Becca Drustrup Internship at the State Historical Museum of Iowa Reflection I began my internship at the State Historical Museum at the beginning of February, meeting with my internship supervisor Millie Frese to discuss my role as an intern in the Education Department. One of my projects would consist of researching information about a museum object, and compiling that information into an educational component for the museum. Another main component of my internship was assisting with National History Day events. Possible responsibilities included: being a judge in the competition, and preparation and set up for events. The first object I started researching was a mourning needlepoint that was donated to the museum in 1970 by the wife of Homer B. Chase. His wife Helen had stated that the May family, who was depicted in the needlepoint, was one of the first families to settle in Iowa in the mid 1800s. The needlepoint depicts a woman in black mourning over the grave of Caleb and Isabel May, who died in 1801 and 1809 respectively. Through a basic Google and Ancestry.com search, I was not able to track down any helpful information about either family. I began a free 2 week trial on Ancestry.com which gave me unlimited access to birth, marriage and death records, as well as census records. I was able to track the May family to New Hampshire and Connecticut, and started piecing together a family tree. A further look at the needlepoint, I found a signature on the back of the frame with the name Betsey May. Betsey was the daughter of Caleb and Isabel May, and most likely the creator of the needlepoint. I created an educational sheet that described my research process of the needlepoint, as well as discussed the history of mourning needlework and mourning rituals in the 1800s. I wanted to create educational sheets that would be beneficial to teachers if they were to use them in their lesson plans, or for anyone who wanted to learn more about history and objects from the museum. The next educational research I wanted to focus on woman suffrage and the women who helped change history. Millie suggested that I research women suffragists that have an Iowa connection, as it would cover two topics: women's studies and Iowa history. She thought the state library and archives would be a good resource to search for documents such as letters, journals, periodicals that would connect these women to Iowa. I began researching influential Iowa women I had heard about, such as Arabella Mansfield, Carrie Chapman Catt and Mary Edwards Walker. I created short bios about the women, and explained their connection to Iowa. I wanted these bios to be teaching materials to be used by teachers in schools, or by adults at home. I met with Stephanie Wager who works for the Iowa Department of Education. We discussed my research I had done for the museum and she thought that teachers would most benefit if I were to compile the information into lesson plans. I was told by Millie that the next research project I began working on could stem off of the mourning needlepoint project I had just completed. Possible topics included: the Victorian time period, mourning practices across the world, needlepoint stitchery and mourning attire. I was not confined to researching those topics, but Millie wanted a topic that I could create another educational sheet. I would also try to find a museum object that relates to the topic and the information I was researching. I began to research the Victorian time period and Queen Victoria, as it was a time period that I have personal interest in. Awhile later I began to question whether the English Victorian time period would be taught in local schools. I decided that if I were to write about the Victorian time period, it would make more sense to cover the American events during that time period. I had worked on a provenance project when I was a student at Iowa State, but did not have much luck in finding additional information. I believe that I was lucky in that Ancestry.com supplied me with plenty of records and documents so I could create an expansive family tree of the May and Chase families. I spent many hours researching this project, and did not always find the answers I was looking for. I knew that this was typical of research, and through persistence I was able to uncover most of my questions. I also helped out with a program called History through the Arts, that included workshops and an opera performance of The Three Little Pigs. The first day I assisted Millie in showing the students museum objects that were related to pigs. I would hand the objects to Millie as she would describe the objects to the students and their significance to the museum and Iowa history. The next day I led the workshop, repeating much of the information that I had heard from Millie the day before. Due to a blizzard the first day, not as many schools showed up, and schools were sent home early. Unfortunately for the museum, they were still required to pay the opera for two performances even though they only gave one performance that day. They also lost even more money thanks to the two schools not showing up. Even though all the schools showed up to the next day's event, the museum lost money on this program. While volunteering at other museums and events, I have realized that this is unfortunately a common occurrence. Another part of my internship has been helping Millie, and Katie Craven with National History Day competition events. Katie is a new hire to the museum to be the full time Iowa coordinator for the National History Day. I went to a National