The Reflection
When I first started this internship, it was merely an idea. The thought of starting and completing an exhibit was exciting. When beginning the project, it was all about the research. Running around with numerous ideas sprawled into a timeline to focus on the big ideas. Starting with the Native people who lived on this land, Frano-Americans who ran the mills, then the Franciscans, and then finally ending on our university hoping to pose big questions. The highlights, in the beginning, were the past, present, and future. Here is a picture of the big road map Cathleen and I had established.
What started as one document exploded into many with new ideas forming and ditching old ideas to hold a narrative for the exhibit. I have learned a lot and I would like to highlight some of the many things I have learned as well as explain my shortcomings. One thing that I learned was that research requires a plan and coordination. Having small meetings with Cathleen to break down what research I should be doing that week was crucial and required a level of communication. With that communication comes outside work as well. Calling McArthur Library’s archivist and reaching out numerous times to visit/look at old documents was exciting. Oh, and digging through the library’s special archives collection was super cool too as I got to see how both small and large institutions organize their work. Similar but different. Communication is important and is crucial to make a team work. But there was a point during the internship when I felt lost and I was just doing mindless research. Without consulting Cathleen and just doing mindless research, it certainly halted progress. That would bring up the next important thing I learned. Do not be afraid to ask for help or clarification on anything, it will save you in the long run.
With collaboration, comes mutual respect, and when we worked with Arthur Anderson to ensure our portion of the Indigenous Peoples of our area was accurate, that was super interesting. I have taken anthropology with Professor Anderson before and I have heard of some of the things his team has done. However, when we did a walking interview he had so much knowledge that we just had to highlight him. With that we are highlighting his work, making a land acknowledgment, and hopefully telling the people here at UNE that there were people here before us and they have a story to tell. While telling a story we can’t forget the Franciscans, they were just as important to forming our land as the indigenous population. Diving into our local history from the Flood House to the Old Town Cemetary here on campus, that history was super fascinating as many have no idea that these things even existed.
When working with a team there are always numerous ideas that are always presented. Everyone’s opinions and brainstorms are crucial to form a connective idea. However, sometimes you have to swallow your pride and give in for the benefit of the team to make the project or in this case, the exhibit work. For example, I wanted to focus on more of the future portion, like asking how colleges will adapt to things like climate change, race-related issues, and other important topics to get the reader thinking. However, to make the exhibit have a more coherent flow, those ideas must be left behind to tell the story practically. Making an exhibit is not an easy task by any means and requires many steps to make things work. One of the things that make exhibits work is the language you use. For me, I was used to writing essays or even scientific papers so writing color language for exhibits was not my strong suit at all. This was another challenge for me, switching up my language and understanding the new format is something that I am still improving on to this day.
This whole experience was super important to my major because most if not all things end up in a museum. What I want to do is be able to curate and plan exhibits for the public, while also doing archive work on the side as well. Having to be able to do the research, run around town collecting information from libraries, collaborate with Cathleen, and write captions for images that fit the exhibit showed me how much work goes into making a museum work. I had no idea it took all this work and I am proud to have been a part of it in a sense. When spring comes and all is said and done, the hope is that the physical exhibit will be ready to go.
