Month: March 2013

For my interview, I chose to speak with Stephanie Milne. I met Milne in 2009 after she moved to Boise to attend Boise State University. Milne is a graduate of the Masters of Applied Historical Research program at Boise State and she continues to work as a historian for Stevens Historical Research Associates in Boise. Milne is a prime example of how hard work and creativity can open up opportunities for budding historians. In addition to her current work Stephanie will be presenting research in November on the history of Nursing programs in Boise.

Below are Stephanie’s responses to the assignments questions:

What path did you take to get to your current position?

A native Washingtonian I graduated with a BA in History from Eastern Washington University. I had a public history internship at EWU working for the Cheney Normal School Foundation. Essentially I was able dig into the history behind a 100-year-old one-room schoolhouse that was moved to EWU’s campus. It seems so small now, but it was that internship that really sparked my love of public history. I moved to Boise in 2009 and graduated with my Master in Applied Historical Research from Boise State University in May of 2012. Part of my program was a collaborative internship between the Boise City Department of Arts and History and Boise Parks and Recreation. Looking back two factors during my graduate work were extremely beneficial to me once I graduated.

I was fortunate enough to get small contracts for several semesters while working toward my master’s degree.
This experience really helped in getting bigger contracts (not huge by any means!) later. I had experience creating invoices, selling my capabilities, and most importantly being assertive. As is typical with the MAHR program I completed a project and analytical paper instead of a traditional thesis. I would argue one of my biggest assets when I began applying for jobs in the field was that I completed a project instead of a thesis. It takes some explaining to employers (so practice!) but you can sell it as “project management.” Some of the best advice I can give is to use “work place” language when describing your history work. Don’t be afraid to say you have experience budgeting—You have to budget time constantly in graduate school—How much time are you going to spend on reading a book? Writing a paper? Researching? Organizing?
What kinds of projects do you work on?

After I graduated I became a history consultant/contractor. By July 2012 I had three contracts
1. Boise City Department of Arts and History
I managed several different projects including writing historic interpretative signs for a walking tour, reviewing and editing a book, and transcribing oral history interviews.
2. Boise City Department of Public Works
I was hired as Project Manager for the Boise 150 Infrastructure Project. Participating organizations include Bureau of Reclamation, United Water, Idaho Power and Boise City Public Works. The project seeks to celebrate the development of Boise’s infrastructure, specifically utilities and includes a photo gallery, blog, and brochure.
3. Stevens Historical Research Associates (SHRA)
SHRA specializes in environmental litigation support. Areas of specialties include: Water rights and irrigation history, mining history, CERCLA/Superfund, Clean Water Act, Roads/Rights-of-Way, Forest History, and Tribal Claims. In 2012 SHRA hired an Architectural Historian and has expanded its services to include Cultural Resource Management and Historic Preservation.
After 4 months as a contractor, SHRA hired me in October (2012) as an employee. Right now I work approximately 30 hours a week while I finish my remaining contracts. That same month I was able to travel to Washington DC and research in National Archives I ( just off the National Mall) and National Archives II (located in College Park, Maryland) for a week for one of SHRA’s projects.

With what kind of people (demographics, occupations, etc.) do you typically work?
1. Lawyers
2. Archivists
3. City/County/State Employees
4. Librarians
5. People who work in “history” jobs
6. County Clerks

• As far as demographics, I would say I deal with an equal amount of men and women. However, I am usually the youngest person, especially when working on litigation projects.
Do you have autonomy to pick your own projects, or are projects generally assigned to you by others in your organization or elsewhere?
• As a public historian, you usually take any project(s) that come your way. Specifically in regard to SHRA projects, if you are not the principal of the company (like Dr. Jennifer Stevens) you pretty much work on any case given to you. The caveat comes when you are given autonomy to bring in projects to the firm. I’ve been fortunate to be able to bring in an oral history project to the firm, which is a nice change up from litigation.
What are the current issues in your field?
• I can’t really think of any real “issues.” I guess my gut reaction would be to stay relevant. As historians (at lease for me) sometimes its easy to get wrapped up in research and writing. Staying current with social media and new trends is really important, especially when selling yourself to clients.

