Amy R.'s Museum Internships

This summer I have had the amazing opportunity to intern at two museums, both in my hometown. At The Blanton Museum of Art on the University of Texas at Austin's campus, I worked with Martha Bradshaw, the Manager of Visitor and Volunteer Services, to coordinate and orientate volunteers at the museum and facilitating our installation art/art-making station, the WorkLab Satellites. Each day I am in the museum, I interact with visitors and volunteers, make friends with the Gallery Assistants (our security folks, many of whom are current or former UT students), and meet more and more of the staff through the logistics of day-to-day business in the gallery. I have really enjoyed getting to know some of the docents as well because they are just as passionate about the works in our permanent collections as they are about the works that are only on display for a short time. Additionally, I have spent time working with volunteer records in the Altru database/ records management system that the museum has in place.

My second internship is with Emily Cayton, Associate Educator for Teachers and Docents at The Contemporary Austin.  While The Blanton has a substantial permanent collection including paintings and prints going back to the Medieval period, Classical casts, and a significant component of Latin American contemporary art, The Contemporary's downtown location serves as a white box space, a blank page for each new exhibit to interact with uniquely. My primary responsibility has been doing research about upcoming works and preparing materials about them for the docents. For someone who is accustomed to researching in the stacks of a library or skimming through JSTOR search results, this has been an experience of becoming more aware of the variety of online art resources and how helpful (or otherwise) news articles about new and old exhibitions can be. A studio artist and passionate art educator, Emily has also fostered in me an interest in art education with print resources, allowing me to shadow her tours, and by getting to assist during part of the Summer Teacher Institute, a continuing education opportunity for local art teachers, which explored a variety of methods and lessons for teaching through an art museum. Through these internships I have learned about two different kinds of art, been a part of two different kinds of art museum, and learned to see the museum experience from the view of the educator and the visitor.

            As long as I am in the area, I’ll be able to stay a part of these institutions through volunteering and I intend to serve as a docent for the Do Ho Suh exhibition for which I researched. http://thecontemporaryaustin.org/exhibitions/do-ho-suh/

 

One of the WorkLab Satellites and a supply cart
Blanton Blog Post: http://blog.blantonmuseum.org/2014/06/worklab-satellites-an-interview-with-artist-leslie-mutchler.html 

Jackie H. interns at Reitz Home

My internship at the  Reitz Home Museum was an eye opening experience about how a small house museum functions. By working there, it has given me valuable information about what goes into running a small, private museum. During my time at the Reitz Home, I was given numerous jobs which I believe will help me in the future. I gave tours for a few weeks, during the week as well as on weekends, up until the semester actually started. Most of these tours consisted of about five people and lasted for no more than an hour. The information I learned while giving these tours was important in better understanding the history of the home, and the people who came to see it. Once I began working in the offices I was given a multitude of jobs. My main job became dealing with the public media aspect. My jobs included, sending out newsletters via emailbrain, which kept subscribers up to date on all of the activities going on at the Home as well as in the local area; updating the Facebook page and website, making sure all of the information there was correct and presented in an appropriate manner; designing and updating invitations for the Guild’s events, which help the Home raise money; I also received some first hand experience working with PastPerfect, by looking up pieces in the catalog as well as documenting a couple of the items as well. After these main tasks were achieved I also helped Duane Myers, the coordinator, with a multitude of his tasks. I would pick up the mail, receive signatures on important documents from members, help set up the Carriage House for numerous events, answer phone calls about the Home, order much needed office and preservation supplies, and even helped take down exhibits and put up decorations for their Annual Victorian Christmas.  Being an intern at the Reitz Home entails one to be able to multitask, work well with the local community, and be creative. Working here for a semester is worthwhile to those who wish to work with the public and learn about what goes on behind the scenes at a smaller museum.  It was an experience which I enjoyed greatly, and which many others will as well.

               

Heidi Strobel to present at Reitz Home Museum

Dr. Heidi Strobel will present her research on Evansville-area "Rosie the Riveters" at 7:00 pm tonight at the Reitz Home Museum. Hope you can attend!

2012 Graduate Kaman Law at the Evansville Museum

For those of you who know me well, you know I like to keep myself busy. Graduation was on Saturday, May 5th and I was already back to work on Monday, May 7th. But no complaints…I am fortunate to be gainfully employed at the Evansville Museum.

