Category: HART Museum Studies Fieldwork Seminar S25

 Natalie Cincotta , BMC 26′

Quaker Collection and
Education Templates

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Arch Street Meeting House

Field Supervisor: Jennifer Lee Gray

Praxis Poster:

HART_NatalieCincotta_Revised

 

Further Context:

Arch Street Meeting House was a chance find from searching for praxis internship opportunities online, and I was incredibly fortunate to work for them for my junior spring semester. I’ve always had a deep interest in the work that goes into maintaining a historic property museum, and I’m overjoyed to have had the opportunity to gain such a wonderful experience. Arch Street Meeting House is a historic Quaker meeting house that functions as a museum, rental space, and meeting place for an active Quaker congregation. I worked there as an intern through Arch Street Preservation Trust, an organization created to preserve and create museum spaces in the building.

I worked on two main projects in my time at ASMH. My first task included researching and cataloging a collection of historical objects that belong to a Quaker community member from New Jersey. The collection of over 140 objects contained clothing, keepsakes, and letters, which ranged in date from 1830 to 1930. As I took time photographing each piece of clothing, written correspondence, shoe, or household object, I became enraptured with this history puzzle, connecting different generations of one family into a complete and detailed document. This project taught me a lot, including how to delve into Quaker databases, navigate Ancestry.com, and strengthen my transcription skills with old letters and notes. I hope that my work sheds some light on the objects and their history and brings some happiness to the women who brought them into ASMH looking for some family stories.

My second project focused on the education side of museum work. I created a hands-on worksheet activity for kids to learn more about museums! My activity involved rolling a set of giant dice to determine a specific kind of museum that visitors could then draw and design on paper. I gave examples of what ASMH was with each one, and I even had a little boy roll a perfect set of dice to describe ASMH! It is a small, urban, historical property museum that does not collect new items for its archives and focuses on religious history. I found my experience in creating educational materials to be overwhelming at times, especially since I had never attempted that kind of work before. While I had ups and downs throughout the process, both my supervisor and other staff members helped me constantly, from start to finish. I loved learning what things worked and what things I need to rework for the next time.

In my entire time at ASMH, my favorite part was the people I met, from research-minded visitors to the lovely museum staff and docent volunteers. I loved every conversation I was able to have about museums, Quakers, and the historic building itself. Throughout this experience, I have not only increased my research and activity-building skills but also my understanding of how small museums work day to day, and even month to month.  I hope to continue interning at ASMH this coming summer and assist with the refurbishing of their exhibition space, which has plans to be revealed next year.  If you’re ever in the Old City area and want to stop by a wonderful museum with an amazing history, stop by Arch Street Meeting House; you may find me there!

Eli Cole, BMC 25′

Library Internship: Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Field Supervisor: Anthony DiGiovann

Praxis Poster:

HART_EliCole_REVISED

 

Further Context:

For my Museum Studies Fieldwork course, I had the opportunity to work at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in their library department, learning about several different aspects of the work involved in running a special collections library. I worked with Anthony DiGiovanni, the Director of Cataloging Services at the Historical Society, to catalog, page, and reshelve books, assist with front-facing work at the reference desk, and work on larger reorganizing and inventorying projects in the library stacks. 

Over the course of this experience, I learned how to use different library classification systems– the Historical Society uses several, including the Dewey Decimal System, Library of Congress classification system, and their own proprietary system–and navigate the library’s vaults to find resources. I also learned how to use MARC records to catalog a book and update it in the library’s holdings. This involved both adding it to the Historical Society’s system and exporting it to UPenn’s online catalog, which hosts HSP’s catalog data and makes it available to the public. While shadowing Anthony at the reference desk, I learned about the kinds of questions patrons often ask when they come in to do research, and what resources– online databases, research guides, HSP’s catalog– I could point them towards to help them find what they were looking for. 

One of the bigger projects I was involved with during this experience was moving a collection of books back into the Historical Society’s stacks. These books were some of HSP’s oldest collections, with books dating back to the 1500s, and had previously been held at the special collections library next door, the Library Company of Philadelphia, as part of a longstanding agreement. Because the terms of the agreement had recently changed, this collection is now being brought back into the Historical Society’s stacks. I helped with the move, and with shifting and reorganizing books on some of the library shelves to make space for the returning collection. As we brought the books back, I helped inventory them, checking them against both the Library Company and the Historical Society’s catalogs to make sure they were properly classified and accounted for. There were frequent complications, so this project required a lot of time and attention to detail. 

