Category: Spring Semester 2025

Francis Perrigo, BMC 26’ 

Museum Studies Fieldwork: Harriton House

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Harriton House 

Field Supervisor: Laura Carpenter 

Praxis Poster:

HART_FrancisPerrigo_Poster

 

Further Context:

As part of my praxis course, I interned at Harriton House, a local historical site once owned by Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress. During my time there, I completed a range of archival projects that deepened my understanding of historical preservation and organizational recordkeeping. I organized and archived the records of Nancy Walker, a former president of the Harriton Association, as well as materials from two related groups: the Music Study Club and the Lower Merion Society for the Detection and Prosecution of Horse Thieves and the Recovery of Stolen Horses. I also transcribed handwritten correspondence from Paul Maier, another past association president, which offered insights into collection management and the vast number of uncatalogued materials that Harriton holds. In addition, I worked with Harriton’s book collection, helping to inventory and preserve its holdings. My work took place both in person and remotely, depending on the nature of each project, and I often juggled multiple tasks simultaneously. Beyond archival work, I had the chance to care for Harriton’s animals and interact with visitors.  

During my internship, I spent most of my time in the Archive Room, which is located in Harriton House. It was slow and meticulous work, but it taught me a lot. I learned quickly that attention to detail and focus are incredibly important, and you need to have a good idea of your organization system going in. Even little choices like how to group things or what to label a folder can make a big difference in your final product. As I sorted through the bins and file cabinets, I started to get a feel for how collections come together. I got better at recognizing different types of letters based on typeface and paper, and I could recognize different handwriting such as Nancy Walker’s. It was quiet and time-consuming work, but it made me realize how important backstage effort is when running a historic house.   

Without the efforts of archivists, many important documents like original blueprints or association bulletins could be overlooked during research. I also learned some basic preservation skills such as flattening, removing paper clips and paper pins, and sorting documents into acid-free folders and archival boxes. It was very illuminating to learn just how much work needs to go into preserving documents, even modern ones. I realized that my ability to focus is a valuable asset that I hadn’t previously considered. I also got better at trusting my judgment, staying organized, and managing multiple projects. It increased my already high regard for archival work and all the effort that goes into archival departments, no matter how large or small they are.

Lily Petteway, BMC 25′

Educational Research and
Interpretation at Harriton House

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Harriton House 

Field Supervisor: Laura Carpenter 

Praxis Poster:

HART_LilyPetteway_Revised

 

Further Context:

My work at Harriton this semester was detail-oriented and research-focused, contributing to the house’s current goal of reinterpretation for its various visitors. Historical homes are often small, intimate spaces, and Harriton certainly falls into these categories. Located just a few minutes from Bryn Mawr’s campus, Harriton House has been standing since 1704 and is best known as the residence of Charles Thomson, Secretary to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789. Harriton highlights the critical role that local histories play in shaping historical engagement, interest, and education. 

My work centered upon Hannah Harrison Thomson, the inheritor of the Harriton property and Charles Thomson’s wife. After his political career that took Hannah from city to city, Thomson decided to retire the two to Harriton. My goal was to find as much information on Hannah as possible, whether that be through memorandum books or epistolary commentary on Charles’ political affairs. This had me not just digging through Harriton’s archives, but also visiting Philadelphia-based institutions like the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the American Philosophical Society, and the Independence National Historical Park Library. I sifted through and transcribed any letter I could find that was even tangentially related to Hannah, often having to read between the lines given how much historical commentary is focused on Charles instead. This was quiet, independent work but with a scavenger-hunt edge. Hannah’s letters were frequently witty, irreverent, and full of personality, which made highlighting her story at Harriton an exciting undertaking. 

Towards the end of the semester, I began compiling a Girl Scouts “Playing the Past” activity curriculum for girls aged 9-11 visiting Harriton. This ended up being more challenging than I had imagined as I had to think about how I wanted to interpret and synthesize my research for a younger audience. For the badge, girls visit a historical site and step into the shoes of a woman related to the site. I wanted to include a mix of activities that showed the potential limitations for late-eighteenth-century women but also show how women could still carve out spheres of influence for themselves; after all, Hannah’s life experience was so variant given her sudden shift out of the urban, social sphere into the homestead setting of Harriton. Letter/diary writing, mock portrait making, and exploring the house to locate Hannah’s influences were some activities I incorporated. 

