El Paso Museum of History - Week 1 [Connor Kaufmann]
Hello Friends and welcome to my first internship blog post here at the El Paso History Museum! My first day, July 5th, 2022 started off with a very welcoming greeting from my internship coordinator and supervisor Ms. Nora Rose. I had met with her a week and a half prior, before our amazing Washington Week Experience, and she showed me all around the museum, including the office I now work in, the EPHM Library that will hopefully be open for the public sometime in the near future, the artifact storage room, and even the workshop area where all of the exhibit magic happens. She also introduced me to all of the staff here at the museum; all of whom I have since learned their names and look up to with admiration!
Back to my first day… I started off the day by spending hours reading every exhibit on both floors of the museum to become both familiar with the layout and to learn all about the various portions of history that the current exhibits are showcasing. One notable part of this day was when Ms. Rose told me that everyone was eating lunch so I probably should as well if I was ready, to which I replied that I couldn’t stop reading the exhibits now because it was all too interesting and cool! After spending virtually half the day reading all of the exhibits, I proceeded to have lunch and then start on my first project. The project was to compile articles about El Paso History from the time of the Indigenous Peoples all the way to the time of the railroad expansion here on the Borderland. All of these articles would be then printed out and put in a docent binder so that docents can read all about the exhibits and have even more information to talk about during tours. I researched quite a lot and learned so much about both the light and dark sides of our Borderland’s history. I researched from the end of Tuesday through the morning/early afternoon of Thursday.
You may be asking, “Did you seriously just research all of Wednesday?” The answer is of course not! The El Paso Museum of History had an event called a Merienda Talk, which was one in a large series of Merienda Talks that EPHM hosts. This one was named Uncovering History Through Art, and it was with three local scholars; one of which was my El Paso Community College Psychology Professor in the spring semester of my senior year! The talk was very informative and sparked a lightbulb in my mind to ask a few rather deep questions, starting a conversation on the twisting of the meaning of artwork and over interpretation of artwork with the local scholars. This was definitely a highlight of the week!
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On Thursday, following the completion of my first project, Ashley and I were invited to go with two of the staff members to the UTEP Special Collections to see the process of returning artifacts back to the special collections. It is housed on the 6th floor of the UTEP library and is off limits for most people unless you have good reason or business you must attend to in special collections. I wish I would have stayed longer to look at all the old books and other old artifacts for a while, but it was still a great experience, especially considering it is a very exclusive part of campus!
On Friday, I was sent to work in the library with a current Ph.D. student in history at UTEP, to assist her with anything she needed my help with. She gave Ashely and I a run down of what she has been doing in the library and what the end goal was. She then put us both to work alphabetizing the bookshelves and entering books into the library’s online database so people could easily search for the books they need. For the first half of the day I worked on entering the books into the library's database, which was very interesting and much harder than it looks. I learned how to describe certain books and also got to read small portions of books I thought looked very interesting. I then spent the second half of the day alphabetizing and talking to my new friend/library expert about both our academic endeavors and dreams! By the end of the day I had successfully alphabetized the whole southwestern biographies section. One other thing worth noting about Friday was that I had a great time reading the very old El Paso City Directories. I read the beginning page of both the 1904 and 1917 directories and it was very interesting to read about what life was like back then.
Monday came around and I took part in a project with the fundraising and development office. I was asked to search up museums around the country and their membership details so that EPHM can get some good ideas to improve its membership department. I was able to research and create a document with 26 different museums and cultural institutions across the country, and all of their membership details! Today, Tuesday, I have been spending my time working with exhibit prep, painting and getting ready for our newest exhibit. I also spent some time researching local event calendars to help advertise our museum events better and to a broader audience!
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All of these experiences have shown me just how time consuming and important museum work is, despite the preconceived notions about museum work being slow and boring. There are so many protocols, so much research, and many hours that must be spent making sure all things from exhibits to room temperatures and so much more are near perfect. The inner workings of museums also require a lot of patience, which is something else I have learned in my first week at EPHM.
Through my internship I have also learned that education is truly a special thing no one should take for granted. Yes, it may seem like such a difficult task to read books for school because sometimes we do not want to learn, but encountering so many books and pieces of history here at the museum has shown my just how much I should appreciate education, and how I should try my best to spread my newfound passion for education to the generations after me. After all, education is essential to making sure bad parts of history don't repeat themselves, while the good, kind, and peaceful endeavors go down in history as good examples for us in the future.
On a less serious note, my internship has increased my knowledge of many things I never saw myself doing such as steaming tablecloths, wall painting, and alphabetizing whole sections of books. These are all great skills to know as I grow up and continue on to my next life journey!
Washington Week was an essential learning experience that I am ever so grateful for because without it, I do not think my mind would be as open or as prepared for my internship as it is. My internship experiences has so far connected with the mission of the Young Ambassadors Program and Washington Week in that every single day we are reminded that we are public servants, working for our community, which is a key component of the program. Our work and all of my projects have one common community based goal. We do not try to raise money for unless endeavors, and we do not spend time researching or painting because we want to be personally fulfilled. No, we do it because we know what the exhibits will teach the public are vital lessons and knowledge that will assist them in helping change the world.
Thank you,
Connor Kaufmann
YAP 2022
El Paso Museum of History
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