This experience has given me a greater understanding and appreciation of all the different kinds of library work and the ways they connect to each other. I feel like I have learned a lot about all the work that goes into running a special collections library, and this experience has made me excited to learn more about library and archival work in the future. 

Maia Roark, HC 25′

Curating the Past: Preserving the Future

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site:  Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Field Supervisor: Brianna Quade

Praxis Poster:

HART_Maia Praxis Poster (24 x 36 in)_Revised

 

Further Context:

This semester, I interned at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP). I was lucky enough to work in the Learning and Engagement Department under Brianna Quade, the Community Engagement Coordinator.

For a little introduction, HSP opened in 1824 as a way to preserve valuable documents of the American Revolution. Today, HSP’s collection includes over 21 million items, most of which are books, manuscripts, photographs, and newspapers. The archive rests in the heart of Center City, several blocks away from City Hall. One of my favorite things about HSP is that all of the objects are in one building. If you sit down in the Hogwarts-esque reading room and request something — say, an 18th-century ornithology book, a 10-foot SEPTA map, or a David Kennedy watercolor — it will be brought to you. There are so many items that even HSP’s staff regularly find materials they never knew we had. (One of the most recent ones was the diaries and briefcase of a traveling salesman who traveled with his pet raccoon, Dimples).

My work mainly involved working on an upcoming exhibit entitled Voices of the Community: Local Black Preservation. I spent the beginning months of the internship sifting through different collections, trying to find materials that resonated with me. I finally settled on the Nellie Rathbone Bright collection. Over the next few weeks, I researched Ms. Bright and put together a wall case that highlighted significant moments in her life. Ms. Bright worked as the principal for three different Philadelphia schools in the mid-20th century. She constantly strove to make her community a better place, planting gardens, building playgrounds, and generally improving the areas around her schools. In a particularly touching photograph, Ms. Bright poses with several teachers and schoolchildren next to a TV: the first of its kind at her school.

Overall, one of the most memorable experiences of this internship was the feeling of tapping into the great Philadelphia community. As a Haverford student, I sometimes forget how isolated the campus is. My internship at HSP not only made me feel like I was in the know, but also made me feel like I was doing something about it. When Macy’s announced that they were closing the historic Wanamaker Building, America’s first department store, HSP invited the public to come view its Wanamaker Collection which included drawings, photographs, and letters about the building. I got to help set up documents for a WHYY segment on Wanamaker.

Finally, I am so grateful for my experience at HSP. This is my second time interning in its Learning & Engagement Department, and I have learned so much about working in the museum field. Above all, I have learned the importance of a positive work environment. Thank you to Brianna, Justina, Selena, and Katie for such a great spring semester.

Ella Sokulski, BMC 27′

Museum Studies Fieldwork: Wexler Gallery

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Wexler Gallery

Field Supervisor: Maeve Daly

Praxis Poster:

HART_EllaSokulski_Revised

 

Further Context:

Over the course of the spring semester, I had the pleasure of interning at Wexler Gallery, an art gallery in Philadelphia’s Fishtown. Wexler Gallery focuses on exhibiting collectible design and artwork; these categories span fine arts, such as paintings to glass, and light design. As an intern, I became aware of the daily workings of an art gallery and explored each facet of gallery life.

Through my internship, I explored numerous online platforms used by the gallery, including FileMaker Pro, ArtBase, Squarespace, 1st Dibs, Incollect, and Constant Contact. Part of my responsibilities as an intern were to make sure these online platforms were up-to-date. This included adding contacts and art to ArtBase, adding people to the mailing list, updating pieces on 1st Dibs and Incollect to be sold, updating information on the website, and contacting museums and designers to promote our artists.

Along with the digital aspect of my internship, I was also a part of putting together the Henry Bermudez exhibition. I accompanied Maeve, my field supervisor, to Bermudez’s studio to take photos and dimensions of his art for the show, and organized them online so that they were easy to reference. I was able to help with the curatorial process and assisted in the arrangement of the art. Along with the technical side of the exhibition, I also helped with facilitating the opening.

Interning at Wexler Galler was an amazing experience where I got to experience the daily activities of an art gallery. I gained valuable skills for online databases and for working with other websites, such as Incollect. The staff at Wexler Gallery was extremely welcoming and eager to help me figure things out, I am so thankful for all that I learned.