History Day at St. Ambrose where I was a judge in exhibits and interviewed seven participants on their topic and creation of the exhibit. The theme for this year's competition is Rights and Responsibilities and the students were allowed to address one or either components. Several interview questions we asked focused on their knowledge of the topic, and how well they could express that knowledge onto a display board. We asked them how the theme related to their topic, as well as how they conducted their research. Out of the seven my fellow judges and I decided on our top two exhibits to move on to be judged in the final decision to qualify for state competition. For another History Day competition, I was a website judge in Iowa City. Typically judges receive the URLs of the websites before the event, but I had not previously viewed them as I was a last minute addition. I sat with two other judges as we listened to eleven presentations by students. This was my first experience judging websites and I was impressed how well the middle schoolers were able to create a website using Weebly. After deliberation we chose two websites to qualify for state. We took the rest of the time comparing notes and writing evaluations. We wanted to be relatively consistent in the checklist component of the evaluations, then we were left to write our own constructive criticisms to the students. The next day I attended the National History Day event in Council Bluffs where I was a door monitor, making sure only students and judges were allowed in to the exhibit area. Parents and teachers would be allowed to look around once all the judging rounds were over. This History Day set up was differently because they had all the students stand next to their exhibits while the judges walked around, instead of the students coming in close to their judging time. Even though it meant that they were standing for a longer period of time, it seemed to work out just as well as other methods. I was told that not as many students participated in History Day this year compared to other years, at least 40 to 50 less students. I could also tell that their district did not have as many participants because the judging and evaluation did not take as long and they were ready to have the ceremony after only four hours. Other competitions I had been to typically have the ceremony closer to six hours after judging has begun. The last district competition I attended was at Grandview University in Des Moines, and was very similar to the past events I'd been to. I was assigned to be a judge in individual exhibits, meeting with ten students. My fellow judge was a history professor and wanted to discuss the topic in depth with the students, but due to time constraints I directed the conversation back to the student and their project. I was glad that he was taking an interest in the students and their work, but I wanted to be fair to each student and stick to the time allotted on the schedule. Afterwards, we took some time deliberating and picked our two participants that would advance to the final judging round. I thought that the state competitions went just as well as the district competitions, even though the state competition is even bigger and therefore requires more time and work for preparation. The registration days gave the students the opportunity to check in, set up their exhibit and know which room they would go to speak with the judges. We were well prepared for both events, doing our best to accommodate for the hundreds of people that would be at the museum all day. I was a judge both days, but also helped out with any tasks when needed. My fellow judges were great people to work with, and we did not have any issues in deciding on the students that would advance. I helped organize student documents so the museum could keep a copy in case any plagiarism issues were discovered. I helped with putting up and taking down signs and schedules, which was necessary since the building can be confusing to those unfamiliar with its layout. I have greatly enjoyed my time interning at the State Historical Museum. I have learned a lot from Millie and Katie on becoming a professional in the workplace. They have shown me how much hard work and dedication goes into planning and running an event. Even though many days I spent printing, copying and organizing papers, I knew that my work was taking less off of their already overflowing plates. I knew that these events required a lot of preparation, although I was still amazed that both Katie and Millie would spend many late nights at work making sure they were ready. I've been interested in the education aspect of a museum, especially in creating a healthy relationship with the local schools and the museums in the community. I have been lucky that throughout this internship every project I've worked on has done just that. My research will eventually be on the museum's website as lesson plans to be used as educational materials, I helped with an event that discussed history and museum objects with children, as well as devoted most of my time on National History Day which promotes history, research and learning to thousands of students across the country. I have learned so much from my time at the State Historical Museum, and am glad I was able to tailor my research and work towards topics of interest to me as well as my focus on education within museums and schools. Although my requirement for the internship with Museum Studies has been completed, I will be continuing my work and research for Millie and the Education department for the time being.