Experiences

This past summer I served as an Exhibit Intern with the Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum (WRM), and gained substantial experience in exhibit design, public programming, collections care, loan agreements, archival research, oral histories, and networking. 

My main project was an exhibit celebrating St. Mary’s General Hospital’s 100th anniversary. Working directly with the exhibit designer, I learned the museum’s process of designing and building a 5,000-square-foot exhibit from scratch. I became familiar with Final Cut Pro, GIMP, and Audacity to edit video, photos, and audio that will be featured in the exhibit. I held regular meetings with the designer to discuss the exhibit’s interactives, layout, design language, and photographic content. I also spent time with the museum’s curation and collections care leads, completing over thirty condition reports of artifacts loaned to the museum for this exhibit. My work took me outside the museum as well, for I conducted several independent field trips in search of materials of relevance to the exhibit, and then coordinated with these institutions to acquire permission to use them. I helped write and edit the written content and exhibit labels. For the oral history components of the exhibit, I was a secondary and primary interviewer and often prepared the questions for each interview. For off-site interviews, I directed the video and audio recording using professional equipment. I was then responsible for curating and producing final videos for use in the exhibit. Lastly, I regularly engaged with WRM’s public programming team to lead day camp sessions and cover for staff absences.

This was a fantastic internship to prepare me for the career I hope to have in museum curation or collections. Professors Mike Dove and Michelle Hamilton supported my ambition to build on my past experiences and challenge myself at a larger museum than any I worked at before. They further prepared me well with the knowledge and abilities I needed to succeed in this position. This preparedness impressed my supervisors, who spoke highly of Western’s Public History MA.

The museum field is highly competitive and requires building substantial networks of colleagues who vouch for your capabilities. Though I previously had experience with several museums, the flexibility of this internship allowed me to take on more responsibility than I had before. The diversity of skills and connections I built at WRM through the internship program will be essential to my success in applying for full-time positions in public history.

Over the course of this summer, I had the opportunity to complete my MA Public History internship in Birgu, Malta at the Inquisitor’s Palace and National Museum of Ethnography. As a research assistant, I was given the task of digitising the recently discovered inventory of the Library of the Inquisitor and to analyse some of the books listed at the National Library of Malta. While this was one of my main responsibilities, I was also fortunate to work alongside the on-site researcher on a number of other projects.

I was invited to assist in the early stages of the upcoming exhibition “Betrayal and Vengeance: The Slaves’ Conspiracy 1749 in 19 historical drawings,” dedicated to bringing to light the slave revolt of 1749. I was tasked with editing the catalogue, selecting visual content, assisting with marketing, and conducting research at the National Library.

My time at the Inquisitor’s Palace gave me the chance to expand on many of my own research and language skills which will help tremendously in the future. I have become more proficient in reading and translating medieval Latin and Italian, a vital skill for anyone wishing to work as a medieval researcher. This experience was hectic and full of new challenges, but it has made me become a far better heritage professional for which I owe lot thanks to both the curatorial staff of the Inquisitor’s Palace and everyone associated with Western’s MA Public History Field.

I spent my summer internship at the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre (BCM&CC) in Southampton, Ontario working as an archives intern. During the twelve weeks I spent much of my time cataloguing and describing the Arthur Amos Shipwreck Research Collection. I also researched and authored several articles that were uploaded to the museum’s website. It was extremely rewarding being able to research the multitude of shipwrecks across the waters of the Bruce Peninsula and gain knowledge on the history of such a beautiful area. The BCM&CC always had something going on whether it be a film screening, wildlife show, or cultural event. There was always something to do. Overall, everyone at BCM&CC was delightful to work with and made my time spent there so rewarding!

Throughout my internship, I found myself reflecting on and applying lessons and feedback I received during my classes at Western. I was able to incorporate lessons I learned in working with and writing for the public to produce engaging content for museum patrons. This is something that I am eager to explore as it is important to be able to share research with the public in an accessible manner. I am incredibly grateful to all the opportunities and support that everyone in Western’s Public History MA field and at my internship provided, and will carry with me the lessons learned as I continue to build my career as a public historian.

Three internships in one summer term is a lot, but I don’t regret a thing. Through the Public History program here at Western, I had the chance to pursue internships in Nevis, Italy, and Malta—it was a busy summer for me and my passports!

