Collections Management Internships - Summer 2007

Internship held by Allison Powell

Allison measuring soil samples.

Why would a World War II and Holocaust historian pursue an internship in the Mount Vernon Archaeological Collections department? As a graduate European history student at American University in Washington, D.C., I have fielded that question numerous times throughout the summer. While General George Washington’s home may not interpret the same period in history that is my focus in graduate school, the skills I have learned over the course of this summer internship will definitely help me in my future career in the museum world.

I hope to pursue a career in museum education and exhibit development and the skills I have learned here at Mount Vernon will be essential to my future success. Not only have I learned about archaeology (previously a totally foreign science to me) and the preservation and care of a collection, but I have also learned how to effectively manage resources (both time, money and employees) by observing the preservation collections manager Jen Bryant. I have also learned about all of the hard work and dedication that goes on prior to the development of an interpretive and educational plan and before exhibits open to the public. I have had the opportunity to do research, clean and store artifacts, dig on an archaeological site and interact with visitors. Archaeologists and collections managers may not be immediately visible to visitors but the work that they do directly relates to visitor experience at an historic site or museum. This internship has provided me with a firsthand opportunity to experience those efforts and to understand the myriad of people that contribute to a museum’s success.

This has been a great summer as well as a really educational and valuable one. I’m so grateful that I’ve had the experience of working at Mount Vernon and I know that everything I’ve learned here will be indispensable to me in the future.

Internship held by Abbi Huderle

Abbi organizing a box of archaeological artifacts.

This summer has been one of the most interesting ones in my life thus far! I am an upcoming junior at the University of Kansas, majoring in history and anthropology. I chose to intern at Mount Vernon as a way to figure out what I wanted to do in my career. I knew that I wanted to work in a museum setting, but I didn’t really have any idea in what capacity. I applied for the collections management internship because I knew I wanted to work behind the scenes, but I did not realize what a wonderful variety of options there were to pursue! In the two and a half months I spent working with collections, I inventoried and reorganized boxes, worked at my first dig site, learned to clean, photograph, and store eighteenth century wooden shutters, did research, edited an application for the World Heritage List and, my favorite, learned how to wash and label glass artifacts.

From this experience, I have realized that my career interests lie more in the direction of preservation and conservation, but of archaeological finds as opposed to textiles. And that’s something that could have otherwise taken me several summers’ worth of internships to recognize! While it is my goal to live and work in England after graduation, I have learned that much in museum work is applicable everywhere, Europe included. Working at Mount Vernon has taught me that it is important to understand the entire collections process, from excavation to cleaning and conservation to storage, because in order to make the artifacts the top priority, one must be able to communicate with all the professionals involved in these processes.

Internship held by Aly Sabatino

I learned to run the flotation tank during my internship.

For the past five months I have been working as an intern in the archaeology department. I am currently enrolled at Northeastern University with a major in History and a minor in Geology. At Northeastern I am participating in a program called co-op, which allows students to work in a real life job-setting full time for a semester. During my internship we were in the lab during the winter and in the field after mid-April. I’ve had many responsibilities that include washing, sorting and labeling artifacts, operating the flotation tank, photographing artifacts and have even learned how to mend ceramics. However, my favorite of all the tasks that I have done at Mount Vernon is doing excavations. I participated in the Porters Lodges and also at Blacksmiths' Shop where we were looking for evidence of the 18th-century ha-ha wall. Both of these excavations were very interesting. The Porter's Lodge dig helped the restoration staff plan the restoration of those buildings while the Blacksmiths' Shop excavation will help with the upcoming reconstruction of that building. Archaeology is so interesting to me and I hope to continue working in the field after I graduate. Interning at Mount Vernon was a wonderful experience because I learned how much variety there is in their day. 

 

Devin holding a mended coarse earthenware milkpan.

This winter, I've been working with the Mount Vernon Archaeology Department, helping to process artifacts in the lab. I'm a senior at Linworth AP in Worthington, Ohio, and have been completing a two month internship here at Mount Vernon. At the high school that I go to for the second half of your senior year, you do two, two month internships, called a Walkabout, as part of the curriculum. It gives the students an opportunity to pursue almost anything they want to almost anywhere they want. I wanted to pursue archaeology, and decided to work with Mount Vernon.

Devin in the process of gluing two ceramic sherds together.

While I've been here, I have gotten to do a variety of things while working in the lab. I have helped process all of the artifacts in the lab right now, most of which are from the Upper Garden which was dug last summer. Processing includes the basic washing, rebagging, labeling, etc. I have also done some cross mending, which is taking pieces of ceramics and glass, and trying to shape them into their original form, before they were broken. This, by far, has been my favorite thing to do. It requires a lot of patience, and thinking, and, when you find a mend between two pieces, can get very exciting. While I've been here, I have helped cross mend a glass tumbler, a stoneware jug, and some earthenware milkpans. All of which have been completely interesting, and different. The glass tumbler, which I did background research on, will be on display in the new distillery opening in March!

