I have to second all the great things Abby said about the UVA Law Library! As I wrap up my internship here, I’m organizing all the research that I worked on, including my interpretive essays and research that I compiled for them. I finalized edits for contextual essay drafts and am working to incorporate images into the essays, as well. I also drafted a report of the progress that I made leading interpretation for the 1828 Catalogue Project and where we can go in the future. I’m excited to see how the project unfolds and I am hoping to stay connected to it and the wonderful people that I met while working at Special Collections!
To wrap up my internship here, this week I have finished up the three interpretive essays I’ve been working on to spotlight themes in Lile’s politics at the turn of the twentieth century. I have also compiled and organized all my research from this summer into some documents to upload to the collaborative folder for the Lile project. Overall, it has been very helpful to bring together everything I’ve worked on this summer and reflect on what I've learned. It has been a valuable experience to take part in the process of presenting history in an accessible and useful way to scholars and the public!
Greetings from somewhere other than Richmond National Battlefield Park!
This past week was my last week at the park and it was definitely bittersweet.
On Monday and Tuesday, I finally finished the rough draft of my research paper. I plan on using my summer research for my major seminar paper next spring.
On Wednesday, I spent my last day at Tredegar Iron Works. I spent the day, giving cannon talks and interacting with visitors, so it was business as usual. However, during my lunch break, I did make one of the rangers take some pictures of me, so enjoy a sample of these wonderful shots.
Driving away from Tredegar was very bittersweet, it wasn’t my favorite site to work at (I definitely preferred Cold Harbor) but I learned so much about interpretation at this site. The mix of visitors, from River People (people who park in our lot and only come in to validate their parking after swimming in the James) to very intense history lovers who think that they are right but really aren’t really taught me so much about people and how to work in the field of public history.
I spent my last two days working at Cold Harbor, and like Tredegar it was business as usual. I absolutely loved working at Cold Harbor because of the one on one time I got with the rangers. I learned so much about the park service and how to be a good interpreter from them. At the same time, sometimes I would see rangers do something that I wouldn’t do. I loved walking the grounds at Cold Harbor on my tour because the earthworks are just so amazing. It’s really powerful to stand in the same spot as the soldiers and just imagine their experience on the battlefield. I was just so sad to leave that site and hopefully I’ll be able to come back and work at the park.
Overall this summer was one of the best summers of my life. I absolutely loved working for the park service and hopefully I’ll be able to come back and work as a seasonal. Thank for following me along on this internship, hopefully you can see how much I loved it.
Hello all! After an exciting and nerve racking summer, I can officially announce that I am now full time staff at James Monroe’s Highland as their Communications and Events Coordinator! I applied on my third day as an intern at the urging of some of the staff, I interviewed about a month ago, and I started full time earlier this week. With my first week now in the books, I’m so grateful for all the doors that IPH has opened for me.
But before I started this position, I finished (most of) my internship by renewing some of our loans. Like I’ve mentioned in my last posts, most of these items hasn’t been renewed in several years and needed to legally be resigned. One of my favorite loan stories was when I called the man who had lent us a huge (I mean **huge**) loom in 1997. We had no paper file or any information on the loan other than this man’s phone number. When I called him, he said he now wanted the loom we’d had for 20 years back by the end of the week! Part of my job now at Highland is finalizing the return and cleaning the loom.
I also worked with our executive director very closely to better understand the loans we have with the James Monroe Museum. Based on an agreement she signed with the museum in 2016, it appeared that we had about 30 of their items. In reality, we returned about half of those during the early 2000′s when documentation at the museum was poor. We were able to draft a new agreement between the two museum that more accurately reflected what we actually had on loan based on my research.
Finally, this week was the Albemarle County fair at Highland! Between the sheep, the cows, and the Carpe Donut donuts, it was quite the exciting first week. I’ll continue to go on more wedding tours, walkthroughs and planning meetings next week to learn more about my position.
I just wanted to thank the IPH program again for the opportunity it gave it for a full time job. While I know this is always the ideal situation, it seemed pretty unlikely when I first started. I’m so thankful for the program for giving me a foot in the door that I otherwise would not have had.
I can’t believe the summer season is nearly over because I sometimes feel as though I just arrived. I don’t think I’ll be ready to leave in a few weeks, as I have had a lot of fun here. I suppose the internship is “business as usual,” but no two days are the same. The variety of visitors brings a unique flavor to each day.
