A Day in the Life of a Museum Intern by Colleen Jenkins

Colleen carving mannequins
Intern Colleen Jenkins sculpting a mannequin for the FHC Costume Collection

by Colleen Jenkins, 2016 Tom Desilets Memorial Intern

My name is Colleen Jenkins. I am a senior at Framingham State University and I am majoring in History.I first started searching for an internship in a museum or history center to answer one question that has plagued me since the beginning of my freshman year, “what exactly does a museum worker do?” I would later come to find out what a narrow question that was, as this question is dependent on one’s role in the museum, who you work with, and the size of the collection.

So I sought out this internship to find the experience that would answer this question, and further guide me to the career path I will be officially starting next May. Like I always do before making large career or academic decisions, I consulted Dr. Maria Bollettino of Framingham State University about a summer internship. She directed me to the Framingham History Center. Over the next week, and with multiple consultations with other professors, I perfected my resume, and sent it along to the History Center. I eagerly waited for a reply.

The first of the many surprises that were going to come with this job that the response did not come from the current FHC Curator Dana Ricciardi, who I had e-mailed, but from Laura Stagliola, the FHC Museum Assistant & Education Coordinator, who is well-known in the history department at Framingham State. Whenever the FHC is brought up, Laura’s name is mentioned somewhere in the conversation as she is a FSU alumni, interned with the FHC, and was hired as a fulltime museum employee. She and FHC Executive Director Annie Murphy requested an introductory interview with me the following week. Later, after I passed their inspection, I met with the new curator, Stacen Goldman, who hired me to be the 2016 Tom Desilets Memorial Intern.

I had a vague idea of the type of work I would be doing with the FHC collection, but I did not think my first day would be spent rooting through mismatched dolls, doll clothing, and doll accessories trying to piece together any identifying information. I made my first of many inventories to come of almost 200 doll items. The next step is for one of the many wonderful volunteers to research the significance of each item.

The dolls were actually a great introduction to what my internship at the FHC is all about, which is to assist with lengthy projects that are difficult for any one staff member to dedicate themselves to on top of the other work they have. For example, Laura’s main focus as the 2013 Tom Desilets Memorial Intern involved processing the recently acquired Dennison Mfg. Co. Archival Collection. The two Desilets interns that followed her also focused on processing, sorting, organizing and inventorying the Dennison Collection. So far, I have spent nearly a week with volunteers trying to put the finishing touches on the Dennison work. Many of the projects I have been given involve a collaborative effort of staff members and volunteers because “it takes a village” to properly access, record, maintain, and store a collection or artifact in a museum. This part of my internship has made my time at the FHC exciting and informative as I learn more each day of what the responsibilities of a museum staff are.

I look forward to making substantial progress on all of my projects, as well as aiding with the FHC’s family programming, and interacting with the incredibly hardworking (not to mention enjoyable) staff here.