Praxis Course: Museum Studies Praxis Seminar
Semester: Spring 2026
Faculty Advisor/Professor: Monique Scott
Community Partner: Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History
Praxis Site Supervisor: Claire Pingel
Praxis Poster:
HART_CarrieTananbaum
Further Context:
This semester I worked at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in their curatorial and collections departments. I got the opportunity to work closely on their exhibition for the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, The First Salute: An Untold Story of the American Revolution. My main job was to complete condition reports for incoming loans for the exhibition. Condition reports are written records of the physical state of an artifact at a given time. These reports are extremely comprehensive and note every little detail about the object. They are written to hold the museum accountable so that the object does not get damaged
while on loan. I was lucky enough to handle many artifacts, from a copy of The Declaration of Independence to a 18th century Hanukkah lamp. It was super interesting to get to work with these artifacts as they truly brought history alive.
My time at the museum this past semester has been really fulfilling. I learned a lot about what it actually takes to have a career in the museum field. It was super interesting to see how collaborative it is to create and install a major exhibition. There were teams from all over the world working together on this one project. People had even been working on this exhibition for over a year. I was very fortunate to see all the hard work of so many people come to fruition. This experience was one that will last me a lifetime.