I’m splitting my time more evenly between Chatham and the Battlefield Visitor Center now, which helps to keep each site feeling fresh. I did notice myself falling into using the same greeting over and over, so I’ve tried to mix that up. I’ve also tried to get more in-depth about the battle from the very first greeting. Some visitors are just making a quick stop through the visitor center, but other times we have more curious visitors and I’ve been able to spark some great conversations at the front desk. No matter their interest level, it is neat to often be the first interaction they have with the park and our battlefield. It’s humbling to represent the NPS, and many times I don’t feel like I’m important enough to do so, but I’m happy to have the opportunity.
My supervisor came along on my battlefield tour again for a final audit. It was not ideal that he audited me twice within July, but that just reflects how crazy the summer has been. I was much less nervous this time, and it went swimmingly. After the first tour I ever gave, I never thought it would feel normal to stand in front of a bunch of staring strangers and discuss the Battle of Fredericksburg. Now the bizarre has become routine, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the internship. Every once in a while it still feels like visitors are dead behind the eyes, but I’ve found out that I am a solid storyteller. I think I picked it up from many of my great history professors and also having to write a million and one history essays over the past four years.
Still, working with the general public means I’m bound to have truly strange visitor experiences every now and then. For instance, last weekend I had a tour with just one couple, who tried to give me a nearly full sized portrait the woman had drawn of a very hunky Jesus. They were not interested in the usual content of my tour, but rather which of the Civil War generals were Christians and who would be saved after the battle. I also have a lot of people inquire about how old I am, or if I say that I recently graduated they ask where I plan to attend college.
While the summer is nearing an end and most of my fellow interns will be gone by the end of the week, there is still much to do between now and the end. We have our final field trip on Thursday, when we will visit sites of some of the cavalry battles leading up to Gettysburg. We also have one more History at Sunset program on Friday, which I will work. Our chief historian and another permanent historian will lead a walk about “Slavery and Slave Places in Fredericksburg.” We have had four of eight programs cancelled due to poorly timed bad weather on Fridays, but I’m excited for this last program. Apparently the programs on slavery generally (unfortunately) draw smaller crowds, but I’m looking forward to learning about how the Union army acted as an engine of emancipation here in Fredericksburg specifically.
Here’s the Stafford side view of the upper pontoon crossing.
This past week wrapped up my internship with the Virginia Historical Society. I completed another family collection this week, which was very gratifying. I really enjoyed this internship, because I learned a considerable amount about archiving and about the Civil War. This internship gave me a new perspective on the soldiers in the Civil War, because I was immersed into their personal lives, their thoughts, their anxieties, their joys. My heart breaks for the families that were ripped apart by the war. The collection that I completed this week concerned a man named Madison Ray, who served in the Confederacy and died in a hospital in 1863. He left a wife and a young son. Every single letter to his wife began with his intense desire to be her and their son rather than serving in the war. He also thought that he was going to return home soon, but he never did. His life is probably a picture of the average soldier’s life: torn away from their family and ultimately longing to be home rather than to serve the Confederacy or the Union. Through this internship, I was able to empathize with the soldiers and learn their individuals stories rather than viewing them collectively as the Confederacy or the Union.
This week I’ve continued working on interpretive essays about Lile’s politics. Things are wrapping up because next week will be my last one, and at some point next week I will present what I’ve learned from my research with the Lile diaries to the library community. For now, I’m focusing mostly on finishing the essays and organizing my work so that I can upload it to the collaborative online folder for the Lile project so that people working on this project in the future can pick up on the work I’ve done this summer. I’m also working on a digital map for the Lile website, which will tie down the locations he mentions in his diaries in Lynchburg, such as the court house and the prestigious neighborhood where he lived, which is now a historic district.
“If any member of our college of visitors could justifiably withdraw from this sacred duty it would be myself, who, quadragenis stipendiis jamdudum peractis, have neither vigor of body nor mind left to keep the field; but I will die in the last ditch, and so I hope you will, my friend, as well as our firm breasted brothers and colleagues...Nature will not give you a second life wherein to atone for the omissions of this. Pray then, dear and very dear Sir, do not think of deserting us, but view the sacrifices which seem to stand in your way, as the lesser duties, and such as ought to be postponed to this, the greatest of all. Continue with us in these holy labors, until having seen their accomplishment, we may say with old age ‘Nunc dimittis, Domine.’ Under all circumstances, however, of praise or blame, I shall be affectionately yours.”
