By Libby Goodreau, 2018 Tom Desilets Memorial Intern
August 17, 2018
I can’t believe that the Desilets Internship has come to an end! I have learned so much during my time at the Framingham History Center and I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity. As someone who would like to pursue an interest in museum work, the Tom Desilets Memorial Internship has definitely been beneficial for my future endeavors. What I have learned during my time here is something that I couldn’t have learned in school. I’ve realized what makes an internship so valuable to a student is that they can learn by experience, while also figuring out what they would like to focus on in their future career path. I can say that FHC has done that for me. This summer has flown by and when I think about what I’ve done here, I would like to highlight my favorite aspects of being an FHC intern.
Since day one, I was already doing hands-on museum work, which was so exciting for me! At the Edgell Memorial Library, Katie, Laura, Stacen and I started removing objects from their existing cases, so that we could empty them and prepare the space for new climate-controlled cases. This was my first encounter with historical artifacts and I think it is amazing that something that is hundreds of years old still exists today because it allows us to get a glimpse of what the past was like. Going through FHC’s collection has made me aware of the rich history that Framingham has and how successful FHC is at preserving and presenting this to the public.
One of my ongoing tasks for the summer was working with the catalogue system, PastPerfect, and making the appropriate corrections to object records in regards to their accession and object I.D. numbers. This was what I most excited for when I first began since I have experience with entering and managing records, so I thought that this would be a good fit. Learning how accession numbers work was kind of confusing, but after correcting some records I finally got the hang of it and enjoyed it. I want to be a registrar in a museum one day and having worked with PastPerfect has reinforced that aspiration.
What surprised me the most was when I was in the upper costume room working with collections. When a clothing item has its number changed, it must have a new sewn-in tag, so I had to do this a couple of times. It was tedious at first, but I actually started to like it. A new tag also means that the garment’s number has been updated and corrected. After that has been done, the next step is to bag the garment so that pests do not come in contact with the fabric. While bagging a majority of the costume collection, I was mesmerized by how intricate and beautiful these dresses and shirts were. The fact that they were all handmade is something that I find fascinating. While working up there, I also did some provenance research regarding some of the dresses, which allowed me to find some missing information that wasn’t known before like donor or date. This was quite exciting because it was a way to find and connect the missing piece and overall, strengthen what we know about Framingham’s history.
I feel great joy when I look back at what I’ve accomplished at FHC because I am contributing to bettering FHC’s collection and preserving Framingham’s history. I have enjoyed my time here very much and I am grateful to all of those that have taught me and have allowed me to have a great summer. I want to say a special thank you to Michael Desilets who supported this internship and is the reason why I was able to have such a great experience in the first place! Thank you, Michael! And of course, a big thanks to Annie, Katie, Laura, Linda, Pat, Stacen and all of the wonderful staff and volunteers at the Framingham History Center! This has sincerely been an incredible and valuable experience for me and I am excited to further pursue museum work!