By Clare O’Connor, Tom Desilets Memorial Intern 2017
Hello! My name is Clare O’Connor, and I am the Framingham History Center’s Tom Desilets Memorial intern for the summer of 2017. I am about seven weeks into my internship, with only about three weeks left to go. Laura Stagliola, the Museum Assistant/Education Coordinator and I both realized I had yet to make a website debut, but better late than never, right? Without further ado, here is a little bit of what I have been doing for the past month and a half.
My first day at the museum was a bit of a whirlwind; we went to Cameron Middle School to put on a presentation for the students about life during the Civil War era. Upon our return, Laura gave me a tour of the museum (including the History in the Stitches exhibit, which is right up my ally!) and an overview of what I would be doing this summer. This was a bit intimidating as I did not have any prior experience working in a museum and only knew I had a passion for history that led me to this internship. One of the projects that has quickly become one of my favorite things here is the Dennison Manufacturing Company Timeline, based on the FHC’s 2014-2016 Dennison Manufacturing Company exhibit.
When Laura first mentioned the project during my interview, I went home to my mom and asked if she was familiar with the company. “Oh yeah, Dennison!”, she said “that name brings back memories. They were like Staples and made office supplies”. Okay, I thought, how can a museum make a whole exhibit out of a stationery company? I quickly got my answer as I began making the timeline online and learned about Dennison, which reminded me that everything (even shipping tags) has a history. I am a stickler for American history, 20th century American history, and old advertisements-luckily for me, Dennison encompassed all of these and more! Going through the archives and finding beautiful tags and advertisements, while also learning more about Dennison’s innovative products, commitment to employee welfare, and their role in major events such as the Civil War, both World Wars, and the changing social and cultural climate of America throughout the 20th century was absolutely my cup of tea! Pretty soon the timeline will be live on the website, so stay tuned!
Other projects I have been working on include a walking tour for the FHC’s app based around the Centre Common and the rich history that sits at the heart of Framingham. I loved working on this because it was a chance to do some research and piece together different bits of information to put together a narrative of Framingham throughout the centuries. I consider myself to be somewhat of an old soul, and spending time in these buildings as well as researching the people and events that allowed Framingham to develop a noble history of its own was truly a great experience as someone who is fascinated with the past. The walking tour will also be launching shortly on the app, with more walking tours to come!
As is customary of time, it flew by this summer and I am forced to do a double take at the calendar. With what I have done so far, I feel accomplished, already a little nostalgic, but mostly grateful. I still do not know exactly what I want to do with my history degree once I graduate from Framingham State University next Spring, but my time at FHC has reaffirmed to me that I love teaching history, as well as “doing” history – doing research, looking through archives, and putting stories to artifacts and people who have long since passed (I picked up some snazzy museum lingo this summer learned that this is called provenance!). The people I have met and gotten to know while working here, including Laura, Executive Director Annie Murphy, Curator Stacen Goldman, and Program/Development Coordinator Jennifer Toth have helped me to learn and think about Framingham’s unique and captivating past, and my own abilities and aspirations as I move forward – and for that, I could not thank them enough!