--Thomas Jefferson to Joseph C Cabell, January 31, 1821
Presumably the battle had already been won. The land grant passed in 1817, the university charter given in 1819. The University of Virginia was established. Except that the future of the fledgling was very much in doubt. The General Assembly did not want to appropriate a large amount of money to a new University when they already had two other schools to support. Joseph Cabell, Jefferson’s closest ally and champion in the General Assembly, had fought since the early 1810s for the school. The battle took a high toll on Cabell’s health and he wanted to lay down his arms. But Jefferson knew they were not done yet, and persuaded Cabell to keep fighting.
It’s my last day, so please indulge some rambling musings. Apologies in advance. Feel free to skip to the end for the actual tally of all work accomplished this summer.
I found this quote/letter my very first week of the internship and it stuck with me. More so than a regular quote about never giving up, which you often hear in association with when things are looking down, this quote shows the importance of giving 110% even when it seems like you could stop and be proud of what you did. Because what if you could make it even better. What if you could create something which lasts over 200 years. And yes, you “may not live to see our glory” to quote Hamilton (I realize Hamilton and Jefferson were not the best of friends in any sense of the word but it seems appropriate) nor is it about creating a legacy (“planting seeds in a garden you never get to see” pardon my musical obsession). When Jefferson founded the University of Virginia, he had already accomplished so many things, more than most people could ever hope to do. But the thing which he cared most about, and fought so hard for at the end of his life, was the University. It was education for the people.
Jefferson always gets a bad rap, and I’m not trying to give Jefferson a total pass. I’m not going to get into discussions on slavery, or any other topics. Just UVA. The University I love. It certainly looks different today from Jefferson’s original vision (and not just the buildings and layout). It was a school for white men, primarily well off, for most of its history. The first African American Student wasn’t admitted until 1950. The first coed undergraduate class matriculated in 1970. (Although women had been admitted to graduate level programs since the late 1910s and earlier to any level if they were daughters/wives of faculty). The first organization of gay students wasn’t until 1972. Do we wish that the University had always been open and egalitarian towards all? Absolutely. Are there parts of the University’s history we would rather sweep under the rug? Of course. But the trick with history is to figure out the best way to understand it and help others understand. It is not my place to say if Jefferson would approve of UVA now or speculate his opinion of its history. It is my job as a historian to gather and present the relevant material that will enable people to engage with their history and what was happening to cause those events to occurs.
I realize that this is perhaps a little long winded and stream of conscious. So again, I thank you for your patience.
(Funnily enough, me being the history and musical theater fan I am,“Is Anybody There” from 1776 just started playing. Jefferson might appreciate this comparison a little more than the Hamilton reference. But at this point in the song, it looks like independence is not going to happen. John Adams sings of his vision and wants to know if anyone else can see it. With a few changes, this could be Jefferson singing to Cabell about Jefferson’s vision for UVA)
BICENTENNIAL NEWS
Tickets are selling like challah on Thursdays (Shout out to Challah for Hunger). A few weeks ago UVA Today published a quiz about UVA alumni based on some of our research.
This week has mainly focused on cleaning up documents and making sure everything is still accessible after today. Wrote a few more profiles, added/wrote a couple new timelines, started a new notes compilation. The Cornerstone project has also come together nicely, although there is still room for them to add things once I leave.
This summer Caroline and I wrote approximately 72 profiles, 22 timelines, 9 themes/note compilations, 2 lists of event write ups, plus some top secret work for Illimitable. The Illimitable work includes about 30 write ups(quotes, description, and picture). We read over 25 books and countless articles. We interviewed one person for the Cornerstone project. I worked on the Cornerstone project more, adding/editing information and pictures for their StoryMap on UVA staff. We ran discussions at the June all Commission meeting about our work. We attended multiple meetings every week and learned a lot about what goes into putting an event of this scale.
Going forward, our work will be used in the actual events of the Bicentennial launch weekend and other events during the Bicentennial celebration. A website will be launched containing our timelines and profiles. The Cornerstone project will be revealed in a few months. And of course there is the top secret Illimitable project. Caroline and I plan on remaining involved with the Bicentennial by joining the Commemorating our History division of the Bicentennial Commission. I personally plan on being a member of the documentary team for the Bicentennial. Our work will probably feature in some other ways. Because that’s the thing about history: it’s never truly a thing of the past.
I took a two weeks off to take a class at UVa and forgot to post about week 6 before I left! I continued working on the Family Collections project from the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, so there is not a lot to report.