What skills are expected of applicants for an entry-level position?
• Research—Specifically archival research
• Writing
• Attention to detail
• Entrepreneurial capability
• Database Skills (navigability)
• New ideas regarding platforms for projects (digital, print, social media)

What is the current starting salary for entry-level positions in your field?
• Part time = $20,000-$30,000
• Full time = $40,000-$42,000

How is your position funded? Is this typical for positions in your field or organization?
• Obviously the majority of my work comes from litigation, so companies-people-organizations-states-counties-cities-etc…suing one another, that’s how my position (at SHRA) is funded.
• My other contracts are funded from municipal funds. I consider myself extremely lucky that I was able to work for Arts & History while in graduate school, so I’ve made connections for the past two years. I am also lucky that Boise is celebrating its 150th year and history is “hot” right now. 

For my public historian interview, I spoke with Frank Thomason, PhD.

Dr. Thomason has an impressive set of credentials, having earned four degrees in history (a goal for all of us to aspire to!). He was also a Fulbright Scholar. He currently serves on both the Eagle and Meridian Historic Preservation Committees. He is a published author of several books, including histories of Boise and Meridian. Dr. Thomason is also the owner, editor and publisher of The Valley Times, a weekly newspaper serving the western Treasure Valley. I am extremely grateful that he took time out of his very busy schedule for this interview.

Please describe your educational background.

Following high school, I earned four degrees, all in U.S. and European history: B.A., The College of Idaho, 1970; M.A., University of Utah, 1972; M.S., The Johns Hopkins University, 1974; and Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University, 1979.

I also have teaching experience at the college or university level at the University of Maryland, West Berlin, 1974-76; The College of Idaho, 1977; and University of Southern California, 1980.

Please describe your role on the Historic Preservation Committee.

I am the Chairman of the City of Eagle’s Historic Preservation Commission, responsible for preparing and e-mailing the monthly agendas and sharing the workload with other Commissioners on various projects including the Quarterly Speaker Series (I brought Lincoln historian/author David Leroy to Eagle last January; I have also been a member of the Meridian HPC for over 20 years and am happy to announce that Leroy will reprise or repeat his presentation in May in Meridian) and historic signs for the National and Municipal registers of historic places.

What do you see as the primary challenges that historical preservation groups face?

Ongoing degradation and demolition of historic buildings, especially outbuildings and houses on former farmsteads; lack of funding for various projects; and bringing in newer and in some cases younger Commissioners to carry on the work.

Please describe other historical work you’ve been involved with.

I am a published author of three history books, The Berlin Police in the 19th Century, Tabletop Publications; Boise by Arcadia Publishing and Meridian by Arcadia Publishing.

In the mid 1970s I spent 25 months as a Fulbright Scholar to West Berlin, where I was enrolled full time as a graduate student, taught classes in European and Russian history in the evening and conducted a program of graduate research at archives and libraries in West and East Berlin and Germany.

In the early 1990s, I devoted two years as a volunteer officer of the Friends of the Historical Museum, a statewide group based in Boise. Our major project was an update of biographical sketches with photos of Idaho’s First Ladies. I was and remain the only male officer of that organization.

What advice would you give to “new” historians?

Specialize as early as possible and become a foremost authority on that specialization. At the same time, remain a generalist in your increasing knowledge of different fields and approaches. This may result in synchronicity at some point, e.g., you might find work in a related field even though it’s not your primary one.

Find another field and develop it along with your history studies as a practical matter of adaptation and survival in this very tough economy. Actual jobs for trained historians are scarcer than ever, so it behooves budding historians to branch out and add one or more fields to their resume. Examples might be computer software programming, English (also not very practical in a direct sense), journalism or even anthropology or archeology, which involve approaches similar to or compatible with history.

If there was one skill you wished you had learned earlier, what would it be?

