One of my favorite parts of my summer internship is giving tours to visitors at Fort Roberdeau. People come from all over, different states, different countries to visit our fort. It is an honor and a privilege to share information about the fort with the visitors and take them through each building. When there are children on the tour I try to make it interactive for them and engage their interest in history. I have found telling the children about what their job would be at the fort if they lived back then, the process of smelting the lead from the rock that the miners did, and dressing them up in colonial garb to be helpful in making their experience a memorable one. I got my work out recently when I gave five tours in one day, the most I had ever given. I am constantly gathering more information to interpret to add to my tour. I also worked a day at the Railroader's Museum, where I spent most of my time in the archives, sorting each item into a category and box. But I also got to put some of my museum training into practice. I evaluated some of the exhibits and made comments on how I feel they could be improved and more interactive. I came up with some good ideas that could be implemented in the future, but many of the exhibits are already very engaging and interesting for the visitors.
Now I look forward to working a few days at Baker Mansion.
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Ipads and technology is the future, but what does that mean for museums? In what ways can they utilize technology, in this case Ipads to help enhance museum visitors and their experience? These are the questions that Baker Mansion is asking as it works to incorporate Ipads into their museum experience. I am one of the museum workers working to help develop what will be put on the Ipads to enhance the museum visitor's experience. You must think of the placement of the Ipad stand in the room. What placement will be beneficial to the experience, yet not hinder the historical integrity of the room? How can you make the technology accessible and easy to use for the older generation who may struggle with technology?
In the future the Ipads may be used to guide visitors throughout the museum, working as a sort of tour guide for the museum visitor. We want to make it so that visitors can select an image of certain object in the room and learn more information about it. I worked to take photographs that may be used on the Ipads. It's amazing what skills come in handy in the museum field. I have a background in photography and have taken many photography classes, but if you had told me they would come in handy in the museum field I wouldn't have believed you. I also filmed a demonstration put on by one of the knowledgeable volunteers about the various place settings and types of silverware a wealthy family would have in the 18th century. We felt having this video might prove to be interesting to visitors who wish to know more about the various distinct silverware that is so different from the silverware we use today. From the salt spoon to the bone dish and the different forks you used for each course, the video proves to be very informative. I also worked to record items and their whereabouts in the archives for the curator to help her find the desired item/record more quickly. There is always work to be done in the museum, and I can't wait to see what new projects the museum world holds for me in the future. When tour guiding at Fort Roberdeau you never know what type of people you will meet and the connections you will make. Some of the days I worked last week the fort was extremely busy and I had to give tours, one after the other. I always try to cater my tours to the audience. Some people are interested in the architecture of the fort, some are interested in the daily life of people at the fort, and some people want to find more information about their past relatives who lived and worked at the fort. I encounter each of these different types of people on a daily basis. It is a tough job to move smoothly from one topic to another and relate your interpretation to your audience and their lives. One that I face daily. But last week pushed me to become a better tour guide as I had to ask myself questions like "how do I relate this information in a way that children will understand but that adults will also find interesting?" "How do I engage everyone, adults and children, with the information I am presenting?" One way I have found to do this effectively is to put adults and children alike into the time period, explaining what their life would have been like if they lived back then. I tell the children how their job would be to run back and forth, a mile and a half there and back, everyday getting water for everyone in the fort. I watch their eyes light up when I explain the mining process of lead in laymen's terms, letting them hold the different rocks that are produced from the process. I have found if you give children attention they will be more open to asking questions, or answering ones you may ask. I had one little girl ask me many questions throughout the one tour I gave. They ranged from "where would they go to the bathroom?" to "did the girls play with dollies back then?" and I answered each one and thanked her for asking questions. I had to laugh when she came up to me later, looked me in the eyes and said with all seriousness and sadness a six year old can have "Someone told me people didn't live long back then."
Some people that take a tour may already know a lot of information on the fort and some may not have any background information on the fort at all. As a tour guide you have to be able to cater your tour to both types of people. One day the last tour of the day had a woman on the tour who was a historian and who traced her linage back far enough to know one of her relatives had lived and built the original fort. I took them through the buildings inside the fort, hoping to reveal to her some information she hadn't previously known before. I succeeded and we even found a copy of a record from the original fort with her relative's name on it. Being able to help people understand and have a better appreciation of history is what I strive to do in every tour I give. Knowing that I helped this woman get a better understanding of her heritage made me overjoyed. As I finished the tour I had a woman come up to me I had given a tour to earlier. She said she just wanted to let me know that I gave the best tour she had ever taken of the Fort and thanked me for helping her learn things about history she hadn't known before. Anyone in the museum business will tell you, you rarely if ever see the impact your hard work has on people. Getting to see at least a part of the impact I have made makes me beyond thrilled for this amazing internship experience. Baker MansionBaker Mansion with it's elegant columns, winding staircase, original furniture, and displays that are a reminder of the past and all it's glory, never fails to amaze me. I recently sat in on an event planning session to understand all that goes into planning an event for a museum. I never realized how much effort and planning must be done to make sure the fundraising event is a success. Getting coverage in the newspapers leading up to the event, getting sponsors, getting a guest speaker and prizes, getting people to register, getting food, and making sure there aren't other events in the area that could conflict with your event, are just some of the things that must be done to make an event successful. I encountered my first archival work in the archives at Baker Mansion. They have a vast number of items and documents pertaining to the history of Altoona and the surrounding areas, Allegheny Furnace, the Baker family, and other wealthy families that lived in the area. They often have people emailing them asking for information or documents on their deceased family member or on a certain topic they are researching. I was given an assignment to fulfill one of these requests by shifting through documentation we had on the subject. I thoroughly enjoyed working in the archives, diving deeper into material, and feeling that I was utilizing my skills as an Historian. I observed various tours of the house, learning more about the family and the architecture of the house itself. It is interesting to see the differences in how tour guides give tours and how they interpret information differently.
Railroader's Memorial MuseumRailroader's Memorial Museum is one of the most interactive museums I have ever been in. It has something for everyone, even for people who aren't necessarily interested in the history of the railroad. The lady I live said going through there brought back so many memories of her childhood, crossing over the bridge walking to school where the railway men were working and the steam from the engines would blow her skirt up. And the bar that they recreated in one of the rooms is an exact replica of the one her father went to everyday after work on the railroad.
I spent my time there recording the items and documents in the archives that needed to be cataloged and organized. I enjoy my time spent at both places in the archives and the wonderful opportunity I have to work with archival material I wouldn't have otherwise. |
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