However, this past week has been mildly exciting since I completed two projects: the Family Collections project and a binder from the New York Ladies’ Southern Relief Association. The binder was stuffed with letters and receipts from ministers in Southern states - particularly Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia - addressed to the New York Ladies’ Southern Relief Association, which expressed their utmost gratitude for the Association’s assistance. Essentially, this Association was comprised of wealthy women in New York who sent out money during the years of 1866 and 1867 to aid the people of the South, who were suffering in the aftermath of the war (note that most of the states accepting relief were those who experienced the devastation of Sherman’s March). This Association was extremely generous and aided many people. A multitude of letters gravely stated that many would have perished from starvation without the aid sent from the Association. This project was quite interesting and I am glad I was able to participate in it.
I am quite sad the Family Collections project is completed, since I enjoyed it very much. I learned a good deal about civilian and female life during the Civil War and also refreshed my knowledge of the Civil War. I particularly enjoyed letters which discussed the current political climate, of which there were a handful. In particular, a collection contained some newspaper clippings from 1910, which discussed the North’s resentment toward the placement of a statue of Robert E. Lee in the U.S. Capitol. Considering that such a sentiment is currently occupying our nation over one hundred years later, I thought it would be interesting to share with you all! The author of the article’s argument - as the son of a Union veteran - was as follows:
“I believe firmly the things for which my father fought -- or thought he was fighting. I personally believe that General Lee misinterpreted important facts in the choice that he made in 1861. On the other hand, I believe that he was just as honest and just as clean-hearted in his choice when he cast his lot with the Confederacy as was any man who chose to follow the old flag. I pity, from the bottom of my heart, any man whose patriotism is of such a narrow character that it prevents him from recognizing the worth and greatness of Lee and the men of whom he is a type”.
On a different note, a collection also had letters belonging to the sister of William Orton Williams, a private in the Confederate army who was executed as a spy by the Union. Apparently, this man is very well-known and studied by historians but I had never heard of him before. His story was quite sad but intriguing. He was very close with the Lee family, since Robert E. Lee was cousins with his mother, and he also was romantically involved with Agnes Lee, Robert E. Lee’s daughter. Because of this close connection, he was arrested in 1861 by General Scott, after Lee had joined the Confederacy. In 1863, it appears that he and his cousin volunteered to dress in the Union uniform and retrieve information regarding the Union army’s plans. However, they were soon captured and executed. His sister refuses to believe that he was a spy and spends much time investigating his death. Quite a few details are fuzzy, but I was intrigued and thought I would share.
I am currently in the middle of my last week at the Virginia Historical Society, so I will be back to write one last post.
Finishing Touches & The Mysterious Writing Process
I was away the last couple weeks and am working remotely this week, putting the finishing touches on my big legal history essay. However, it did slow things down. I’ve been working with three different readers on my big contextual essay that will accompany the 1828 Digital Catalogue and I’m happy to say that it’s almost done. It took a lot of work. As I’ve probably mentioned before, I’m not a legal historian, although almost all historians work with legal texts to some capacity. Still, I *really* needed to educate myself about legal historiography and the state of the field. By doing so, I ended up getting waaaay too deep in the weeds and started drafting a 4,000+word essay for something that needed to be only 2,000! But that’s the writing process. I scaled back and took the big drafts that I did as a way to think about what I wanted to say (concisely and clearly) for the smaller one that most people will read. It’s a good reminder that you need to write for your reader, not for yourself, although I’ve always found that writing helps me discover what I think about a particular topic. Hopefully readers like what I wrote. It’s tricky to make legal history--which can often be very dense--enjoyable. I think I succeeded by humanizing it and showing how people like Thomas Jefferson and UVA Law Students interacted with legal texts. But we’ll have to see once the site is live.
I’m also happy to report that my blog posts are now live! Suffice to say, getting this stuff up took longer than I expected in terms of reviews and revisions. This is good news in that it’s clear that the UVa Law Library takes it’s blog writing seriously! However, it did mean I couldn’t have gotten many more up this summer. You can check them out here: http://library.law.virginia.edu/ajm-blog/
In the meantime, I’m checking in with Law Library staff to see how we’re going to wrap up the internship. I know there’s a new Special Collections librarian coming in who will build upon the Social Media plan that I designed for Special Collections and the 1828 Catalogue more broadly. So I’m excited to see how things progress this August and in the coming fall.
It’s been a week of celebrity historians here at Richmond National Battlefield Park! On Wednesday, Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Parks Service, Ed Bearss stopped by Cold Harbor while leading a Civil War Round Table Booth with Bob Krick.
