A four page newsletter created by the Public History Concentration at Wright State University.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/public_history_news/1001/thumbnail.jp

Public History Concentration

English

CORE

Wright State University CORE Scholar Public History Newsletter Public History Fall 2009 Public History Newsletter Fall 2009 Public History Concentration Follow this and additional works at: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/public_history_news  Part of the Public History Commons Repository Citation Public History Concentration (2009). Public History Newsletter Fall 2009. . This Newsletter is brought to you for free and open access by the Public History at CORE Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Public History Newsletter by an authorized administrator of CORE Scholar. For more information, please contact library-corescholar@wright.edu. Dalton worked with the Dayton Society of Natural History to complete her capstone project.  Melissa acted as Guest Curator to design, plan and mount a new exhibit at the Boonshoft Mu-seum of Discovery.  The exhibit, Earth Movers and Artisans: the Hopewell People of Southern Ohio, is on display through December. The Reception was well re-ceived and we had a wonderful turnout.  We’d like to thank the following for sponsoring the event: Dawne Dewey, Bob Smith and the SAA Student Chapter.  Thanks for making it a great event!     On September 25, the Public History pro-gram hosted a Wel-come Reception for all new and returning students.  This event gave new students an opportunity to meet faculty, other students and get ideas about possible projects and internships. Second year students were invited to participate in a poster session to highlight their summer project or internship.  Tiffany Knapp is working on her project and internship at ThinkTV.  To highlight some of what she’s done, Tiffany showed a video of a program she helped edit.  Ryan Qualls is interning at the National Park Service at the Wright Bicycle Shop.  He brought the NPS display and dis-cussed his role as an inter-preter.  Jeremy Feador completed his internship with the Western Reserve His-torical Society.  Jeremy worked as a period interpreter and also took part in a weekend seminar on Cemetery preservation.  Sara Boteler worked within the Col-lections Management Depart-ment at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces, NM.  Sara did a vari-ety of tasks during her internship including exhibits, registration, collections management, and learned the importance of good storage.  Elizabeth Morgan com-pleted her internship at the Kent State University Museum.  Eliza-beth helped prepare a collection of approximately 90 African American women’s hats for an exhibit.  Her job included be-coming familiar with the cata-loguing system, selecting pieces for the exhibit, researching the social significance and history of hats in African American culture, and preparing labels.  Melissa Public History students pose for a picture at the Reception. F a l l  W e l c o m e  R e c e p t i o n  I N S I D E  T H I S  I S S U E :  Day in the Life... 2 Mentor Program 2 Alumni Updates 3 New Students 3 Director Note 3 ARMA Scholarship 4 Summer Graduates 4 D E P A R T M E N T  O F  H I S T O R Y  W R I G H T  S T A T E  U N I V E R S I T Y  Public History Newsletter Fall 2009 Volume 3, Issue 1 Tiffany Knapp explaining her project at ThinkTV. As Chief of the National Museum of the United States Air Force’s (NMUSAF) Research Division, I oversee and manage a staff of six professionals responsible for the three primary responsibilities of the division – writing and develop-ing exhibits packages, maintaining the museum’s manuscript collec-tion, and handling research re-quests from the public, govern-ment organizations and museum staff.  Managing these three func-tions on a daily basis is a challeng-ing yet very rewarding job.  One of the things I love most about my job is that each day is different!     Most days involve meetings, both formal and informal, concerning exhibit development.  After a new exhibit topic is approved, I deter-mine which of my three exhibit curators should research and write the package.  Sometimes, when an exhibit is extremely large and complex, I will assign more than one curator to research and write the exhibit package.  That is the case for the museum’s current large exhibit project:  the com-plete renovation of the Korean War Gallery.  I have assigned two curators to that project, scheduled to be completed by June 2010 on the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.  To ensure that project and numer-ous other exhibit projects we have in development concurrently stay on track and on schedule, I co-chair weekly Exhibit Coordination Meetings.  These meetings are attended by the four divisions responsible for interpretive exhib-its and restored aircraft: Research, Collections, Exhibits, and Restora-tion.  These meetings have be-come an essential element to ensure adequate communication and coordination of new exhibits and aircraft restoration projects.  I am in constant communication with the curators as they develop new exhibits and then I edit their work once completed.  The pack-ages then go to the Senior Cura-tor and Director for final review and approval before they are sent over to the Exhibits Division for design and fabrication.    Much of my time is spent in meet-ings with senior staff to coordi-nate projects and ensure good communication. I also hold staff meetings within the division once a week to disseminate museum information to the division, which also gives us all a chance to sit down in one place together to discuss museum matters.    In addition, I am also the Chair of the museum’s Lecture Series Committee which is charged with choosing candidates to speak at the museum on a wide range of USAF related topics.  I get the opportunity to meet some truly fascinating active duty and retired USAF personnel as well as out-standing authors and historians as a result of this responsibility.  Another significant part of my job is to determine whether we should accept archival donations offered to the NMUSAF and to oversee the staff and volunteers who handle the archives side of the Research Division’s operation.  Two manu-script curators (both WSU Public History grads) ably handle the archives and work with our stu-dent hires (three currently) and our excellent contingent of volun-teers.    Finally, I work with my reference curator (yet another WSU Public History grad) on a daily basis to handle any issues that may arise in replying to requests for informa-tion from the public or museum staff.  Disseminating historical and technical information is an impor-tant part of our mission and must be timely and accurate.  