Between May and August of 2012, I stepped in as the Acting Registrar while the Museum Registrar was on maternity leave. During those months, in addition to my duties as Staff Assistant, I also took on the Registrar’s responsibilities. I organized paperwork related to loans and gifts, monitored the museum’s collection storages, oversaw the museum’s re-housing project, managed the entries and advertisements of the museum’s Annual Mid-States Art Juried Exhibition, coordinated shipping arrangements for three art exhibitions, and installed five art exhibits and one history exhibit. The list goes on and on.

When the Registrar returned from maternity leave, I resumed my position as the Staff Assistant. My duties mainly lie within the Curatorial Department, but occasionally I get called to the Education Department and the Marketing and Development Department (hence my title). I enjoy my job immensely because every day is a little different - one day I will be traveling to a location to pick up art loans, another day I will be vacuuming textiles, and other days I will be installing exhibits. However, the re-housing project is my favorite task. Since the completion of our new collection storage facility, we have been meticulously going through every object, making sure that they are properly numbered and documented. In doing so, I get to research about the objects and custom made archival storage boxes.

Besides staying busy at the museum, I am also keeping up with my study of collection management. I am currently attending a series of online courses about the preservation of archival and historical collections called Caring for Yesterday’s Treasures – Today through the Heritage Preservation: The National Institute of Conservation.

I certainly enjoy life after graduation. It is great not having to go to class every day, do homework or study for exams. And it is even better that at the end of the day I can just kick back and be a couch potato. But all jokes aside, in October of last year, it suddenly dawned on me one day that this is all there is to life as an adult: you go to work, get home, eat, sleep, and you go to work again the next day. I was not impressed by that thought at all. So I decided to pick up a hobby. Right now I am working on crocheting scarves, throws, hats, doilies, etc. It keeps me occupied and I love it. I guess what I am trying to say is; don’t stop learning just because you are out of school. There are many things out there to learn and do. You might surprise yourself with what you can accomplish.

Josephine Curtis ('12) at cMoe

Since one week before graduating from UE nearly a year ago, I have been working as a Play Guide at the Koch Family Children’s Museum of Evansville (cMoe). I held an internship at the museum during my senior year, and I was fortunate to be offered this position immediately after the internship ended. As a Play Guide, I interact with visitors, help keep the museum clean, and get to play as well. I was promoted to Birthday Host in January, and now I help plan and prepare hosted birthday parties at the museum. I’m also planning other special events, including scout workshops. When I started in May, I was not expecting to stay here for close to a year, but now I am glad that I have remained at cMoe. In addition to meeting many people, I have had the opportunity to visit the Magic House in St. Louis, dress up as several of Evansville’s mascots at special events, and experience my first Evansville Icemen (Evansville’s pro hockey team) game.

Josephine (center) works an Evansville Museum event last year as a representative of cMoe.

I encourage anyone who wants to volunteer or intern at cMoe to apply. I love working here, and my experiences have made me more excited about continuing my education in museum studies with a concentration in museum education. I am on track in paying back my loans within two years of graduating, and I’m able to keep my living costs low by not owning a car and taking the bus to and from work. In the next year I’ll take the GRE and continue my graduate school research; I’m looking into studying on the west coast or in Texas to experience other parts of the U.S.

Melanie Miller ('12) at the First Division Museum

Life the year after graduation is filled with great expectations as well as disappointments, and several curveballs. My summer after graduation started out exactly as I wanted: excavating several ancient Maya sites in Belize and gallivanting across Central and North America. Then I returned from my post-graduation honeymoon and had a long-delayed appointment with reality. I was near broke, living at home, and frantically searching for an archaeology-related job to no avail. Practicality arising from a desperate need for cash flow forced me to widen my job-search net landing me in the world of retail. After being offered positions in everything from hardware to eye-care to electronics, I finally ended up as a sales consultant for cell phones at Best Buy Mobile. Many of you who know me will find great irony in this: the girl with the brick flip phone who just got texting this past summer and is one of the least tech-savvy people when it comes to smartphones now makes much of her living from selling phones.