That has been one of the many things that I've gotten a chance to do here, and to learn about. My internship at Mount Vernon as definitely been an unforgettable experience for me, and I think it has helped set me in the direction that I want to go in my life. As I am about to go off into the wonderful world of college, I feel like I am the better for it, since taking this internship.

Internship held by Lisa Seaman

This fall I have been helping the Mount Vernon Archaeology Department with their public outreach. I am a senior at the University of Maryland obtaining a dual degree in Journalism and American Studies. I hope to work for a museum or an historical site in either education or public relations.

Interning at Mount Vernon has combined skills I have learned in both Journalism and American Studies. I was able to create a new brochure for the Archaeology Department using the redesign techniques, including the presence of white space (the presence of white paper, and no text), and creating a double read (the ability to initially identify what is important, and read further for more information if desired). I have been able to analyze the text to understand what is most interesting to audiences and what would most interest them about archaeology and then further extend their knowledge about archaeology at Mount Vernon.

I have really enjoyed exploring public outreach with the Archaeology Department this fall.

I also helped update the website for the different archaeological excavations that have taken place. By editing reports previously published about the excavations, the new pages have two audiences. The first targeted, through the Overview, is for the general public who might have a basic interest in archaeology. In Historical Background, Excavation, and Artifacts, the text becomes more detailed to give information to the audience who has come with previous knowledge about archaeology. By adding images strategically placed to break up the text, the pages make archaeology entertaining and understandable. These pictures target a more visual audience and further explain the archaeological process. Ultimately this design creates more user friendly pages.

Finally, during my internship here, I was fortunate enough to see the opening of the new Education Center and Museum. In order to create more interest in both the new exhibits and for the Archaeology Department, I created a scavenger hunt for people to look for specific artifacts found in archaeological excavations. This innovative idea will further the understanding about the importance of archaeology not just at Mount Vernon but at all historic sites.

I have been very fortunate to have this internship in the fall of my senior year at Maryland. Although both degrees I am earning are relevant to my future goals, this internship has provided me with a better understanding of each one separately as well as an understanding about how they tie in together.

Internship held by Anne Mason

This summer I am completing an internship with the archaeology department digitizing all the excavations the Mount Vernon archaeologists have dug and feeding them into a GIS (geographic information system) computer program called ArcGIS. ArcGIS will allow Mount Vernon to examine their excavations in digital space, make maps, and perform analysis that may have been difficult or impossible without such software.

Foundation of a cow food boiler found in laundry yard. Map made in the field and digitized in AutoCAD.

I am a Master’s student at George Mason University majoring in Applied History, with a concentration in “New Media and Technology.” The New Media program at George Mason is a pioneering program that merges history with technologies such as the World Wide Web or GIS to understand or present history in new and exciting ways. As part of my Master’s program, I created a website for my HIST 697 class. I also needed to complete an internship and Mount Vernon was in need someone to help them with their budding GIS program. I anticipate this internship leading into my research paper that is required for my degree.

The goal of my internship is to create a GIS mapset of the archaeology excavations for the plantation. As the Mount Vernon archaeologists excavate the different layers of soil, they create paper maps to help them understand and document the excavations. My job started with digitally redrawing these maps using AutoCAD. In some cases, this meant drawing and coding individual bricks of a building foundation, or drawing and coding large numbers of post holes. After many hours of drawing I was ready to put these maps into ArcGIS. This proved simpler than I thought it would be. The digitized drawings were already scaled in AutoCAD, meaning the maps have been sized to their real-life sizes. One of the restoration staff members had already created a map of the plantation in GIS, which made my job much easier. Basically, the AutoCAD drawings just needed to be told where they existed on the earth. I was impressed that ArcGIS knew how to interpret the layers I created in AutoCAD such as brick foundations, mortar, and postholes. All in all, I was surprised and impressed that the software was so easy to use. But then again, I am a computer geek, so a less techno-savvy person may have found this more difficult.

Three separate excavation areas along Mount Vernon's south lane are brought together in GIS. Patterns of drains, postholes and other features can be seen across project areas.

While the maps are just starting to be examined in GIS, already the rewards of using GIS are apparent. Many excavations can be examined together and the larger landscape can be better understood. The same brick drain appeared in more than one excavation, and it is likely that other features exist across excavations as well. ArcGIS gives not only a new and exciting way to help interpret Mount Vernon to its visitors, but also a new way to help preserve and understand the plantation.