Much of my time is also spent facili-tating issues that sometimes occur within the division or with other divisions in the museum.  In a large complex organization like the NMUSAF, there are inevitably moments when different view-points can create issues, but nego-mentor will have 1-2 students assigned to them.  Students and mentors will be matched according to the student’s interest and field of study.   The alumni will not only be there to men-tor, encourage and guide the student through their graduate career, but also help the student establish a network of profes-sional contacts to assist in finding employ-This fall, the Public History Program im-plemented a Mentor Program to help prepare the students for a career in public history.  To achieve this goal, we sent out a call to all our alumni.  The response was wonderful!  We’ve had 28 alumni answer the call to act as a mentor to our current students.   With 40 students in the program, each ment after graduation.   As a current student in the program, this is going to be a great opportunity.  Having a professional contact, someone who knows what it takes to succeed in the field, will be invaluable.    Hopefully all the students will seize this opportunity to learn from our alumni and take full advan-tage of the Mentor Program.   tiation among the parties usually results in a resolution that is acceptable to all and allows the museum to perform its mission.  When I graduated from WSU many years ago (shortly after the earth cooled), my dream job was to work at the NMUSAF (then known as the Air Force Museum).  I am extremely fortu-nate that not only did my dream come true, but also that I have such a wonderful staff of tal-ented and dedicated profession-als that make my job very re-warding.  And I owe a lot to WSU for my education in pre-paring me for where I am today. T h e  D a y  i n  t h e  L i f e  o f …  W E S L E Y  H E N R Y  T h e  N a t i o n a l  M u s e u m  o f  t h e  U S A F  P u b l i c  H i s t o r y  M e n t o r  P r o g r a m  t a k e s  F l i g h t !  P a g e  2  Wes Henry is a  1981 graduate of the Public History program.   P u b l i c  H i s t o r y  enjoying a second career, thanks to Public History.  He has been continuously teaching for 12 years in both world and US history, as well as math, engi-neering, and physics courses at a community col-lege.  Pete has written several articles for aviation publications and in 1997 co-authored a biography of the Wright Brother’s mechanic, Charlie Taylor, for which Tom Crouch wrote the foreword.  He also participated in the construction of the airplane replica that adorns the Dunbar Library atrium.  Daniel Schlegel (2009) graduated winter 2009 and has worked for Dayton History as a Lead Inter-preter for almost 5 years.  He enjoys speaking to current students, fellow alumni, and to Dawne's classes to stay abreast of what is going on within the program.  Catherine Wilson (2008) is the Executive Director at Greene County Historical Society.  She is currently working with students from Sinclair and the new Dayton Regional STEM School.   Also, their log house restoration project is almost completed.  Removing the back log (which partially supports the second floor) was quick a trick.  See a picture of it the restoration below.     dedicate additional time to prepare and teach classes, sponsor intern-ships and guide capstone projects. You deserve to be recognized for the time you devote to teaching and mentoring our students.  My sin-cere thanks to all of you! THANK YOU! Public History at WSU is very fortunate to have an excellent group of faculty who support the program. I would like to spotlight all of the adjunct faculty who make this program one of the best in the country.  Our adjunct faculty are working professionals in the public history field and Vishwam Annam Archives Technology John Armstrong Archives Edna Diggs Museums Glenn Harper Historic Preservation Lynda Kachurek Archives Mary Anne Kirk Multimedia Lynn Simonelli Museums Bob Smith Archives Toni Vanden Bos Archives Virginia Weygandt Museums Chris Wydman Records Management David Brownell—Hanover College Brittany Guerra—Wright State University Elizabeth Haeuptle—Ball State University Jeannine Jacobs—Wright State University Becky Lindeman—Wright State University  Susan Richardson—University of Arkansas  Welcome to the Program! A l u m n i  N e w s  N o t e  f r o m  t h e  D i r e c t o r :  D a w n e  D e w e y  W e l c o m e  N e w  S t u d e n t s !  P a g e  3  V o l u m e  3 ,  I s s u e  1  Lynn Simonelli (2002).  Vice President, Collec-tions & Research, Dayton Society of Natural His-tory.  Oversees the work of all Collections de-partments at the DSNH, including Astronomy, Anthropology, Biology, Geology, Live Animals, SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park, and Fort Ancient (we are managing the site for the Ohio Historical Society as of August 1, 2009.  Renovations are planned for 2010 in the Astron-omy wing of the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, as well as the Wild Ohio zoo (will open to the public as the Discovery Zoo in late summer 2010).  Jenna Edwards (2009) became a Park Ranger for the National Park Service in June 2009.  She works for the National Capitol Parks East division at the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site.  Pete Unitt (1992) is “History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.”  - Robert Penn Warren  Aja Ash  Veronica Buchanan  Jennifer Budzek  Valerie Hudson  Wendy Wagener   We wish you all the best of luck!  The mission of the Public History pro-gram at Wright State University is to prepare professional who are well-grounded in knowledge of histori-cal content, professional training and hands-on experience.    Department of History Wright State University 370 Millett Hall 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy. Dayton, OH 45435 (937) 775-3110  Dawne Dewey Director, Public History Program  Dr. Henry Limouze Interim Chair, History Department  Dr. Paul Lockhart Director, History Graduate Program  Melissa Dalton Public History Graduate Assistant, Newsletter Editor C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s  t o  o u r  S u m m e r  2 0 0 9  G r a d u a t e s !  Doing Public History the “Wright” way since 1974. http://www/wright.edu/cola/Dept/hst/pubhst/index.html WSU Public History student Ryan Qualls was recently awarded the Waymon Underwood Scholarship from the Greater Dayton Chapter of ARMA International.  Congratulations Ryan!   ARMA Scholarship awarded to  Public History Student 

Public History Newsletter Fall 2009

https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&amp;context=public_history_news

Public History Newsletter Fall 2009

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

CORE