Computer programming and web sites, as well as social media. They are all the rage now but in 1979, nearly a decade before the advent of personal computers, I typed my doctoral thesis for Johns Hopkins on an IBM Selectric typewriter (the one with the “flying ball”).

Thank you again to Dr. Thomason!

For my interview I chose Brandi Burns. Brandi is the Historian for the Boise Department of Arts and History. I have had the opportunity to work with her in developing some of the pieces of the Boise plat walk tour in July. Since Brandi is so well spoken, I shall let her responses serve as their own introduction.

ZB – You are a city historian which means you are involved in lots of stuff. If you could boil down what you do in a sentence or two—or a paragraph—what would you say?

BB – I serve as the Boise City Department of Arts & History’s Historian, which means that I see to the day-to-day operations of the History Division of the Department, as well as work on a variety of projects, including overseeing the publication of a weekly article for the Department’s blog; various projects for the BOISE 150; answer research questions from the public and other City departments; and maintain the oral history collection at the department.

ZB – What types of projects do you work on? Are there those that you feel are more successful? How do you measure the success of a particular project?

BB – Some of the projects I have worked on in the last six-nine months include a large digital tour of historic locations around Boise, which will be unveiled in April 2013; preparation and planning for a walking tour of the original Boise City plat for July 2013; a lecture about the love lives of Boise residents that I presented in February 2013; and preparation for an exhibit in the BOISE 150 Sesqui-Shop in April 2013. I’ve also worked on oral histories, content for the website, other exhibits, and collection management. The most successful projects in my opinion are the ones that the public and/or participants enjoys the most—I like oral histories for that matter because the narrator always seems liking having someone sit down and listen to their stories. Our blog has been very successful as well, and I attribute that to our writer’s voice, the sound historical research, and the medium the content is delivered through.

ZB – What issues do you run into in completing, or initiating a project?

BB – One of the biggest issues is that every project takes longer than you think it will, and you are often juggling several projects at once. It’s important to have progress deadlines, and to report about the tasks that you have completed. A project can also become more complicated when you have more than one person working on it, but it is so wonderful to be able to have interns at the Department to help rely on. We get to work on such a variety of projects that it also helps interns gain the experience that they are looking for.

ZB – While we’re on the topic of projects…do you get to pick your own, or are they assigned, or a blend?

BB – Projects are a blend of being assigned and picking your own project. So far I have not worked on a project that I haven’t enjoyed, even if it was assigned. I have also had the ability to work on projects that I have specifically picked, including a series for Preservation Month about the Homestead Act, presentation topics, and the blog.

ZB – Do you work with a particular demographic, social class, or an occupation?

BB – We try to have a wide appeal and tell inclusive histories. But I think we tend to appeal to the traditional history crowd, which tends to be a little older, while the twenty- and thirty-somethings are not as engaged. I think we are widening the crowd however with the great things we are doing with the BOISE 150. The Sesqui-Shop appeals to many groups and we are reaching people who didn’t even think that they would like to become engaged with local history. Our Think & Drink event in February drew a large crowd, and our big event planned for July 7^th to commemorate the founding of the city will bring in a big crowd. Our Sesqui-Speaks lecture series is also bringing in people we have never seen at our other events, so the BOISE 150 project is really reaching new groups in the community.

ZB – What would be your ideal project? If you could choose (and had the money for) any project, what would it be?

BB – Remnants of Boise, the project that will be unveiled in April, has been my ideal project. It has combined digital history, research, interpretation, and traditional experiences like exhibits. It has been exciting, and I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks in April.   

ZB – How is your position funded? how are your projects funded?

BB – My position is funded with money for the BOISE 150 project right now, as are many of the projects that we are working on.

ZB – I know you work a lot with digital history. What do you see as the future for public history in the digital realm?