Something I came to appreciate throughout my time at Harriton was how community-oriented the site is. The house is very receptive to outside visitors, nearby residents, volunteers, donors, and members that I frequently got to interact with. Harriton has become a staple of the surrounding community and serves not only to preserve that community’s past, but also consider its future. By hosting numerous events that celebrate Lower Merion’s history, running children’s programs, and even simply caring for the goats so beloved by visitors, Harriton fosters engagement that keeps local stories alive. 

Jiya Iyer (BMC 27′), Didialendy Linares (BMC 27′), Celia Huey (BMC 27′), Callie Rabins (BMC 25′)

Food and Community

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: SPAN 247: Gastropoetica Latinoamericana

Faculty Advisor: Juan Suárez Ontaneda

Field Site: Puentes de Salud, ACLAMO

Field Supervisor: Liv Raddatz

Praxis Poster: 

SPAN_Group 3_Praxis Poster

 

Further Context:

Over the course of this semester, our class has had the pleasure of working directly with two different community groups as part of our course, Gastropoetics of Latin America. As part of the conclusion of this course, we have put together this Praxis Poster that answers the question of how food has fostered a sense of community this semester in the classroom and working with our community partners. Our overarching answer to this question is that cooking, eating, and talking about food together is a powerful tool for creating long-lasting communities. The first community-engaged learning section of our poster describes our first community partner, Puentes de Salud, which is a nonprofit organization that serves the Latin community in South Philly through medical services, educational programs, and other services that support the health of the community. We have included a photo we took during one of our visits to Puentes of part of the mural in the building’s lobby, which shows a woman grinding corn using traditional tools called a mano and metate. This mural connects with one of the projects we did with Puentes; as smaller groups, we researched and wrote lessons on common ingredients in Latin American foodways, which we then presented to the students at Puentes so together we could learn more about the histories, preparations, and usages of ingredients like the corn mural.

Pictured in the middle of the poster are tostadas, which are one of the many dishes that we were able to collaboratively make with Puentes students during another visit to the partner organization. Through making dishes like tostadas, salsas, and guacamole together, we were able to share memories and recipes that are important to our families and cultures. Preparing food and sharing a meal with our friends at Puentes was a fantastic experience as we were able to connect with the students on a deeper level through these conversations about our commonalities and differences with food and recipes.

Our other community partner this semester was ACLAMO, an organization in Norrisotown focused on supporting the Latinx community through educational programs, medical services, social welfare, and other resources. ACLAMO strives to help the Latinx community to reach their full potential in life. We also had the opportunity to share a meal with the students from ACLAMO, although this time it was Bryn Mawr dining hall food instead of food we made ourselves. Sitting together and sharing a meal still provided the chance to sit together and talk, first about the dining hall food, and then about our broader respective familial foodways and school experiences.

The Praxis experience is all about meeting and connecting with community members, which can be intimidating at first, but for us it was made easier by consistently being able to connect with our community partners about food. We all have opinions about food, whether it’s certain ingredients we don’t like or specific ways our family cooks a well-known dish. Because of this commonality, we have found that it is always possible to strike up a lively conversation with someone about these opinions and in doing so, share something about our cultures and connect more deeply with one another. Overall, cooking and eating together create community as a way to share our cultures and learn about new cultures and foodways in a way that is fulfilling and meaningful.

Kyle Coll-Camalez Galindez (HC ’25), Georgia Svoboda (BMC ’26), Leah Sutton-Smith (BMC ’25), Arlene Ulloa (BMC ’28)

How has Food Restored a Sense of Community this Semester?

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: SPAN 247: Gastropoetica Latinoamericana

Faculty Advisor: Juan Suárez Ontaneda

Field Site: Puentes de Salud

Field Supervisor: Liv Raddatz

Praxis Poster: 

SPAN_Group 5 Poster

 

Further Context:

This semester, our class worked with students in the after-school program at Puentes de Salud. When we first met them they were excited about the prospect of doing cooking projects with us. For our next visit, we prepared recipes to cook with the students, working together in groups to make foods like tostadas, pico de gallo, and mangonadas.

Working with the students to make these recipes was a unique way to connect with them. We were brought together by the opportunity to work together with the goal of creating a final product that we could all enjoy. The process not only encouraged collaboration, but also gave us a chance to bond with them over favorite foods and cooking experiences, and helped everyone feel more comfortable and open with each other.