I still wanted to do something that was archaeology or museum related so I decided that if no paid positions were open, then volunteering was the best avenue. I quickly discovered that unlike requests for paying jobs, people rarely turn down the offer of free labor and respond to your inquiries much faster. I chose to volunteer at a local war museum, the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park, where I helped in the digitization of hundreds of original documents and artifacts from WWI to the Iraq War. After volunteering over 50 hours in four months’ time, the museum encouraged me to apply for a paid internship position in the archives department. This was rather unexpected, but it proves that just getting your foot in the door can lead to greater opportunities. I have been working as an intern since February and am in charge of cataloguing and reorganizing thousands of documents and artifacts from a donation that fills 25 teetering banker’s boxes. The challenge I face now is balancing three jobs, as I still work at Best Buy and consistently babysit, which makes for a few twelve-hour work days and work weeks of nearly 60 hours. I am also studying for the GRE, which I am set to take next month. The best advice I can give on that is to take the GRE as early as possible so it is not looming over you!

Although my life mostly consists of work, study, and sleep when there is time, I can already see the benefits of my hard work. Clearly, the internship is one of them, but the money I saved from working three jobs is allowing me the opportunity to participate in another archaeological dig this summer, the Jezreel Expedition. This fall I will apply to grad schools for Mesoamerican archaeology while continuing to work. In short, while life after graduation may find you living back at home with a non-archaeology-related job, do not worry or give up. Instead, concentrate on preparing for grad school, save the money you earn for something to strengthen your archaeology resume such as field schools or conferences, and stay involved in something archaeology related, whether it is a class or volunteering, to help prevent you from losing focus or desire to go back to school for archaeology. And for those moments when you feel discouraged, sit back, drink a root beer, and watch the fourth Indiana Jones movie to reinvigorate your fervor to educate the public that aliens have nothing to do with archaeology and to put on your fedora once again.

Less than a year after graduation: Kelly Goodner at the Explorium

It’s hard to believe that I graduated college less than a year ago. I decided to take a year off between undergrad and grad school and I am really glad that I did. After graduation I was able to relax for a few weeks and prepare for my trip to Israel to participate in the Jezreel Expedition (I recommend this to all current and prospective UE students!). I also spent considerable time sending out resumes and cover letters in hopes of securing a job when I returned from Israel and my side trip to Jordan.

When I returned to the States, I was fortunate enough to get a job interview with a local children’s museum - the Explorium of Lexington - and was offered a position in visitor’s services. My job involves working with visitors of all ages as well as cleaning and maintaining the museum. During the fall of 2012, I also had the opportunity to complete an internship with the program director at the museum. This allowed me to help plan the museum’s weekly programs. It also gave me the opportunity to design an archaeology-themed scavenger hunt and alter the museum’s “Dino Dig” exhibit and turn it into an “Archo Dig” exhibit for National Archaeology Day.

As far as my future goes, I am returning to Israel this summer to again take part in the Jezreel Expedition, which I am really excited about. I also plan to travel to a few places in Europe after the field season is over. In the fall I will be attending graduate school to complete a master’s degree in museum studies. The education and experiences I received at the University of Evansville have prepared me for both the real world and graduate school.

Graduate Rachel Lawrence Interns in Illinois

I volunteer at the Peoria Historical Society in Peoria, IL, where I have been designing a virtual exhibit that supplements the new museum in Peoria and the Smithsonian.  I planned everything from formatting to information to images.  In addition to that, I catalog artifacts in our collection, including items from the arrival of the French in the mid-17th century to photographs and books.

I also have just started an internship at Dickson Mounds Museum near Lewiston, IL.  In September I was one of two archaeologists to lead their "Be an Archaeologist for a Day" program where fifteen students from the ages of 10-12 participated.  Now, I am helping to plan some of their events for October and November as well as learning to lead tours and other group activities.

Washington D.C.

Dr. Heidi Strobel was in Washington D.C. last weekend to do some research at the Folger Library and to see the "Royalists to Romantics" exhibition of late eighteen and early nineteenth-century female artists at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.  She visited with recent Archaeology & Art History alum Leah Thomas, who will be starting a M.A. in Art History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall.  Dr. Strobel also made several visits to the National Gallery, where she is pictured below, along with Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert's amusing sculpture Painting and Sculpture (c. 1775).

Curiosities Exhibit in the Krannert Gallery

Senior archaeology major Emma D. is showing a small exhibit called "Curiosities" in the Krannert Gallery of Fine Arts Lobby on the UE campus April 9-27, 2012.  This exhibit, which is based on an assignment Emma completed for the course "Museum Studies" last fall, compares portraits of average people and circus performers taken in the late 19th century and tells the stories of the individuals in the photographs.