Digital history is very exciting! We have this great opportunity to create new ways to engage with audiences in meaningful ways. It makes public history easier to disseminate, and to help the audience engage with during their busy schedules. But it is just another tool for historians—we can’t forget the traditional tools of brochures, and interacting with a human being who can tell the stories of a place during a tour, or an engaging presentation. Everyone does not have a smart phone, and who can tell how long QR codes and other things of that nature will remain popular? Just as an example, I went to Spokane for a conference, and I really wanted to experience the city as a heritage tourist. But I could only find one brochure for the downtown core that was a self-guided walking tour. They had other tours online but I had no way of getting to the brochures while I was on foot, and when I tried to print them, they would not print in a usable way. It was terrible and frustrating. I kept thinking “how would someone not familiar with how to find resources like these tours experience the history of Spokane on their own?” “What would they do? Where would they go? What if they were like me and incapable of accessing online material on the go?” For me it was a real lesson in making sure our online content can be supplemented with paper, and thinking of how our paper can be supplemented with online content. We need to remember to create content for these two types of ways to experience history…much of it can be the same, but it should be presented in a way that each audience can gain something from the experience, and preferably not get frustrated.

ZB – What does your organization look for in hiring for a position such as yours? What level of education do they require?

BB – I know when I look for interns, I like to see an interest and a passion in local history (and that local history does not necessarily have to be Boise). If they have this interest and passion, than the skills that they bring can be transferred to create really great projects about Boise. Being an intern/part-time employee or contractor, you need a BA in history or some related field, and an MA/MAHR can really set you apart. My position needs to be filled with someone who has a Master’s.

ZB – Any advice for someone entering this field?

BB – Be flexible. Be flexible with both where you work (location and/or institution) and even where you volunteer. You never know when or where your volunteer hours could lead to a more permanent position. Concerning where you work, history positions can be anywhere, even if they do not specifically call out history in the job description—you have to really watch this in positions that appear to be doing digital history work. Historians can be great content providers in the IT field. I also like to remember, and it applies equally to anyone entering the field, that I don’t have to be trained in everything—like GIS mapping, or how to code a website, etc.—I’m a historian, and I can provide special analysis, interpretation, content, and point of view that may have been overlooked. Historians are great to have around, even if they are not fulfilling a traditional role. Your skills are marketable beyond the history field, so don’t sell yourself short.

I interviewed Carolyn Ruby, the research coordinator at the Idaho State Archive research center. During my interview, I asked Carolyn questions ranging from her description of her job to the recent issues presented by certain materials found within their archives. When Carolyn first began working at the state archives, she began as a library assistant whose focus centered on research. By this I mean her primary job was to be able to answer the questions that individuals would bring before her. Within a short span, her job rapidly changed due to budget cuts. This meant that the research center went from employing eighteen employees, to just five. Fortunately for Carolyn, during this rough transition she was eventually promoted to research coordinator due to her higher education, as well as her vast experience in the field. After having earned her bachelor’s degree in history and completing a master’s in library science, she worked for thirty years mostly in research centers ranging from Micron to a short stint at a law firm.  Like so many other students though, she gave immense thought as to what she wanted to do in life, this question also raised the question as to what good does just a bachelors in history do for her. Before her final semester of her undergraduate degree, Carolyn discovered a love for public history and that provided her motivation to earn her Master’s in Library Science. Thanks to all of the experience and skills she has developed over the years, she has managed to maintain a sense of job security in a world under the continual threat of lack of funds or budget cuts.

When the state archives experienced their horrific budget cut that left the institution with a dismal number of employees, Carolyn discussed how her role in the research center drastically changed. She learned the immense value of becoming a highly flexible employee. No longer could employees merely concentrate within one area of the archives, she and her fellow workers learned the skills required to work within multiple areas of the research center. From this experience, Carolyn described to me the major skills that are important to have currently within the archives. The largest skill or ability an individual could have when working at the archives is being flexible. This skill, important in all fields of work, allows an individual to show importance to the employer. Such as in the case of the state archives research center, when the amounts of employees are cut, those whom remain employed must become flexible in order to succeed in their new environment. As Carolyn explained it, “You must not only be able to pick up the slack or new responsibilities created, but be able to both multi-task and step-up your game.” You do not wait for someone to tell you what to do, you seek out work.