It was so exciting to meet Mr. Bearss, as he was so nice and told me to “keep up the good work” which made up for the fact that earlier in the day a visitor called me a helper (I am not a helper, I am an intern). Honestly, that was just one of the many instances of sexism that I have dealt with while working here. Most visitors don’t blink an eye, but some will question everything I say and just disregard my opinions simply because I’m a woman.
But on to more happy topics. Professor. Gallagher and Cecily Zander visited Cold Harbor on Saturday and went on my Cold Harbor tour. I was a nervous wreck before they got there but once I started my tour, I calmed down and I think it went really well. I’m really excited that Professor Gallagher got to see me in action because as much as I love writing updates, you can really see my passion for this subject by going on my tour (or at least that’s what the visitors say!)
Other than the celebrity guests, this week has been pretty much business as usual. Next week will be my last week here and I’m sad to see it end, it’s been a wonderful summer!
This past week my work with the Chesapeake Corporation's legal section concluded with the employees and compensation information. I made sure to mark out the salaries and pay rates, which J.P. Causey requested. Of course, the women and minority employees were paid less than the men, and the vast majority of Chesapeake's employees were white men in the 1990s despite EEO and Affirmative Action policies. It bothers me that thirty years later the gender salary gap and diversity problems in business still persists.
The rest of my work diverted from archiving Chesapeake's legal papers to tying up the loose ends of the Chesapeake Corporation Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Chesapeake. I had not really thought about how foundations raised funds for philanthropic contributions before, and I learned a lot about the financial functions of the Foundation by looking at their financial statements, tax returns, Chesapeake Corporation contributions, and land sales for funding. The Foundation primarily focused on education, so the majority of its grants funded scholarships for their employees' children, community colleges, and 4 year colleges.
I also helped wrap up the oversize materials of the Chesapeake Corporation, which include property for sale signs, 75th anniversary posters, aerial maps of their woodlands, and packaging advertisements. Given the unwieldy and awkward size of these items, it took more time than I had anticipated to sort and archive the materials thematically and by size. Next week I'll finish up that sections.
Well it’s the end of July and my time at the Gibbes is nearly over. In my last weeks, I have successfully completed my project of inventorying and locating every drawer of works on paper and feel highly satisfied and accomplished now that all of these hidden treasures are not so hidden anymore. I’ve also been working in collections getting works together for the upcoming gallery change-over which, unfortunately, I won’t be here to see, so I’m glad I got an exclusive sneak preview of all of the new works in storage.
My last larger project was writing web chats for the photographic miniatures I selected. These are short blurbs that will be on the iPad in the miniature gallery so that people who are interested can learn more about the portraits. It was definitely a challenge to condense the technical process and cultural implications of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes into a mere 160 words each and make the chats easily digestible by the average reader skimming through blurbs in the gallery. I also chose a few of my favorite photos and wrote short blurbs about them. The topics ranged from visual analysis to historical context of the sitter or the photographer. These labels were a great opportunity for me to hone my research skill but also forced me to be frugal with my words, something that I’m not quite used to writing term papers in art history seminars where even one brushstroke can merit a one page long discussion.
All in all, I’ve really enjoyed my time and the Gibbes. From the incredible work environment to the meaningful and varied projects I’ve been assigned, it was such a great experience and I can’t wait to come back and visit!
It’s almost August and the website is finally starting to take shape. I’m still figuring out how to create stuff and such but the UVa web developer and I are in touch and working on some new projects! The Preservers had some really helpful suggestions for the site last time we spoke. It is great to have extra, fresh eyes critiquing the site to ensure the site remains focused on the cemetery and Uva.
Ther has been and continues to be so much support for DoZC restoration as I have been collecting information for the site and speaking with the Preservers. Just a few weeks ago the Preservers were among four recipients of the BeCville award. This granted them money to construct a memorial on the site. Moreover, there are multiple helpers that come out to keep the cemetery clean and continue progress on the gravestones. Overall the ample amount of support by the community for DoZC is incredible.
Finishing up in a few weeks with website stuff and continuing to support the Preservers.
