NMAH Week 2: Marie-Carmen Ramirez

Welcome back :) 
I know this update has been a bit late but this week has been busy for me :') 

Let's dive into my experience during the week of July 11th to July 15th, 2022 at NMAH. 

I went on-site twice this week: Monday, July 11th, and Wednesday, July 13th. 

Monday: 

It was a late starting day, I met with Magdalena & Gonzalo ( supervisor and another intern) at 2pm. We met on the first floor near Dave's Sueno (the lowrider). Today, our objective was to begin title testing for an exhibit ( currently referred to as "Escuchame!" or Las Noticias ). We met with another staff member who I believe I mentioned in my first post, Lauren. Then we went over our objectives with title testing and how we can structure our questions for the museum visitors in ways that will amplify the results. Basically, what can we ask them that would tell us the most about their thoughts on the title. We paired up with each pair having at least one fluent and comfortable Spanish Speaker and headed out from the fourth floor where we had held the discussion and got out on the floor! I paired with Magdalena and we were able to speak with 15 people! Although, this round I mainly shadowed Magdalena it was fun hearing what all these different people thought and had to say about what they thought the title meant, what the exhibit would be about, and seeing their faces glow once they find out. Afterward, Magdalena set up a meeting for me with one of her fellow staff members at the museum. The staff member was Carrie Heflin, who is an Early Education Specialist for the Smithsonian. We talked for what felt like hours on end, truly was just about 45 mins, about education in and outside the classroom, the importance of teacher treatment in schooling, and many more important topics. She gave me a perspective I didn't understand myself as early education didn't really intrigue me. She mentioned that little kids were "like sponges, they are capable of absorbing so much information". This honestly helped me going into my community outreach, you'll have to wait on the next post for that though ;). 
That was a wrap on my second day in the museum!☺

Wednesday: 

My day started a bit earlier than Monday, meeting up at the lowrider at 11am.

We continued to do title testing for Esuchame! and this time I was able to speak with more people as it was just Gonzalo and I. As we traded off turns of questioning and note-taking, we were able to get to know each other more and definitely did our best to make this testing fun for the two of us. Since Gonzalo was a full summer intern, he had been coming into the museum since Early June, he had mentioned how he was working with one of NMAH's interactive carts. The one he was in charge of was the Immigration cart, which highlights the bracero program and the stories of Mexican Immigrants in the U.S. Magdalena had assigned me to shadow him as he works the cart throughout the museum that day. Before we did that though, we met with Patty Arteaga for lunch, another generous arrangement made by Magdalena for both her interns :). Patty is a project team lead at NMAH, she's currently working on and directing the Undocumented Organizing Collecting Initiative hoping to tell the story of those undocumented in the United States. Hearing her speak so passionately and learning about museum work in such an intimate way was eye-opening and sparked excitement for the rest to come as I know for sure I want to stay in touch with the Smithsonian to connect with others as they have with me. After lunch in which Magdalena had brought some great cherries for all of us to spilt, Gonzalo and I conducted another 20 mins or so of title testing.
Afterward, we met back in Magdalena's office and accompanied her to a meeting about Escuchame! where we shared our recent discoveries collected through title testing. Both Gonzalo and I were pretty tired afterward and decided to do the immigration cart next time. 

                With that wrapped up my second week at the National Museum of American History.


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