On an educational point, in order to gain employment at an institution such as the archives, individuals need to have some sort of educational background that provides them with the basic tools in understanding history. Like Carolyn, all of the employees at the research center have either a master’s or a PhD; most of their degrees are either in history or library science. When asked if there had been employees with degrees outside of either history or library science, Carolyn answered that to the best of her knowledge there had only been a small number of those employees. Of the current employees, one employee has their PhD in literature.

At the research center, Carolyn explained to me that all employees there stress that “it is a research center and not a research library.” This is mainly due to how it changes the view of state legislators toward the institution depending on the word used. More legislators have fewer issues funding a state research center than they do a state research library. Wording is paramount at the research center; it has the ability to drastically alter the potential future budget of the institution.

At the end of the interview I gained a much greater insight into public history. Three key points I felt were greatly stressed throughout the interview with Carolyn were the financial budget, employee flexibility, and the importance of wording on behalf of the research center.

For my public historian informative interview, I chose to talk with Linda Morton-Keithley. She has worked for museums, archives and historical societies in Idaho, and continues to work on projects throughout the Northwest. I had the privilege of working alongside Linda in 2011-12, when she was hired at Boise State as a grant contractor to work on integrating our finding aids into the Northwest Digital Archive consortium. Before the grant, all of the archive’s finding aids were either word documents or MS Access tables, not available to the public. Linda worked on converting these files to XML and uploaded them to the NWDA website. During that brief time, I had some opportunities to ask her about the history profession, however there was a lot more I could have asked. This assignment gave me an excellent excuse to request some more wisdom from her. Linda has been in Idaho’s Public History profession since the 1980s. To see what linda has been up to check out her extensive list of publications, including many oral histories, available through the library.

After earning a B.S. in Human Resource Sciences (with a minor in History and Anthropology) from Michigan State University and a Masters in Historic Costume and Textiles from Colorado State University, Linda went to work as the Museum Director of the Owyhee County Historical Society in 1982. She served as director for six years then, after a year as the director of the Hunt County Historical Society, she became an Oral Historian for the Idaho State Historical Society (ISHS). After ten years of service, she became the Administrator of the Public Archives and Research Library at ISHS, a position she held for eleven years. Since 2010, Linda has been consulting, grant contracting and volunteering for several different institutions in Idaho and Oregon. Linda is also co-owner of MK Custom, a family-owned business creating hand-crafted horse and cowboy ‘goods.’ From her home in Melba, Linda makes custom hand-woven saddle blankets and rugs. For the past couple weeks I had a string of emails with Linda. I asked Linda questions about what she liked about working in archives and what she saw as challenging:

JD: As a professional with many accomplishments in public history, what job (or project) did you find the most rewarding?

LM-K: Two aspects really stand out as most rewarding.  First, I really liked being oral historian for ISHS.  Throughout most of my 10 years in that position, I was given latitude to develop my projects.  The emphasis was always on identifying topics with little representation in Idaho’s written record – second-wave feminism, the CCC, saddlemaking, outfitters and guides, BLM state directors, to name just a few In each case, I was able to conduct original research, seek out and interview narrators, and, most importantly, create a record of information available to future researchers.  In that same vein, I also found customer service to be very rewarding.  It’s a wonderful feeling to be familiar with the collections in your institution’s custody and be able to match the collections up with a researcher request.  The more obscure, the better!

JD: You have worked for large and small, public and private institutions. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?

LM-K: My first professional position was as director of the Owyhee County Historical Society and Museum in Murphy and my last full-time position was as administrator of the ISHS Public Archives and Research Library (now Idaho State Archives.)  OCHS was a fabulous experience for someone coming right out of school.  I was the sole employee and was able to experience every aspect of running a museum, from cleaning the bathrooms, to building exhibits, hosting school tours, writing articles for the historical journal, and answering research questions.  Although I worked directly for a board of directors, I had a great deal of latitude in how I structured my work day, the exhibits I wanted to create, and the topics I wanted to research.  There were always volunteers available for large projects which I couldn’t accomplish on my own, such as building and grounds maintenance.

