#ameliadoingcivilwarstuff

[iph-interns-2018]

FRSP Month 1

Hi All! My name is Amelia Gilmer and I work at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park as an intern. There was some posting issues with the tumblr site so I am just going to post a monthly wrap up about my time as FRSP!

One day after wearing the honors of honor, I packed my bags and moved to Fredericksburg for the summer to begin my internship training at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. So far this training has been a lot different than my previous training at Richmond National Battlefield Park. We spent the first day in the classroom going over the basics of the park service in somewhat excruciating detail. The next day we spent the entire eight hours acting out ten different scenarios of different types of visitors we may encounter. Honestly, this part of the training seemed a little tedious, as I had spent the last summer working at a different National Park and felt like I had already experienced every scenario we went over. The next three days were spent working at the Jackson Shrine, one of the two sites I will be working at this summer. I am thankful for my previous interpretive experience because we never discussed interpretation in training and I was somewhat thrown into working at the J Shrine. But the ranger on site was incredibly helpful and by the end of the day, I felt like I could do this all summer, but more on this later! On Saturday, FRSP had its largest event of the season, the Luminaria, which this year focused on World War One veterans buried in the cemetery, instead of solely focusing on the Civil War dead.

Over 15,000 candles were placed at the graves in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery to represent the bodies that are buried there. It was incredibly humbling so see all the candles lit and quite sublime. Visitors would be guided to each of our seven stations and hear a short talk highlighting the service men/women buried there.

At my station, we discussed Annie Lockhart who was only one of two service women buried in this cemetery. Her story did not fit the typical picture of what we consider a serviceman to be but her service as a member of the Army Nurse Corps was vital to the United State’s operations in Europe during the Great War.

Annie’s story inspired me to remember all those who served this Memorial Day, even if they do not fit the narrative of a typical solider.

The following week we spent one day in the classroom working on our walking tours and then we spent one day going through an 8 hour of tour of Fredericksburg with our mentor Frank O’Reilly. Unfortunately this tour was cut short as one of my fellow interns fainted but it was still a great morning. I spent the next few days at the American Battlefield Trust (formally the Civil War Trust) Conference in Newport News so I missed the tour of the Wilderness Battlefield. 

Ever since returning to FRSP, I finished up training and have been working on my tour for the Chancellorsville Visitor Center (CVC). My tour focusses on Jackson’s Wounding and the Battle as whole with the main theme being the futility of Lee’s victory. Additionally, I have also worked at CVC and the Jackson Shrine. While I haven’t made anyone cry yet over Jackson’s death, I know it’s coming. 

With the season starting, every day brings a new experience and challenge but I love working here! Thats pretty much all for now!

[iph2017]

Last week at RNBP

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.

Amelia

[iph2017]

RNBP Week 9

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!

Amelia

[iph2017]

RNBP Week 7

Hello All!

This week at Richmond National Battlefield Park was filled with…DRAMA (read this in a very dramatic way!)

First off, I accidentally took Monday and Tuesday off because I cannon read a calendar (why don’t they teach you how to do this in college?) I kid, but because of my mistake I stayed in Charlottesville for an extra day and did additional research at Special Collections. Unlike last Thursday, when I uncovered a plethora of useful sources, my research on Monday proved fruitless.

On Tuesday, I worked at Tredegar where the drama went down. During the week of the 1st, I discovered that one of my fellow interns was saying some very inappropriate things about me in which he belittled my intelligence and made senseless attacks on my personality. Instead of confronting him, I chose to keep my head high and move on and focus on my work. However, when I discovered that he said these incredibly hurtful things at work in the presence of rangers, I knew a line had been crossed because this intern was creating a hostile work environment. I let one of the supervisory rangers know about the actions of the intern and they immediately dealt with the situation. I learned so much from this situation; mainly I should not sit in silence and take these senseless attacks. When faced with a situation like this, I’ve learned to that its best to let a supervisor know and let them handle it. I am very happy with the way the park handled this situation, as these attacks stopped and the intern apologized. I will continue to put in 110% internship and will not let anyone try and undermine my work here.

Also this weekend one of my best friends came to visit. On Friday she stopped by Cold Harbor and saw my battlefield tour, which was really exciting. On Saturday, we stopped by the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, which is the sister site to Richmond National Battlefield Park. While in Jackson Ward, we attended the unveiling of the new Maggie Walker statue on the corner of Broad Street and Adams Street. As Saturday was Mrs. Walkers 153 birthday, we enjoyed birthday cake and lemonade after the statue unveiling.  Mrs. Walker is just such an inspiring figure and I am so glad that she finally received a beautiful statue to commemorate her amazing achievements!