I spent May working on the Bath Springs, Nevis Oral History Project, a joint project between Dr. Neal Ferris, an archaeologist in Western’s Department of Anthropology, and the Public History program. To complement archaeological excavations happening in Nevis, I was to execute an oral history project alongside Dr. Michelle Hamilton to learn more about local values of the waters and land surrounding Bath Village and Gallows Bay in Nevis. This position was an extension of my GSA placement in the Winter 2023 semester, where I assisted with developing the ethics application and getting the project ready to bring to life. Once in Nevis, the reality of an oral history field project became evident - recruitment is hard work and the project is ever-changing. We hadn’t considered incorporating fishermen’s perspectives into our questions, so we had to quickly adjust our approach to accommodate these new stories that were emerging in our visits around the island. Land is such an intrinsically significant part of the human experience and having the opportunity to learn from Nevisians why their land is significant to them was an irreplaceable opportunity.

Secondly, I took part in my third season with the Gabii Project, a Roman archaeological project 18 km east of Rome, under the supervision of Dr. Laura Banducci at Carleton University. This was the second year of the Legacy Data Project—a collaboration with the Soprintendenza to document and analyse unpublished archaeological material from excavations in the late 1990s. As a returning member of the team, I got the opportunity to familiarise newer members with the techniques, procedures, and materials that we’d be working with. Archaeology and public history are seldom brought together, but I truly believe that the field of public archaeology is full of potential, and I hope my experience can one day contribute to this emerging subfield in a meaningful way.

Finally, I got to return to my family’s home country of Malta and work for HeritageMalta, between the Malta Maritime Museum and the Digitisation Unit, under the supervision of Liam Gauci, Senior Curator. I was involved with two main projects: firstly, assisting with the curation, editing, and digital content of an upcoming temporary exhibition on the Malta Dockyard, and secondly, the development of the new collections management system. Exhibitions, collections, digitisation, and research are the four core areas where I see myself in the field, so it was an excellent opportunity to work in each of these areas whilst contributing to honouring the history of my own grandfather’s work at the Malta Dockyard. It was chaotic and hot, but I had a fantastic time and got to live out some truly lifechanging experiences. I couldn’t have done it without the support of the Department of History and the MA Public History program, as well as my family and my partner, so I have a lot of thank yous to issue!

The restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic caused the postponement of a previously arranged internship. Fortunately, Professor William J. Turkel of Western’s History Department kindly agreed to supervise a work-from-home internship with the following two major initiatives:

Concise online descriptions of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) historic civil engineering sites; Applications of digital history techniques to historic engineering structures.

The Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (CSCE) has currently identified 78 Historic Civil Engineering sites. The online descriptions, at https://cscehistory.ca are inconsistent, extremely superficial, or non-existent. The Intern, currently Chair of the CSCE National History Committee, led an initiative to update these descriptions using a standard template. Online research yielded a large quantity of excellent information including historic reports and images. Google Street View was an excellent resource for finding plaques commemorating each site. The initiative was an excellent opportunity to reach out to professional colleagues across Canada to obtain and confirm information to enhance the site descriptions. The 78 revised descriptions comprise roughly 55,000 words, 450 images, and 240 links to online information.  

The project applying artificial intelligence techniques to identify and classify forms of historic bridges combined the Intern’s expertise in bridge engineering with Professor Turkel’s considerable expertise in digital history techniques. A dataset of 4800 images of Canadian and American bridges constructed between 1865 and 2019 was created. Descriptors for each bridge were catalogued and entered in a Relational Database Management System (RDBM) for manipulation using Structured Query Language (SQL). Artificial Intelligence routines in Wolfram Mathematica were used to analyze the images. A long abstract describing work-to-date, titled “Digital Analysis of Historic Bridge Images”, was submitted for possible virtual presentation at the 25th Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies (CHNT) in Vienna. Work on this initiative will continue beyond the formal end of the internship.

The Intern intends to continue to transition to retirement, hoping to find interesting consulting work in that part of the Venn Diagram where history and structural engineering intersect. The internship has provided an excellent opportunity to demonstrate his ability to use methods and techniques learned in Western’s MA Public History program. The experience of working on the two projects has formed an excellent foundation for future activities as a Public Historian!