The last few weeks at Highland have been business at usual. There’s not too much to say about giving 4-6 tours a day. The guests are great, constantly engaged and excited about the history, but i have not had as much contact with the ongoing work at Highland as some of our other interns. I love giving the tours, so I certainly don't mind. There are many exciting discoveries that frame the atmosphere at Highland, and new exploration is constant. For example, over the last week, a dendrochronologist has been taking samples at Monroe’s overseer’s house, so we can determine if it is original. We don’t anticipate any suppresses, but it is a great reminder that even at a 200 year old site, the history is not stagnant. I now know details about Monroe inside and out, and solidify my knowledge with every tour, growing it with research and reading whenever I'm not guiding. No matter how much time you spend, you can’t know it all about any period of history. Even if you get through all the books, we are constantly finding new information.
“Nobody even knew I had a record…When I retired, Cincinnati Post sports writer Tom Swope gave me a copy of my record. He wrote it was the best ever in the league by a left-hander. It didn’t rate national headlines.”
In 1912 Eppa Rixley graduated from UVA with a degree in chemistry.
Considered one of the all time best left handed pitchers for the Cincinnati Reds, if not in the entire Major League, Eppa Rixley got his start in Charlottesville. Rixley was quickly snatched up by the Philadelphia Phillies upon graduation. He frequently returned to Charlottesville, earning a Masters in Chemistry and taking classes in mathematics and Latin. His GPA was hopefully higher than his 2.50 ERA. After a few years in Philly, and a stint in the military during World War I, Rixley packed his bags and headed to Cincinnati to join the Reds. As part of the trade that sent Rixley to Cincinnati, later UVA football coach Greasy Neale joined the Phillies. Over the course of 21 years, Rixley racked up a record of 266 wins and 251 losses, a record number of both for any left handed pitcher until 1959.
Rixley was part of the 1963 Baseball Hall of Fame induction class. He died a month after the ceremony.
This quote comes from 1959 when Warren Spahn broke Rixley’s record for wins by a left handed pitcher. Rather than being upset, Rixley was just glad someone noticed.
(http://baseballhall.org/hof/rixey-eppa)
Bicentennial News:
This week Caroline and I continued finishing up various timelines/profiles/write ups. We received material for the Cornerstone project and have put that into the Storymap. We also conducted an interview with Peter Bower, the chef at Carr’s Hill for the Cornerstone project.
Yesterday we had a team meeting about the completion of our projects. As of today we have made 16 timelines on various UVA topics. Next week’s blog entry will contain a complete summary of our work as well as the next steps we anticipate for this material.
Today was Caroline’s last day. It has been a complete pleasure working with you this summer and I cannot wait to work with you in the fall for DMP.
I knew things were going suspiciously well around here. I felt like I was consistently giving great tours and I had met a lot of awesome visitors. Then, last Tuesday, I had a not so good experience.
In hindsight, it really shouldn’t have been so traumatic. A visitor came in decked out in Confederate gear (including a Confederate flag vest that said “Try burning this, a**hole”) and asked about the next tour. I knew I was scheduled to give the next tour, and my heart sunk. When I met the group outside, he started chatting with me about how active he was in the Virginia Flaggers. He also overheard that I went to U.Va., and said “Oh, I’ve been to Charlottesville A LOT recently because those idiots are trying to take down the Lee statue.” I just nodded and smiled, so if he was trying to provoke me it didn’t really work.
He didn’t give me too much trouble on the tour, but the problem was that I tried to modify my interpretation on the go to make it as neutral as possible. This was bad, because I didn’t present my argument as strongly as normal, and I was just so nervous that I feel as though I could have done much better. For example, I breezed through my introduction to the Emancipation Proclamation, but that is key to explaining the political context to the battle. Even though I ended the tour feeling frazzled, I learned that I should stick to my guns. I would have been better off giving my usual tour and dealing with conflict if it came up. I’m sure I’ve had people on my tours disagree with me before, but the fact that he outwardly displayed his opinions threw me off. Interpreting the Civil War can be incredibly sticky, but from now on I need to have more confidence in my interpretation.
This interaction reinforced that public history is often heavier on the public than on the history. A visitor may not fully agree with what I have to say about the battle, but if we can connect on a personal level (about where they’re from, etc.) then they’ll still have a positive experience. It would be boring if all visitors that came to our park had similar backgrounds and perspectives. I love that I get to learn and challenge myself each day at work.
Other than that, everything else at FRSP is going well. Fortunately, we finally gave out our last of the 400 surveys. The summer is wrapping up incredibly quickly. I’ve already exceeded my 300 hour internship limit (woops) but I’ll stay at the park until mid-August. I hear that the August visitor is the most curious breed, so hopefully I’ll have more stories to share before the end. Until then, enjoy this classic “cannon on a battlefield” pic taken from Marye’s Heights.
