Name: Megan Clark
Class Year: 2014Majors: History and English
Hometown: Acton, MA
Internship Organization: The Fairbanks House Historical Site, operated by The Fairbanks Family in America, Inc., Dedham, MA
Internship title: Curatorial Intern
1. Describe your internship organization.
The Fairbanks House is the oldest surviving timber-frame house in North America and is operated by the Fairbanks Family in America, Inc., which has cared for the house since 1902. The Fairbanks House is open to the public May through October and allows people to experience 17th through 19th century history. The Fairbanks Family in America, Inc. also collects and preserves documents and artifacts relating to the Fairbanks family and the Fairbanks House and places them within a wider historical context.
2. Describe your internship responsibilities.
This summer, I have been responsible for two major projects focused on educational programming and archival management. Every third grader in Dedham visits the Fairbanks House but, until recently, the Fairbanks House did not have an official tour designed specifically for students. I researched the Massachusetts third grade curriculum and designed a tour that better connects to aspects of that curriculum and engages the students by asking them more questions. I then designed a training PowerPoint, which the Fairbanks House curator will administer next fall, in order to teach the tour guides, or docents, how to lead tours for students. I also created a packet of recommendations for conducting mixed-generational tours in order to help the docents engage visitors of many different age levels. I am currently working in the Fairbanks House archives and am assisting the curator, Meaghan Siekman, to create a new organizational system. We are also researching the context of previously unidentified or unexplained documents and photographs. In addition to these projects, I lead both normal and school group tours of the Fairbanks House at least one day a week and conduct research in order to add to our knowledge about the Fairbanks House, the Fairbanks family, and Dedham history from the 17th through the 19th century.
3. What led you to pursue type of work?
I think explaining history, at its best, is like telling a story. I have always loved history and have wanted to share that love with others. I also enjoy tutoring; I tutored all subjects in the Academic Support Room at my high school and tutored fourth graders in writing last summer. I get so excited when I see a student finally understand a concept, make a connection, or grow to enjoy a topic that they previously disliked. After I graduate, I would like to find a job in which I can share my excitement for learning, especially historical learning, with others. I have considered teaching but I also wanted to explore a less traditional educational career. I looked for internships at museums or historic houses because I believed these internships would allow me to pursue my passion for history and share that passion with others. My internship this summer has both allowed me to share my love of history and conduct research that will enhance the museum experience for future visitors.
4. Describe a highlight of your internship experience thus far?
The highlight of my internship experience thus far has been creating an official tour for third grade school groups because it combined so many of my interests and helped me to develop new and pre-existing skills. First, this project combined my passion for history and education. Secondly, during this project, I became a much more efficient researcher which, in turn, made the research even more fun. I also developed my communication and teaching skills because I had to decide which bits of information to share with students and, then, how to communicate that information to them. I also had to describe the goals of the new tours to the docents and explain how to achieve them. It is very exciting to know that I made significant changes to the way the Fairbanks House will conduct school group tours and to see how the students reacted to the changes that I was able to introduce this summer.
5. Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about your internship experience?
Interning at the Fairbanks House has been a phenomenal experience! I have developed new skills—such as archival management—and strengthened pre-existing ones—such as research efficiency and educational programming design. This internship has led me to seriously consider a career in public history, which would allow me to simultaneously pursue my love for history and education outside of a classroom setting.