My summer internship was completed with London’s Museum of Ontario Archaeology working as an Online Intern during the Covid-19 Pandemic. During this 12-week period, I assisted the education department with the creation of a set of six camp kits that could be purchased online as a way to keep children busy during stay at home orders.

The camp kits varied in themes, but all related to archaeology in some way. I was primarily responsible for designing a variety of the activities in the kits as well as designing templates using Cricut’s design software. I also spent time creating live video content on plant and animal resources that can be found in the Medway Valley.

Throughout my internship, I was constantly looking back at the variety of ways I could apply what I learned in classes with Western, especially taking note of the many lessons in ethics and inclusivity that became extremely relevant during this time. Western’s public history classes also emphasized the need to experiment, and during a time where adapting to the situations we currently faced was a necessity, we had to find creative ways to continue to reach the audience that attended MOA’s camps and festivals in the past.This internship was definitely an abnormal situation; however, I am forever grateful that I was able to complete it with an institution that was not afraid to analyze the situation and quickly find ways to address the need for programming. At a time that is difficult for a variety of fields, including public history, the lessons I learned during my time with MOA are lessons I will carry with me as I further enter the field.

During my summer internship, I worked as an Archivist Intern for Spin Master LTD., a children’s entertainment company located in downtown Toronto. Spin Master is a Canadian company and global leader in all things children’s toys, games and entertainment. They are most known for their international hits such as Air Hogs, Aquadoodle, Kinetic Sand, PAW Patrol, Hatchimals and more.

The first three weeks of my internship was spent at the Toronto HQ learning the ropes of Spin Master’s archival system under the guidance of my manager and fellow Public History alumni Sushima Assi. After a brief three weeks learning about the company and archival process, I was sent to Long Island City, New York City to work at Cardinal Industries, a company acquired by Spin Master. For two months I catalogued and inventoried over 1500 products ranging from classic game sets to puzzles, to be sent back to the Toronto headquarters for safe keeping and future use. During that time and in preparation for Cardinal’s big office move, I assisted and implemented a records retention system whereby I cleaned out and organized large amounts of paper records stored at the facility. After having all the product organized and prepped for shipping and 12 pallets worth of records sent to an offsite records retention company, I then headed back to Toronto to complete the last week of my internship.

Upon completion, I was thrilled to be offered a one year contract as Archivist to Spin Master!  I am currently working on various projects including auditing the archival holdings, managing digital assets and media hits, setting up displays around the office, completing requests for archival materials and collecting prototypes, products and documents from the Toronto and LA offices.      

I believe the MA Public History Program prepared me to better manage my time, deal with many projects at once and work under pressure.  It also exposed me to numerous different skills and career paths that I would not have otherwise thought of pursuing. Thanks for a great year! 

My summer internship was spent in Tasmania, Australia, working for both Port Arthur Historic Sites and the University of Tasmania.

The project was to align the archeological data of the Tasman Peninsula with the archival data, ultimately recreating the infrastructure, locations, individuals etc. of the 19th century penal settlement. I transcribed a 330 conduct records including offences punishments, freedoms and locations, coded the data, and analyzed the information. This process provided me with a detailed understanding of how raw data is transformed into interpretation, and how just how necessary each step is.

Every day, I applied what I learned during the program, even when I wasn’t at work! I attended workshops, focus groups regarding new interpretation, and even saw the original Correspondence records at the Archives, which are part UNESCO’s Memory of the World Registrar – which was amazing! I also had the unique experience of living at Port Arthur - a UNESCO World Heritage Site for six weeks. Each day I investigated a different historic building and I was constantly surrounded by amazing people from diverse fields of history, archeology, museology and management.

This internship was the perfect capstone to the Western’s one year program. Not only did the experience align with the theory we learned in classes and projects, but it also helped prepare me for a future in public history. Following this internship, I accepted a six-month contract to head back to Australia to take on more!