That’s all for now, I’ll be off next week on vacation in Rhode Island, where hopefully it will be a little cooler than the 115 degree heat index. So check back in two weeks!

Amelia

[iph2017]

RNBP Week 6

Hello All!

This week at Richmond National Battlefield Park has brought some new adventures.

Last Saturday, I spent the day at our anniversary event for Malvern Hill. Malvern Hill is one of our best-preserved battlefields so it was really exciting to be out there. I went on a sunset two mile hike (that didn’t feel like two miles) which provided so much interesting detail on the battle. I also saw an artillery demonstration which was really interesting because while I talk about the 12lb Napoleon at Tredegar, I have never seen one fired.

On Monday, I worked at Tregedar but I basically was running a day care center! One of the visitors was a five-year old girl named Maddie who was just a buddle of energy but was so excited to learn about the Civil War. She asked me lots of questions about the cannon, mainly “what does this do?” and she wanted to know all about the different maps we have. Finally, after playing some Civil War era games in our kids corner, Maddie dressed up as Clara Barton and we played Civil War princesses. I absolutely love kids so it was very refreshing to work with one this week.

Also this week, on Thursday I traveled back to UVa to do research in Special Collections. My research project focuses on Virginia women during the secession crisis and following convention. Thus, I spent Thursday looking at letters and diaries from five Virginia women, I was even able to find a picture of one of the women. I’m really excited on how this project is progressing and I can’t wait to write about these women!

That’s all for now, see you next week!

[iph2017]

RNBP Week 5

Hello All!

This past week at Richmond National Battlefield Park has pretty much been business as usual. I am still working on my research and unfortunately I’ve hit a few road blocks. I really want access into Kate Mason Rowland’s diary; however,  the diary is currently at the Museum of the Confederacy which is undergoing renovation and thus unavailable.

Also this week, my Cold Harbor tour was audited by our Chief of Interpretation, Andie Dekoter. Andie audited my 1 pm tour thankfully I wasn’t too nervous but during my 10:30 tour, I was an absolute mess. After the audit, Andie offered me some great advice on how to improve my tour which includes integrating my theme to every stop on my tour and bringing in more quotes from soldiers who actually fought at Cold Harbor. But all in all, I think the audit went really well and I’m really happy with the changes I’ve made to my tour. Also this week, I gave a 19 person tour at Cold Harbor, which is 4 times as big as my previous tour. Most of the time I get a tour of anywhere from 2 to 5 people, so when 19 people showed up for the 3 pm tour I was flabbergasted. I definitely changed the delivery of my tour to reflect this large group, mainly I talked with a lot more confidence and moved around a bit more. Even though I did have to remind someone to stay off the earthworks, I think this 19 person tour went really well and I felt really confident afterwards.

Now that it is July, its visitor survey time here with the National Parks Service; so, I’ve been spending my days trying to hit the target for the surveys. At first this made me a little uncomfortable but after a few days I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable and I think handing out these surveys have actually improved my interpretation skills. Mainly because I am much more comfortable approaching people than I was a few weeks ago.

That’s all for now! I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July!

Amelia

[iph2017]

RNBP: Week 1

Greetings from the Richmond National Battlefield Park!!

After two weeks of training, I officially started my internship with the Richmond National Battlefield Park this week. I will mainly be working at two of our 13 sites, Historic Tredegar and Cold Harbor. I will also spend 2-3 days per week working at our headquarters at Chimborazo Medical Hospital, where I will work on my research project (subject: TBD, right now Andie Dekoter and I are discussing research that focusses on women in Richmond during the Secession Crisis, but this could change.)

This week, while working on my Cold Harbor walking tour, I learned the importance of bug spray because it turns out ghosts do not keep bugs away on battlefields. Who knew?? Since I am a very visual person, I worked on my Cold Harbor tour by walking around the battlefield and talking to myself/thinking out loud and jotting notes down when something sounded right. Even though I got very strange looks from walkers and joggers and I got eaten alive by bugs, I persisted!! And now I have a solid outline for my tour!! Success! Take that bugs and people healthier than me! 

Also this week I spent two days at Historic Tredegar, our main visitor center. While at Tredegar, I gave a few informal cannon talks about our 12lb Napoleon (aka the model 1857 light-field artillery piece) and also gave a very impromptu formal cannon talk. Unfortunately, during this talks we did not actually fire the cannon, much to the disappointment of the visitors. 

Thats all for now but check in next week when I’ll tell y’all all about my scheduled cannon program for 50 5th graders. 

Amelia