Late 19th century photographs on display in the "Curiosities" exhibit.

Events at the Reitz Home Museum

We are pleased that the Reitz Home Museum is showcasing the research of departmental faculty and students and the good work of departmental interns at the museum this semester.

February 9-26.  Antique Valentines are on display at the Reitz Home: http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=487102.  Senior archaeology major Elizabeth Bostelman was one of the curators of this exhibit. 

On February 20, Associate Professor of Art History Heidi Strobel will present "The Art of Mary Linwood" at 7:00 pm in the Carriage House.  This talk is based on Dr. Strobel's research of British textile artist Mary Linwood (1755-1845). 

On March 19, senior archaeology and art history major Leah Thomas will present "The Art of 18th Century Dining" at 7:00 pm in the Carriage House.  This presentation is based on research Leah conducted in summer 2011 while interning at George Washington's Mount Vernon, VA. 

Student Kaman Law at the Evansville Museum

During the summer of 2011, I had the privilege to work at the Evansville Museum as a paid assistant for the Museum Collection Movement Project. As funded by the Evansville Museum’s Reaching for the Star capital campaign, the museum has constructed a new state-of-the-art collection storage facility on site to replace the old one. For 12 weeks and 240 hours, I worked alongside the Curator of Collections, Mary Bower, and Registrar, Liz Fuhrman-Bragg, to transport the objects from the old storage unit to the new one. Since we cannot safely move the collection while the museum is filled with visitors, we mainly worked night shifts. In addition to moving the objects, we also cleaned, photographed, wrote condition reports, and created custom-made containers.

Kaman cleans a textile piece.

I gained experience on the proper cleaning methods for various types of items, including paintings, metal, wood, ceramic, and textile. Vacuuming the backs of canvases quickly became my favorite pastime. However, customizing boxes from scratch is the activity I enjoyed the most this summer. It takes much practice to create the perfect container to store the artifact or artwork as well as math skills and a lot of patience. Each box can take up to two hours to make if it requires a lid. Thus, every box is an artwork of its own.

A bust in a box made by Kaman.

In addition, I learned more about the history of Evansville through interacting with the collection. Despite the many long nights at the museum, I had a wonderful time working with my fellow colleagues and volunteers. It was a summer I will never forget.

Alumna Profile: Julie C. ('07) in California

At UE, my passion for historical interpretation and the protection of historic sites and collections was solidified. After graduating in 2007, I spent a summer interning with the Department of Prehistory and Europe at the British Museum in London. I was a member of the “Etton Registration Project” team, which was charged with cataloging a decade’s worth of archaeological material from the prehistoric site of Etton, UK. In addition to photographing, sorting and storing human and animal remains, as well as more flint than one can possibly imagine, I was allowed rare access to the museum’s largest storage facility, Blythe House, which it shares with the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum. For instance, I saw the Vindolanda tablets up close, I learned the BM’s newest conservation methods for textiles and Iron Age artifacts, and I witnessed the restoration of Egyptian temple reliefs. I cannot even mention some of the stuff they have locked away in the basement!

Julie in the gardens at Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford, UK

It was a few tube stops away at the Victoria and Albert Museum that I developed a new, but deep appreciation for the art of South Asia, particularly the religious art of India. After doing a bit of research and, ironically, just walking a few blocks away from the British Museum, I discovered the School of Oriental and African Studies, part of the University of London. It was there in the fall of 2008 that I began my MA in the History of Art and Archaeology specializing in the art of South Asia. In my Master’s dissertation I was able to merge my love for the city of London and my interest in Hindu art by examining how modern British Hindus have had to adapt urban secular spaces to become temples for lack of space and creative license due to cultural and governmental controls. The centerpiece of my study was Bhaktivedanta Manor, a Tudor-style manor house on the outskirts of London that devotees have converted into a temple with multiple shrines both inside and on the grounds. It was gifted to the Hare Krishna movement by George Harrison, which I like to think made my dissertation a tad bit more rock ‘n’ roll than the rest!