All my expectations for my internship with the Niagara Falls History Museums were exceeded. The position of curatorial assistant helped me to develop many skills that are desirable qualities to employers in heritage. I gained experience photo-documenting and rehousing the 8,000 artifacts in a branch of the museum’s collection. I also worked extensively with the museum’s Past Perfect database. My duties and responsibilities were not restricted to collections management tasks, but also included interpretation of the museum space, research requests from the public, transcription work, visitor experience, and special events assistance. I was encouraged by my supervisor to put forward, as well as execute, ideas for projects and enhancements to the exhibit space. This flexibility allowed me to incorporate many of the skills that I developed during my coursework in the Public History program to projects assigned to me during my internship.

Internships are not only beneficial for developing practical skills for future employment, but also assist new graduates in making the decision of which path they would like to pursue in heritage. This internship has confirmed my desire to work in the museum field, specifically working with material culture, in a collections management capacity. I feel prepared to continue my career in the museum field because of the skills I have developed in the Public History program and during my internship with the Niagara Falls History Museums. Interning with the Niagara Falls History Museums as a curatorial assistant has diversified my resume, providing me with the opportunity to interact with visitors from around the world, in a unique region of Canada.

I completed my internship at the D.K. Seaman Hockey Resource Centre in Toronto. As an extension of the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF), the 18,000 square foot facility is home to the HHOF's boundless artifact and archival collections. The site’s holdings include photographs, video footage, biographical files, digitally restored materials, publications, periodicals, media guides, statistical analyses and much more. Among other things, the resource centre also possesses a large collection of game-worn memorabilia, hockey paraphernalia and the largest hockey stick storage facility in the world. Most notably, the building serves as a warehouse for every major hockey trophy in existence, including the Stanley Cup.

At the resource centre, I was tasked with cataloguing and processing the entire Donald McMurchy Collection which encompassed 1146 scrapbooks, nearly one thousand game programs, hundreds of books/magazines and many pieces of NHL memorabilia. Though it may seem overwhelming, Dr. Spanner’s Understanding Archives course prepared me for such a challenge as I was well-versed in archival terms and the archival process.

Western’s Public History MA program set me up for success. Through completing a wide-range of coursework and projects, I feel that I have a more competitive resume when it comes to seeking jobs in the heritage field. I believe I now have experience in the many facets of public history whether it be in archival work, museum studies, digital history or heritage planning. Furthermore, I believe the internship component of the program was fundamental to my growth as a public historian. Not many university programs can promise students hands-on history experience, but this program provided me with such opportunity. Through the internship, I further developed my skills as an archivist as I was able to put theory in practice.

Thankfully, I continue to develop these skills at the resource centre to this day as I secured a one-year contract upon completing my internship. I am truly honoured to be working towards the preservation of Canada's greatest game and cultural export.

As this year’s Robert Cochrane Lambton County Fellow, I had the opportunity to complete my internship at the Oil Museum of Canada in Oil Springs, Ontario.  Working in a small museum meant that I was involved with a number of different projects. These included preparing content for an upcoming online exhibit on International Drillers from the County of Lambton, developing a Facebook page for the museum to increase its online presence, and helping to reorganize one of the galleries.

My internship experience drew on the tools I had learned in classes throughout the year and allowed me to put those skills into practice. From coding to creating mounts for artifacts, I continued to learn about the tools of the museum trade. As the summer progressed, I also learned about how small museums operate as well as their organizational structures.

My time in Oil Springs helped to prepare me for a career in the Public History field and allowed me to work on tangible projects while working with a great team of people. It is also wonderful to know that the projects I helped with will contribute to the preservation and enhancement of the artifacts, culture, and history of oil production in the County of Lambton.

My summer was spent at Fanshawe Pioneer Village, an outdoor museum in London, Ontario dedicated to interpreting the history of London and the historic townships that make up Middlesex County. My main duty while at the village was organizing a great many mixed documents into several clear collections. I was also involved in a large collections relocation project and had a number of opportunities to interpret historic buildings on site.

This range of tasks allowed me to be involved in many aspects of museum operation, including artifact conservation, exhibit design, collections management and public outreach. This wide range of experiences reinforced what the Public History program had taught me and, in many ways, went well beyond it. It gave me a chance to assist in a large scale project, complete several individual projects for the museum and interact with the visiting public in a way that gave context to all the work I did behind the scenes.

This internship reaffirmed my interest in working in the Public History field, especially in collections and archives management. The sheer variety of things that I was able to do this summer makes me feel much more prepared for the future.