As administrator at PARL, I had supervisory responsibility for a fair-sized staff and a much larger collection, oversight of a nearly $1 million budget, and a role within the agency’s leadership team.  All very rewarding and a natural progression after 20 years in the history field, but have to say the biggest disadvantage is that as an administrator, you never have time to actually work with the collections themselves.

JD: What is your assessment of the current environment for the traditional career paths for public historians (cultural resource manager, archivists, curators, etc.)?

LM-K: The biggest challenge I see for public historians in Idaho is the lack of available jobs, especially those that pay a living wage. For those interested specifically in archives, there are only a handful of institutions with professional positions – ISHS, U of I, BSU, ISU, C of I, several more I can’t think of at the moment.  There are also a handful of cultural resource positions with the State and Federal agencies.  For those more interested in records management, there is also ISHS, a few corporations, and the larger Idaho cities.  As you may know, city clerks in Idaho are responsible for local records management and I believe the larger cities often have an assistant clerk who oversees day-to-day management of the records.  For curators, again, there are only a handful of positions in the larger museums.  The smaller, county-level museums are generally run by volunteers or, at best, part-time, curatorial staff.

The current political climate worries me when it comes to our field.  Far too many politicians and other leaders see historical endeavors as nice, but non-essential.  That attitude has major implications when it comes to funding for grant-making agencies such as NEH and NHPRC.  I know lots of folks who got their start in the field by working various grant-funded projects and would hate to see those opportunities go away.  Advocacy has become a daily aspect of the job for public historians.

JD: What skills would you recommend we build to succeed in this field?

LM-K: Develop your communication skills by accepting all opportunities for public speaking, submitting articles to professional newsletters and blogs, networking whether possible.  Stay current with trends in the field by subscribing to relevant listservs, joining professional organizations such as Northwest Archivists and Inter-Mountain Archivists, attending meetings (some offer student scholarships), signing up for webinars.  Even though the majority of jobs throughout the nation are becoming more specific, i.e. digital content management, seek a well-rounded experience that gives you exposure to all aspects of the field.  This might include working with traditional, paper-based materials; digital content; and audio/visual materials; as well as customer service/reference experience. Volunteer if you can work it into your schedule and include an internship as part of your academic experience. And take a grant-writing workshop if the opportunity presents itself.

JD: When interpreting history for a public institution, sometimes emotions can run high when dealing with sensitive topic. Have you ever had to navigate those waters for an exhibit, publication, or other historical presentation? In other words, what advice can you give about presenting history accurately and handling negative publicity for an institution that may come from that interpretation?

LM-K: I served 15 months in the mid-1980s as director for a county museum in Texas, charged with developing their first museum.  The community had a long history of poor race relations and for many years had a sign hanging across Main Street, close to the railroad depot, that read:  “Welcome to Greenville.  Home of the blackest dirt and the whitest people.”  (FYI, this was cotton-growing country and the black dirt was a major contributor to successful crop management.)  For obvious reasons, the sign had been taken down in the 1960s and placed in storage at the town’s maintenance yard.  Shortly after I was hired, the sign was offered to the museum as part of its permanent collection.  I accepted the donation because it was part of the town’s history.  I didn’t, however, put it on exhibit although many folks thought I should have.  My feeling was that it could only be displayed IF placed within the context of a very thorough, and honest, interpretation of the town’s past history.  If I had stayed longer, I would have conducted an extensive oral history project with the town’s white and black communities to help develop that interpretation.  I don’t know if the sign was ever put on exhibit after I left or not.

~~

I am truly grateful Linda made herself available for my informative interview. It is historians like Linda that make me hopeful that our profession has a future in Idaho. Despite the State’s funding issues, she continues to contribute to the humanities. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Linda found the oral history project the most rewarding. I too like conducting oral histories, I hope there are more opportunities to build an oral history program in this valley. I also think Linda’s advice to join professional associations to keep up with the profession is wise. That was similar advice to what another guest speaker told us last month. I am a member of two local professional associations, one for archives and one for records management. I hope to contribute more to these groups once I have time after my schooling.

