay.

Entry from the logbook dated May 21, 1821, recorded as having “clear pleasant weather”

Perkins & Company of Boston, Massachusetts was a major American trading company with a firm in Canton; in fact, the company would use rice cargoes to cover up opium transactions. John Perkins Cushing recorded the arrival and departure of trading ships, including the Ea. Finally, I found a single sentence in an obscure book, citing Perkins & Company records: “…The Ea, Captain Alexander Clark, [arrived] with between 140 and 160 piculs of the drug [opium].” A picul is an ancient Asian standard of weight and is approximately 133.3 lbs.; thus the Ea was smuggling an astonishing 20,000 lbs. of opium. I planned to track the Perkins lead further when I found Perkins’ original copies of the Canton trade records at the Baker Library at Harvard; unfortunately, after four months of waiting for an interlibrary loan, my internship ended.

The Ea recorded in the 1820-1821 Lloyd’s Registers as being built by Dameron in Baltimore

Nevertheless, digging deeper I found a report of the United States Secretary of State regarding an international issue involving the Ea and Captain Clark. On September 25, 1821, while the Ea was anchored at Canton, an Italian crewman on board an American merchant vessel was accused of killing a Chinese woman. Captain Clark signed, with multiple other ship captains, as a witness of the event. Political relations between China and the U.S. tensed as the Chinese wanted to execute the Italian sailor and the U.S. stalled for a fair trial. Unfortunately, the Italian was executed.

Many more hours could still be spent unraveling the complicated mystery of the Ea. The opium trade was an early example of international drug smuggling and exemplifies the repercussions of a quick profit fueled by addiction; the Ea sparked my fascination for the dark undercurrents of this chapter in American history. After all, there is something fascinating about the stories found in an old ship’s logbook, and something enticing about a smuggling brig setting sail for the far ports of Canton.

Emily, Allison, and Erin on the 2013 Shape Walk

May 10th, 2013 was a warm, sunny, Spring day.  Although it was eighty degrees outside, there was still a pleasant, light breeze blowing.  What a perfect day to spend in the office, right?

Instead, many Smithsonian employees, and interns such as myself, opted to take advantage of the weather and go on the two-mile, bi-annual, Smithsonian Shape Walk.  It was a good end to my first week as an intern at the Office of Fellowships and Internships.

Before we embarked on our journey, however, we all got to stop by the Garden Fest hosted by the Smithsonian Gardens and hear about different aspects of garden life from other Smithsonian employees.  Greg Huse, the Smithsonian Gardens Arborist, enlightened myself, Emily Murphy, and Erin Hoelting, all from OFI, about how much effort goes into tree care at the Smithsonian.  Each tree on the Smithsonian property must be cataloged and put in a database, so Greg can properly care for our trees.   Greg is in charge of every tree on the Smithsonian property, which is no small feat!  He does a great job, as we can see for ourselves; the trees are all beautiful and add a bit of natural landscape in the midst of all of this urbanization.

After leaving the Garden Fest, Emily, Erin, and I embarked on our two-mile journey around Smithsonian museums such as the the American History Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Air and Space Museum to name a few.  Before we started the walk, we each were handed a map of the two-mile path we were supposed to take.  During our journey, we passed three checkpoints and got a signature at each of them.  These signatures allowed us to receive free t-shirts and granola bars at the end — a savory treat after a two-mile walk.  It was very exciting to meet people from different departments on the walk and to see how many people at the Smithsonian are committed to maintaining their health through fitness as well as maintaining pan-institutional relations among the Smithsonian’s departments.  I am hoping to intern again at the Smithsonian next summer, and I will definitely make sure to attend both the Garden Fest and the Shape Walk again — although I will definitely be wearing more comfortable shoes, even if a blister is small price to pay for such a great end to my first week at OFI.

As an intern, I am learning so much about the intricacies involved both in and outside of the office.  I have witnessed first hand the intricacies of OFI — from archiving review committees, sending out acceptance letters to fellows and interns, preparing stipends, and holding conferences to answer everyone’s various questions about the department, it takes immense talent and work to keep on top of everything, as I’m sure is true of all departments!

Thanks for reading, and I hope to bring everyone more updates about other Smithsonian departments and introduce you to other Smithsonian interns!

Allison Smith

Intern at the Office of Fellowships and Internships

Idaho State University Students Jennifer Hernandez (left) and Michelle Carpenter (right)

Two students from Idaho State University are on their way to do internships at the Smithsonian this summer. You can read more from Idaho State University here.

Idaho State University hosts the Idaho Museum of Natural History, which is a Smithsonian Affiliate. Welcome Jennifer and Michelle!

Smithsonian Fellow Vanessa Diaz (left) and TV star Susan Lucci at the Smithsonian (right)

Vanessa Diaz is a journalist, filmmaker, and Ph.D. candidate in cultural anthropology from the University of Michigan who is currently doing a fellowship at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH). Her research focuses on celebrity and marketing fame.

Vanessa recently had a piece published in People Magazine about a donation “All My Children” star Susan Lucci recently made to the NMAH Collection.

You can check out Vanessa’s article here.

Lori celebrates the opening of “Living Large Small” with animal care specialist Stephen Schulze

Lori Kartchner recently completed an internship with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo – she writes about her experience here…

From January to April 2013, I worked in the exhibits department at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park. I had never worked with a living collection before, and I loved the dynamism that the animals brought to the everyday experience at the Zoo.

At the National Zoo, I created a photography exhibition to go in the Small Mammal House. One of the animal care specialists had proposed the idea to use photographs from the Zoo’s volunteer photographer, Clyde Nishimura, to enhance a part of the building that had no interpretation.

In my first team meeting with the Small Mammal House staff, we set out our goals for the exhibition. We hoped that displaying the photographs would allow visitors to see the species in the collection any time, and know what to look for when the animals are difficult to spot. The photographs would also serve as a tool for interpreters to use when talking to visitors. These things would help us meet our ultimate goal: encouraging visitors to practice closer observation of the collection.

By conferencing with the curator, biologist, and animal care specialists for the Small Mammal House, I came up with a theme and concept that worked for everyone. The exhibit “Living Large Small” features two-part labels. The first thread of ideas addresses special adaptations each animal uses to survive as a small creature in a big world. The second thread of ideas in each label gives visitors some insight into the intimate interactions keepers have with the animals. These “keeper notes,” as we referred to them, give more than just biological or behavioral information. They serve as an opportunity to tell people what it means to work with a living collection.

The project was a great success! We completed the show in great time (4 months) and had it installed before my internship ended. The photographs look beautiful and even hang over a fresh coat of paint. The whole process of creating the exhibition was exciting and meaningful for me because I was able to develop and manage it from start to finish. The exhibits staff acted as a wonderful support as I learned the process of exhibition development. The animal care staff brought expert knowledge and great enthusiasm to the project, making it really fun to work on. Everyone gave me positive feedback as I went through the steps of the process, and in the end, the Small Mammal House loved the finished product.

The photography exhibit, “Living Large Small” is currently on display at the Small Mammal House at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park.

Thanks to everyone who took part!

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