Overall I could not be happier with my summer internship at Library and Archives Canada.  The internship component is meant to expose students to practical knowledge and help with establishing workplace connections in order to find a job.  I felt this experience has accomplished all of those elements.  I have developed my practical knowledge of archives immensely, including arrangement, description, and disposition.  Throughout the summer I have had the opportunity to meet and network with many experts in the archival field.  My time spent at LAC has helped prepare for my future as a public historian whose main goal is to interpret history for the public.  Working as an archivist this summer at LAC I have been able to interpret records for the public and prepare them for future researchers.  This experience has cemented the knowledge I have learned in the program over the past year.

Between May and August 2014, I completed the internship component of the program at the large public history institution of the Ontario Heritage Trust. This invaluable opportunity has provided me with essential experience in developing my skills, under excellent leadership, in order to be successful in a future in public history. Working as the Heritage Assistant to the Researcher at the Trust, I was involved in the acquisition, monitoring and protection process of a governmental agency that preserves and safeguards Ontario’s built and natural heritage. Being a part of these processes, writing reports and conducting research for the Trust, has given me a thorough understanding of how a large public history institution operates internally and externally. Therefore, by integrating graduate level theory and research with practical experience, I was able to gain highly marketable skills and experience that can be immensely utilized in going forth in a public history career.

As a graduate student intern with The Rooms, which houses the provincial archives, museum, and art gallery, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, I assisted with the research and design of a new exhibit on the First World War.  The Rooms was a fantastic location for an internship.  The staff was always willing to give new opportunities and attempted to present a broad spectrum of tasks and roles that one could take on in a museum setting.  I would recommend Western students consider The Rooms for their placement.

The Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) is a unique institution dedicated to exploring art, history, and technology of the moving image. My internship allowed me to go behind the screen and experience the chronological pathway through the history of the moving image beginning with a Zoetrope and ending with Frogger.

The crux of my summer work consisted of a 6000 plus piece ephemera collection, consisting of mostly of film posters, as well as lobby cards, press books and film stills. The collection was donated to the Museum in 1986 and aside from a rough estimate of what the donation entailed; no one had looked at it since. Each piece of the collection had to be measured, photographed, documented and researched. In some instances translating was also necessary as many of the posters and press materials were for French releases.

The posters, which made up the majority of the collection, ranged in sizes from 246 inches by 108 inches (also known as a Billboard or 24-sheet) to 14 inches by 21 inches (Window Card). The space, not to mention the patience, required to unfold the 24-sheets was expansive to say the least, but the sight of these posters was ample payoff. Dating from 1940 to 1989, the vibrant colours remained remarkably intact for sitting unattended for 25 years.

One of the perks of working for MoMI was my museum ID card. I was able to visit every museum and most movie theatres in New York City for free; needless to say I took advantage of this privilege. I visited at least one museum and one film a week, and when I was not roaming around the MET or eating popcorn at Film Forum, I filled any unscheduled hours with as many City events as I could. I took every opportunity to immerse myself in cultural activities and historical tours; there was never a shortage of extra-curricular activities. I also took advantage of the special screenings, events, and lectures at MoMI, having the opportunity to meet some of my favourite directors in person. Most notably I met Todd Haynes, Martin Scorsese, and David Cronenberg – truly a cinophile’s dream.

My summer was very busy and very exciting. I was handed the exciting task of creating cemetery tours for the Victoria Lawn Cemetery, one of Niagara’s oldest and largest cemeteries, as a part of the Niagara Cultural Capital of Canada project ‘A Walk Through History.’ The task came with a fairly large budget (as museum programming goes) and a tight timeline. It of course had a War of 1812 theme (hello? We’re in Niagara) and so the research began, first with finding a cast of characters who were veterans of the war and who were buried in the cemetery. Spirit walks are a really good way of interpreting first person histories, especially when there are a lot of primary resources to draw from. There are cautions one must undertake as a writer, director, stage manager of a project in which the story line interprets the personal histories of the city’s most prominent citizens (if one is to keep one’s job). Fortunately, I ended up with such a fantastic group of volunteers to work with that the entire process has been a blast! Busy, but fun, in the least! The project is just in its final stages now – performance!