Even though the public history profession may be transforming, with limited budgets and increased technology, there is still work to be done. I think it is fair to say, that that work will probably not pay well and will not be as stable as it used to be. Linda made it clear that advocacy and communication are important aspects of staying relevant. As I read some of the other informative interviews, I think we are gaining a good understanding of what it takes to work in our chosen field.

 

 

Here is my interview with Mary Cory, curator of the El Dorado County Historical Museum in Placerville, CA, and she is the secretary of the El Dorado County Historical Society.  I chose to interview her because I worked for the museum last summer. Her interview provided insight on working in a small town museum and the difficulties and opportunities that come with it.

What sort of education did you get in order to hold your current position at the museum?

 After college, I eventually got a job working as a paid guide at a historic house museum, and decided that I wanted to make museum work my career.  So, I got a masters degree in Museums Studies from The George Washington University in 1989.

 

How did you come to working at the current museum? What about that museum attracted you and made you want to work there?

After working in historic house museums, I was interested in working in a more general history museum.  This position was advertised nationally in a Museum publication (put out by the AAM) and so applied.

 

What projects are you currently working on?

The El Dorado County Historical Railroad Park, of which the El Dorado Western Railroad is a part of.   

Improving the condition of the artifact collection through inventories, re-housing, improving storage conditions, and most recently, the disposition (and deaccessioning) of objects found to be outside the museum’s mission or in poor condition.

 

In class we’ve been discussing how museums repatriate objects to those they belong to. Has your museum encountered this and if so how often? 

The museum had a human skull that was repatriated to a local Native American group in 1993, before I was here.  So far, no other objects have been identified to be repatriated. 

 

What do you want people to get out of the museum? What is it you want them to leave with?

More of an appreciation and interest in some, any or all aspects of El Dorado County’s history

 

In a digital society, how has technology affected the museum? What are the positive and negative aspects of it? Also, how have you incorporated that technology into the museum? 

The Museum has a large collection of historical photographs.  Starting in about 2003, equipment was purchased through a grant to digitize the entire collection of photographs, and to create a catalog.  This was completed in a couple of years, and now all new photographs are scanned and added to the database.

Certainly, keeping complex information in a digital format, such as in a database or a spreadsheet has helped make the information more accessible.  An example is a spreadsheet of all the burial permits issued in El Dorado County.  Genealogists are looking for that information, and the spreadsheet makes it much easier to find.  

However, we continue to use and add to our extensive (low tech) Master Index Card Catalog.  This was started by volunteers in the mid-1970s and has yet to be digitized.  So far, it continues to serve its purpose.

Because I am dependent on volunteers for all of these projects, I do not always have a guarantee that the volunteers, usually older and not very computer literate, will be able to use or contribute to these digitizing projects.  As a result, I’m careful about committing time, money, and energy to a project that may not get completed if it requires a high level of technical know-how.

 

What aspects of the museum would you like to change in the near future? What are some of the obstacles preventing you from doing that?

More covered or enclosed space  – space to exhibit and store artifacts, space to store archives and create a public reading room (currently our public space is in the middle of the storage space), and covered space for the outside artifacts, more enclosed space for the El Dorado Western Railroad program for storage, restoration and maintenance.  I guess the main obstacles for creating all of this space is the money to build it, and the personnel to plan it. 

 

What kinds of skills are applicants expected to have for an entry-level position as a curator?

 I focused my master degree classes on Collections Management.  I wish I had taken more classes on planning and installing exhibits.  The degree helped me get an entry level job as the manager of a house museum, and after a few years, I was promoted to Curator of Collections.

 

Do you get many donations from visitors and from the community? 

All new acquisitions have come to the Museum as donations.  We get, on average, one or two offers of artifacts a week.  We probably, on average, accept about half of what we are offered.  Money donations come in as a $2 request at the door.  Most people seem very willing to give that.