Deora Starobin, BMC 26′

Exhibition Labeling at Woodmere Art Museum

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Woodmere Art Museum

Field Supervisor: Amy Gillette

Praxis Poster:

HART_DeoraStarobin_Revised

 

Further Context:

This semester I worked at the Woodmere Art Museum, located in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. This is a smaller scale institution that focuses on the artworks and artists of the greater Philadelphia region and their social ideas in the broader context of American art. They have a phenomenal collection of works inside their 19th-century building, as well as an array of outdoor sculpture installations. I had the incredible opportunity to work in the curatorial department under their Associate Curator, Amy Gillette.

In collaboration with two other interns from Bryn Mawr, I got to help Amy organize the artworks Woodmere was planning on exhibiting in their new building opening this fall, Maguire Hall. This project became something that I was able to work on in a hybrid format—Doing most work independently, while coming to Woodmere bi-weekly to check in on my progress and to get to know the museum a bit better. I started by sorting through a long document of all the works that would be displayed in the new building and figuring out which ones already have object labels and artist biographies. I was also responsible for cross-referencing the museum’s information with what is currently on their collections website. Many of these works already had labels and biographies online, though some had never been written about before. I found this part of the project to be repetitive and task-oriented, and thus it felt rewarding when the long document had finally been fully sorted through.

The next part of the project involved going through the pre-existing labels and biographies and creating revisions. Some of the artists are still living, so it was important to make sure their information was up to date. Some of the object labels were a bit short or lacked detail, so I did my best to create more nuanced formal descriptions and include some art historical analysis. I tried my hand at writing a couple artist biographies from my own research, which I found came much easier to me than the object labels. I also found supplemental readings for the labels, so readers could learn more about certain art movements or artists that were relevant to the piece.

Although this process was difficult at first, I really enjoyed doing this independent work. I feel as though my research and writing skills have improved substantially, and I think it will be neat to see what I worked on when I visit the new building in the fall. Additionally, I am so grateful to Amy, my supervisor, for introducing me to her colleagues and letting me sit in on various departmental meetings at the museum. I found this to be an incredibly fulfilling firsthand experience to the behind-the-scenes world of a local art museum.

Eleanor Toyama, BMC 26′

Penn Museum: Into the Collections

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: The Penn Museum

Field Supervisor: The Penn Museum

Praxis Poster:

HART_EleanorToyama_REVISED

 

Further Context:

For my Museum Studies Fieldwork experience, I got the opportunity to work with Katy Blanchard, a Bryn Mawr alum, in the Near East collections of the Penn Museum. I worked alongside another Bryn Mawr intern, Sally Jamrog, in completing the photographic inventory of material excavated from the site of Beth Shemesh on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The site was occupied from about 2000 BCE by the Canaanites, and is mentioned in the Old Testament as an important biblical city. This means we were working with objects over 4000 years old, such as ceramic lamps, dishes, jugs, stoneware, and even some semiprecious stones used as jewelry. Being in contact with these objects twice a week for so many hours at a time was an incredible opportunity, and drew me even closer to the ancient world.

Sally and I proceeded methodically through shelves of objects, checking that each item was in its place, and then bringing them to the next stage. We photographed the objects against a gray backdrop and made decisions about how to best position each piece to highlight the most diagnostic elements. We then put the items in new containers, either plastic bags or boxes, writing the identifying museum numbers in fresh Sharpie. After that, the objects got placed back on the shelves, and we organized them in the most efficient way to maximize visibility and ease of access. This was the flow of most of our work days—some other times, we went on visits upstairs (out of the collections basement!) to the galleries, to look at item examples, or to archives, to check out the field notes of the items we were handling.

Throughout this experience, I’ve gotten a very hands-on perspective of the everyday work that goes into managing the collections at a museum, and specifically an archaeological one. This is especially pertinent as I am a Classics major, so I am glad that I was able to bring that viewpoint to work that deals with the kind of things that I am studying directly in my other courses. I’ve gained a new appreciation for the little objects, with lots of credit to my supervisor Katy’s enthusiasm and pure love for her job and all it entails. I went into this course with the hope of learning a bit more about the behind-the-scenes of a museum, and I am emerging with the knowledge that collections management is a fulfilling experience that presents new discoveries every day.