Through this experience, our class bonded both with the students at Puentes and with each other. The collaboration and work required in preparing and executing the recipes built trust and a sense of teamwork. Making the recipes with the Puentes students helped us connect with them because in addition to getting to know them and sharing experiences, we worked together to make something exciting, which brought us all together. Sharing all our efforts at the end of the day and eating together was a special moment because everyone had contributed, not only to the food but to the sense of community that we had developed.

Maya Carlino, BMC ’26

Public Trust Archival Display

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Public Trust

Field Supervisor: Aaron Levy

Praxis Poster: 

HART_MAYACARLINO_Revised

 

Further Context:

This semester I interned at Public Trust, a small arts non-profit on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. While they’ve been around since 2002, they’ve recently rebranded from the Slought Foundation and moved away from curating exhibits and installations to focusing more on one-off events and other interactive programming. They’re dedicated to engaging with the community and have an integrative approach and commitment to health, education, and ecology, which guide their programs.

As I mentioned, Public Trust no longer does temporary exhibitions, however, I was able to help them develop a couple different permanent displays for the space. During my first few weeks, a project by a former intern was wrapping up, and I assisted in hanging three large prints on the wall in the front room. It has been really neat to see how a few minor changes made to the space every week add up to big differences in the end. Aaron Levy, my supervisor, has been consistently upgrading the recording and projecting technology, and the tech booth has gone through a transformation since I’ve been there.

I was tasked with creating a series of archival displays of past programs. I did extensive research through the organization’s archived website, which is open and available to the public online, and designed 44 poster spreads that will soon be hung on the wall in the public forum. It was challenging to keep the designs consistent, as titles, pictures, and information available about dates and times varied between events.

InDesign to create the designs, which I taught to myself over the course of the semester. I had to figure out how to install the special fonts from the previous poster template, relink images, how to create guides to be consistent with my layout, how to place a gradient, and then how to manipulate the colors so they matched the image and also looked good. There is a notorious learning curve for Adobe programs, and InDesign was not any easier to learn how to use, especially for such a specific project like the one I was working on, however, if I hadn’t spent so much time getting things wrong, then I wouldn’t be so confident with the program now.

I am sure the final display will enrich the experiences of visitors to the space. As the audience attends present and future programs, they can learn about the history of knowledge that has been shared at Public Trust.

Tanya Chen, BMC ’25

Woodmere Art Museum

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Woodmere Museum

Field Supervisor: Amy Gillette

Praxis Poster: 

HART_TanyaChen_Revised

 

Further Context:

For my Museum Studies Fieldwork course, I had the opportunity to intern at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, an institution dedicated to celebrating the art and artists of the Philadelphia region. My work focused on writing object labels for artworks that will be displayed in Woodmere’s new building, which is currently under development. This experience introduced me to various curatorial and interpretive practices within a museum deeply rooted in its local community.

As an archaeology major, I came into the internship with a background in ancient art and material culture, but I had little experience working with contemporary art, which makes up the majority of Woodmere’s collection. Writing for a public audience—especially about art I wasn’t initially familiar with—was a challenge, but one that taught me a lot about accessibility, research, and how curators shape visitor experiences through language. I worked closely with staff to refine object texts that communicate both factual and emotional significance.

One moment that stood out to me was identifying a Chinese bronze money tree among the jewelry collection—an object that had not yet been catalogued. Thanks to my archaeological training, I was able to recognize and contextualize the piece, bringing new insight to the collection. This moment reminded me how transferable my skills are and how knowledge from one discipline can enrich another.

Balancing the internship with a demanding senior year and multiple jobs wasn’t easy. Time management was a real struggle, and I often found myself stretched thin. Still, the experience reaffirmed my interest in working in museums and helped me think more critically about sustainable work conditions in the field—especially for emerging professionals and students.

With the museum preparing to open a new building, Woodmere is clearly expanding its reach and vision. Its emphasis on community engagement, regional storytelling, and inclusivity is what makes it such a dynamic place to learn. I’m grateful to have contributed to this moment of growth, and I leave with a stronger understanding of the interpretive work museums do—and how I hope to participate in that work in the future.

 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. 