 

How has the city of Placerville helped draw attention to the museum, if it has at all?

I can’t think of anything the City has done.  The County Chamber of Commerce (located in Placerville) distributes our brochure, has a link on their website, and will include a blurb about the County Museum in their annual visitors guide. 

 

What project did you enjoy working on the most?

Recently, I worked with another volunteer on researching and installing two historical quilt exhibits at the County Museum with quilts from the Museum’s collection that have been in storage for many years.  We found one crazy quilt with a ribbon sewed into it that commemorated the coming of the railroad to Placerville in 1888. 

 

What advice do you have for those interested in the field?

Jobs are so hard to come by.  Volunteer in the type of museum or historical agency that you would like to work for.  Also, volunteering in a larger organization that has some turn over in positions may put you in a better position to get a job there.

 

What are some of the challenges of your job?

As the only paid person, I’m dependent on volunteers to get the jobs done that I determine are priorities.  However, volunteers come to the museum with a certain set of skills and usually an idea of what they want to do….which may not fit my priorities.  So – staying flexible has been very important in order to take advantage of the people that do volunteer and are reliable and dedicated.

 

Would you say the museum operates from a business perspective or no?

Since this is a County supported museum, I don’t need to make enough money to fully support the operation.  However, in the past few years, the county budget has been slashed, so now the county covers my salary and basic building support and pays for the utilities.   Our non-profit support organizations have stepped up and funded the Museum’s expenditures above and beyond the county’s support.  The Museum’s Book Store and photo sales, along with the train ride donations, keep these programs, like the El Dorado Western Railroad going. We are trying to operate this in a more business-like manner.

 

How is the museum funded?

County General Fund, grants, and through the fund raising efforts of the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation and the El Dorado Museums Foundation, the County Museum’s two non-profit support organizations.

 

Before curator, what other experience did you have with museums?

Guide, Visitor Services Administrator, William Paca House Manager, Curator of Collections for Historical Annapolis Foundation.  My position here is “Museum Administrator” which is equivelent to Director, and includes Curator, Museum Education, Registrar, Volunteer Coordinator, etc.

 

What are the positive and negative aspects to working in a small town museum?

Positives are having an opportunity to get familiar with all aspects of museum work.  Negative is not having other professional support at hand.

 

Do you feel the museum is appreciated enough by the public? If not, why do you think that is?

Yes – we can always use more appreciation, but what has always impressed me is the interest and pride I see in the public that does visit.  What we could use is more publicity in order to increase the museum’s visitation. 

 

How has the museum improved since you first started out there?

One important improvement is I wrote and implemented the museum’s first Collections Management Policy.  That greatly improved the process for accepting artifacts.  It has allowed us to refine the museum’s collection so it reflects the mission of the museum.  

 

Why do you think it’s so important to bring history to the public?

Having an appreciation of local history helps a community have pride in itself, and museums are a focus for that history, and can have a very positive effect on what is now called “quality of life.”   That’s a somewhat pat answer to what is very hard question to articulate.  The connection that we feel to “history” whether it’s our own or someone else’s, provides an important foundation to understanding the world around us….

 

What is one of the biggest challenges when setting up a new exhibit? Are you worried about how visitors will interpret it? What goes into the process of creating an exhibit?

For me, the biggest challenge is having enough dedicated time to work on it!  It’s what I enjoy, and I always want to spend more time researching.  My exhibits tend to start with an idea that is inspired by the artifacts, then doing the research, then selecting and arranging the artifacts and then creating the labels and graphics. 

As far as how visitors interpret it, I’m usually looking for something that will trigger their interest and try to convey what makes it interesting to me. 

 

Is there any other museum you would like to work for and why?

Sometimes I think it would be fun to work for a large museum with many departments and specialties, in order to have a chance to really focus on a particular skill or specialty of knowledge (like being the curator of a particular department at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History.)

Another “what if” is working in an art museum with a collection of European Masters.  My undergraduate degree is in Art History, and if my first paying museum job out of college had been as a guide in an art museum….