California Oil Museum, Santa Paula, CA

Today, I am the Assistant Museum Educator at the California Oil Museum in Santa Paula, CA (follow us on Facebook!). As assistant to the museum’s director, I am responsible for creating marketing materials, such as press releases and posters, installing exhibitions whose contents range from fossils to paintings, and ensuring the day-to-day running of the museum. As assistant educator, I give tours to the public and to school groups and am currently developing new activities for students that meet state curriculum standards while utilizing the history of our building, the second story of which retains its appearance and contents from the late 19th century. On the weekends, I am a docent at the Malibu Lagoon Museum and Adamson House in Malibu, CA where I guide visitors through a 1930s-era Spanish Colonial Revival-style beach house and also get to enjoy a wonderful view of the ocean! My degree in archaeology and art history from UE has allowed me to view some rare and spectacular sights/sites and has definitely imbued in me a unique way of looking at the world. I cannot wait to see where it takes me next!

Alumnus Profile: Nathan E. ('02) at Yale

I graduated from UE with a degree in Archaeology and Classical Studies in 2002. After that, I received my M.A. in the City of Rome program at the University of Reading in 2003 and then immediately returned to the United States to study Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri. I defended my Ph.D. dissertation there in September 2010. Presently, I am a postdoctoral associate at the Yale University Art Gallery and also a lecturer in the Department of Classics at Yale College for the 2010 fall semester.

It was only after I left UE that I realized UE’s archaeology program – one of the few in the nation – is so solid and well-respected. In the M.A. program on Roman topography at Reading, I was the only student with any background in archaeology; it gave me a strong advantage since I was already familiar with specialist vocabulary and many of the city’s monuments. During my first week in the University of Missouri’s doctoral program in the Department of Art History and Archaeology, I met another student in the program who was a UE alumna. Later, one of the professors remarked to me that they always found UE students well-prepared for the M.A. and Ph.D. programs in archaeology.

Undergraduate education is an important formative period in anyone’s life. My teachers and experiences at UE helped to prepare me for opportunities that have come my way since. In addition to the small classroom sizes, which fostered instructor-student interactions and spurred critical discussions in seminar settings, I was able to develop close professional relationships with my teachers. Prof. Steven Tuck, now at Miami University, and Prof. Patrick Thomas were my advisors. Outside of the classroom, they always counseled me on my career ambitions and provided me with strategies to meet those goals.

I owe much to UE’s high educational standards and particularly its focus on quality liberal arts education. Virtually every one of my courses demanded at least one paper of 15-20 pages in length. This emphasis on writing and independent research elicits critical and independent thought. Furthermore, Prof. Thomas and Prof. Tuck often encouraged me to pursue my own research interests in my term papers and to present findings at undergraduate research conferences. These experiences and freedoms no doubt prepared me with the basic tools to begin publishing peer-reviewed research.

After I finished my doctoral coursework in October 2006, I immediately traveled to Frankfurt, Germany to begin dissertation research, supported by a DAAD research grant. The institute at which I was based invited me to return as a waged employee after the grant expired; I worked there until I took up my present position in fall 2009. In Germany too, my experiences at UE proved to be invaluable. My advisors stressed to me that, although I had studied French as my requisite modern language, German was essential for advanced research and education in Greek and Roman archaeology. Therefore, I studied German for two years while at UE. I passed my doctoral reading exams in German relatively easily and had a foundation to improve my working knowledge of the language while living in Germany.

UE’s educational environment, which promotes critical thought, independent learning, and peer-teacher interactions, is its greatest strength. This tight-knight community of students and teachers mirrors what one finds in graduate programs and so the transition from UE to postgraduate education was, for me, relatively painless.

UE has a strong sense of academy and community; I still correspond regularly with my former teachers and the friends I made at UE.

Student Katy Schmidt in Ohio

This summer I was able to gain experience both in a museum and at an archaeological excavation near my hometown.  First, I worked as a Museum Attendant at the Dr. John Harris Dental Museum in Bainbridge, OH. My responsibilities included opening and closing the museum on the days I worked and keeping it clean, and I also gave tours of the museum and answered visitors’ questions.

Katy on a visit to Cahokia.

I also volunteered at the excavation of a Middle Woodland Hopewell site called High Bank Works. The site is located in the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park outside of Chillicothe, OH. This summer, the team focused on excavating part of what appeared to be a large circle of post holes; however, by the end of the season we had only uncovered one post hole. I was responsible for many tasks during the excavation, including sifting, helping to measure and draw profiles of unit walls, and using a susceptibility meter, among other things.

Katy is a sophomore Archaeology major at UE.

