Author: Christina Polge, Marketing Intern
I stood in the crowd, watching Secretary Pamela Cashwell share a pair of large scissors with Norman Harrell, chairman of the new Friends of the Tobacco Farm Life Museum. Alongside community members, folks from the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and other members of the Friends organization, they cut the ribbon to the Tobacco Farm Life Museum.
It was the first ribbon-cutting ceremony I’ve ever attended, and the barbecue we had afterwards is definitely in my top three plates of all time.
As a marketing intern at the North Carolina Museum of History, I’ve gotten to experience so many different sides of our state’s history. I’ve seen the house where Andrew Johnson was born, looked at the possibly oldest toilet in North Carolina (it’s contested), and participated in a strategic planning meeting.
While each aspect of my experience has been valuable, my favorite part was watching the construction fence project come together.
While the North Carolina Museum of History’s physical location is closed, several sections of the museum are collaborating to create a construction fence that will keep the public engaged. It’s such a unique and innovative way of giving people access to our artifacts even when they can’t visit us in person.
I’ve also had the opportunity to contribute to this project. I wrote informative blurbs for the museum website, using research gathered by the curators. People walking past the construction fence will be able to scan the QR codes next to the displayed artifacts and learn more about them. It’s been an exercise in creativity to combine accessibility, engaging language, and educational components when writing these blurbs.
Getting to be a part of such a unique project has certainly taught me more about cross-departmental collaboration and the importance of diverse experiences in entering new territory as an organization.
Speaking of entering new territory, while the museum’s physical location will stay the same, we’ve been discussing new ways that it will function.
Particularly, the marketing team has been talking about new processes we want to establish during the construction phase.
Seeing how the team works within these meetings has shown me the importance of giving everyone a chance to voice their perspectives.
These two projects have been highlights of my time here at the history museum, but my favorite thing was that I learned something new each day. There’s no shortage of knowledge available, whether it’s what a brand is or the origins of the museum’s many artifacts.
I’ve enjoyed the chance to become more intentional with language through press releases, social media, and event calendars. I also loved the opportunity for collaboration to reach common goals. The museum’s renovation has made it possible for us to start working in new ways and develop new processes as a team.
During this internship, I’ve been lucky enough to attend external field trips with other interns in various departments at the museum. We visited the Mordecai House in downtown Raleigh, toured behind-the-scenes at the North Carolina Museum of Art, and explored the blue whale exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. All these experiences have been so enriching and have helped me to learn more about DNCR as a whole.
Going into the future, I hope to continue building connections here at the museum and contributing to its success.