Ella Evans, BMC 25′

Archival Inventorying at the Fabric Workshop and Museum

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Fabric Workshop and Museum

Field Supervisor: Justin Hall

Praxis Poster:

HART_EllaEvans_FWMPoster

 

Further Context:

This past semester, I had the wonderful opportunity to intern with the Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) in their museum archives. Marion ‘Kippy’ Boulton Stroud founded the workshop in 1977, and the institution has collaborated with artists to create contemporary art in a variety of media ever since. The workshop pushes artists to move outside of their comfort zones or preferred media and embrace innovation and possibility. From its onset, the FWM has collected the contemporary art produced during its artist-in-residence collaborations, which means that they have a robust and multifaceted collection. I focused on several different projects during my internship which were geared towards inventorying and cataloguing parts of the collection in order to increase public accessibility. 

My main project examined the accessioned object records in CollectionSpace, FWM’s online records management software. My role was to evaluate the presence and quality of the images in the over 1100 objects accessioned into the FWM’s permanent collection and create an inventory spreadsheet. This spreadsheet will be used in the future to ensure that all of the accessioned objects in the collection have high-quality photographs, so that each object’s information can be uploaded to FWM’s public browser site. This future site will assist researchers and the public in learning about the diverse collection of art at the museum. During my internship, my supervisor used the spreadsheet to locate items of clothing in the collection that had low-quality or absent photos and then scheduled photography sessions with the staff photographer to begin the process of building the index of website-worthy photos. I assisted with arranging t-shirts, robes, and dresses during these photography sessions, and it was so cool to be hands-on with the artwork. 

Besides the photo inventory project, I worked to catalogue the materials in several different Artist Boxes in the FWM’s collection. These Artist Boxes contained process materials from the stay of contemporary artists during their Artist-in-Residences at the FWM. Through my cataloguing, I created a visual guide of the materials in the Artist Boxes for future use by researchers. This project let me hone my cataloguing skills and I gained practice describing collection objects and formatting museum documents. 

Additionally, the FWM attended the IFPDA print fair in New York City in March. Prior to the fair, I assisted my supervisor with conducting condition reports of objects, small conservation measures for objects, and packing objects for shipment to New York. I learned important art handling skills from my supervisor during this experience, understanding the intricacies of bubble wrap and frame tape. 

Reflecting on my diverse experiences at the FWM, I learned so much about the role of archives and registrars within small museum institutions. This experience solidified my desire to pursue a role in museum archives upon graduation. Ultimately, I am so grateful to all the FWM staff to being so supportive through my internship. I’m excited to see the new projects that the FWM decides to embark on! 

Olivia Herman, BMC 26′

Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

Field Supervisor: Claire Pingel

Praxis Poster:

HART_OliviaHerman_REVISED

 

Further Context:

For my museum studies praxis, I worked at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History which is located in Independence Mall in downtown Philadelphia. The museum celebrates the history of Jews in America dating back to the 17th century. The museum’s goal is to provide a place where American Jews and people of all backgrounds can learn about the diversity of the American Jewish experience and Jews’s role in American history. The museum has three main exhibition floors each focusing on a different chunk of time: 1654-1880, 1880-1945, and 1945- today (or 2006), and one more floor with a focus on prominent Jews in American history.  

I worked specifically in the collections and registration department where I completed a variety of different tasks. I learned how and did exhibit walkthroughs, where I made sure everything in the exhibit was clean, where it was supposed to be, and that all the humidity and temperature-controlled cases were at the correct level. I also did a lot of work for their special exhibition “The First Salute” which is opening in April of next year for the 250th anniversary of America. I helped out with artifact research, finding loan information, organization of potential artifacts, and adding loans to the museum’s online database. I also helped out with the museum’s collaboration with a local high school which are doing a small temporary exhibit at the museum as well as an online exhibit. I’ve also helped with processing loan returns and final condition checks. I’ve conducted research also on a potential future exhibit based on something in the museum’s collection.  

During my time at the Weitzman, I have learned also about the behind the scenes of a museum and all that goes into museum work. I’ve gained a variety of new skills such as working with a museum database and gaining proficiency with Excel. I also understand more about how museum loans work and how much planning needs to go into them months before an exhibit will open. I also better understand the process behind creating a new exhibit and how many people both internal and external are involved as well as what each role in the process entails.