Student Clare Pressimone in Pennsylvania

This summer I held an internship at the Reading Public Museum in Reading, PA. This internship was a self-guided experience with the help of the Director of Education, Anne Corso. My job was to develop an informational packet for students, teachers, and visitors to the Ancient Greece Gallery in the museum. I focused on the eight red-figure and black-figure vases that are displayed prominently in the gallery; in the packet, I discussed the techniques used to create the vases, described the characters on them, and compared the themes to those of our everyday lives. This packet will be available on the museum's website and in the museum itself by the end of the year so that all who wish to better understand this unique collection can do so.

Clare is a sophomore Archaeology and Art History double major.

Student Josephine Curtis in Tennessee

This summer I volunteered at the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center in Clarksville, TN. The Customs House Museum currently features exhibits on fishing history in Tennessee, landscape painting by the Chestnut Group of Tennessee, great sports and challenging feats done by Clarksville locals and Call to Arms, an exhibit about Clarksville veterans of the two World Wars. The museum also offers hands-on activities for children, including model trains, a Monster Maze, Memory Lane featuring artifacts and part of a cabin from historic Clarksville, an Explorers Gallery and a Bubble Cave. My job was usually to welcome visitors and take admissions at the reception desk, although I also helped with special events like a theatre performance put on at the museum by Austin Peay State University. All in all, I loved volunteering at the Customs House Museum.

Josephine is a junior Archaeology major at UE.

Alumna Profile: Latasha R. ('04) in South Carolina

When people ask me what I do for a living I simply state, “I’m the collections manager for the local museum system.” The general response is a nod followed by confusion as to what that actually means, prompting me to elaborate with, “I am responsible for the care of the objects in the museum’s collection.” As the current collections manager for the Culture and Heritage Museums in York Co., SC, I am a part of a small, privileged team of people who directly control access to the collection, decide appropriate use, storage, and display of collections pieces, and even decide which potential donations should or should not be added to the permanent collection. On any given day, I can be found doing a number of things at CHM. I may be at my desk doing data entry for a newly accessioned object, moving a mounted cougar from off-site storage to the Museum of York County in the back of a van while my fellow drivers stare in shock, or even getting down on my hands and knees to dust off objects on display in one of CHM’s historic buildings. Not all of my time is spent working directly with objects in the collection, trying to make sure they are “happy” in acid free containers with their proper tripartite identification numbers. I am also responsible for a good deal of paperwork related to potential donations, the legal ownership and provenance of objects, and the creation of loan agreements with other institutions. However, whether I am labeling and storing an archaeological surface find or sitting in a meeting and discussing the creation of a naturalist center, everything I do helps ensure that each object in our collection will not only be accessed and appreciated in the present, but will be here for future generations to enjoy and learn from as well.

Latasha earned an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Washington.

Alumna Profile: Stephanie B. F. ('04) in Chicago

Stephanie writes about her experiences after graduating from UE in 2004.

My double major in Art History and Archaeology from UE led to a wealth of opportunities in non-profit, research-oriented work at art museums and libraries. Following my graduation from UE in 2004, I entered the graduate program in Art History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. I completed the MA in 2007 and was awarded an academic year internship at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC for the 2007-2008 academic year. At the National Gallery, I worked in the Department of Image Collections, part of the institution’s art library, and the Adult Education department, the branch of the Department of Education that managed lectures, organized study weekends, and coordinated the museum’s highly competitive fellowship and internship programs. Upon completing my internship, I worked as a graduate intern in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago and then obtained a job there as a visual resources cataloger in the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, a position that built on my work in Image Collections at the National Gallery.

Today, I am Program Assistant and Spotlight Exhibitions Coordinator at the Newberry Library, a research library whose vast collections of books, manuscripts, genealogical materials, and maps focus on early modern Europe, the Americas, and the Midwest. I am half of a two-person department that manages the Library’s public lecture schedule, runs an adult education program that offers over 150 seminars each year, and oversees the Library’s two exhibit galleries. As Spotlight Exhibition Coordinator, I manage the production, installation, and de-installation of our ongoing Spotlight Exhibition series, working together with curators and conservators to produce focused exhibits that highlight treasures from the Newberry’s collections. I am also enrolled in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University and will earn my MLIS degree in 2013, with a specialty in academic libraries, particularly art libraries, and archives. This degree will build on my work at the National Gallery, the Art Institute, and the Newberry and will complement my MA in Art History. In the next five years, I hope to gain more experience working in art libraries or archives and plan to pursue a PhD in Italian art and architectural history.