Highlands Museum Today: Mission And Function

When I close my eyes, I can envision the setting of my earliest museum experiences. My younger sister and I would walk on either side of my mother and our braids and barrettes would bounce as we pushed through the glass doors to the Highlands Museum. Even after the first visit, I would look with wonder from the foyer. The building had high ceilings, two long staircases, countless [LC1] exhibits guarded by velvet stanchions, and case after case filled with fascinating memorabilia. The museum seemed so impossibly large for a town so small. It was a monument dedicated to Ashland, my tiny hometown in Eastern Kentucky, nestled right next to the Ohio River.
The Highlands Museum taught[LC2] the public what they did not learn in history class. Sports, science, the roots of folk and country music, 18th century settlers, coal mines, and aviation—as a child, the information seemed endless. It was one of our
town's cultural staples. It taught anyone who thought that everything interesting occurred outside Ashland’s city limits that we had a rich history right where we work, live, and play.
A little over a decade later, in the fall of my junior year at American University, I became an intern for the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). I was trying to find what career I wanted to pursue and this was a priceless opportunity. As a child, it seemed as if the objects in the Highlands museum appeared by magic. New installations the result of the magical museum-fairies that roamed the halls at night. With this new internship, I would be able to learn the real story.
It was two years before the museum would open in 2016, so there was much paperwork to be completed. I helped fill out intake forms to record donations and organized lists of objects into spreadsheets. I also saw blueprints for exhibits and sat in on meetings about key decisions for the museum. Every day spent at the offices next to the National Mall satiated my hunger [LC3] for this new experience and my curiosity about museum careers. My supervisor, Museum Specialist Timothy Anne Burnside, had once been an intern for the National Museum of American History, so she understood my desire to take in all that this new experience could offer. She played many roles in the museum world. She spoke to potential donors, attended auctions, installed objects, and helped with preservation. She told stories of meeting famous musicians and actors who wanted to donate to the museum, as well as ordinary Washington, DC residents who had fascinating family heirlooms. I am grateful for her guidance during the experience.
Three weeks before the opening of the museum I was able to help with object installation. [LC4] Early visitors often thanked the staff for their work in opening this important museum. The first time someone thanked me, it became clear what museum work was about; a revelation that brought me back to my childhood and the Highlands Museum. It was about education, service, and community. [LC5] [LC7] Whether it was older people in awe who never imagined seeing a museum dedicated to African Americans in their lifetime or children learning about this history for the first time, it was special to become a part of the museum process. My time with NMAAHC was formative and solidified my decision to pursue a museum career.
Many museum studies programs have their own take on what best prepares students for a museum career. However, when researching potential schools, I found that Tufts University’s History and Museum Studies program offered the facilities, courses , and educational environment that would be the best fit for me.[LC8] The option to focus on history is appealing to me because of my formative experiences as a child exploring the Highlands Museum, as a young adult helping to build the NMAAHC, and my undergraduate studies in literature.
Although literature is not directly related to historical museum studies, it is impossible to examine a text without understanding its historical context. For me, history is fascinating because it is interdisciplinary. Science, music, dance, and sports are all topics that have changed throughout history. Tufts’ attention to research and its many libraries and research centers would fulfill my own goals of attaining a graduate education that gives a full scope of the different facets of history. [LC10] I see myself utilizing the Lilly Music Library and W. Van Alan Clark, Jr. Library, specifically. In particular, [LC11] I love researching how artists—musicians, actors, playwrights, dancers, visual artists, and others—were affected by their identities and eras in which they created their work. In my undergraduate literature thesis, I wrote about the 1960s girl group the Supremes. I interpreted song lyrics, album covers, and newspaper and magazine articles to understand how their identities as African American women and crossover artists on the Motown Record label affected how white and black audiences perceived them. I hope to continue to challenge myself and expand the historical topics of my research in Tufts’ library and research facilities.
Furthermore, I believe that the program offers courses create a necessary foundation for museum careers.
For example, the required course Museums Today: Mission and Function, covers the operation of museums in the 21st century. It is crucial to have a museum that works smoothly “behind the scenes” and offers the public an educational experience that is interesting and relevant. Additionally, I am interested in courses about collections. Consequently, I would want to enroll in the elective courses Collections Care and Preservation and Curatorial Approaches to Collections Management. The former course explores the scientific aspect of handling collections, which I witnessed when I helped install objects into the NMAAHC. My experience with this topic only lasted three weeks, so I would love to learn more. The latter course concerns topics such as acquisitions, managing collections, and artist collaboration. These are matters with which I helped Timothy Anne Burnside during the majority of my internship. I believe that this course will further my knowledge and
experience.
Having read the “Positions Held by Recent MA and Certificate Graduates” on the Museum Studies’ “Career” web page, I now believe that the places at which Tufts’ graduates work further prove that this university would be a great fit for my interdisciplinary research goals. From science museums, to historical societies, to botanical gardens, and visual art museums, it is clear that a Tufts museum studies degree allows you to go anywhere.
Having so many graduates of the program in a broad range of museums around the country also means that they are serving many different communities. When I was an intern with NMAAHC and visitors would thank me and other employees for our work, I realized that we were offering a service to the public that cannot be taken for granted. Visitors can take a break from the world and learn about a topic that interests them, whether they were African American or not. Many museums have areas for all ages, information that teenagers and adults can understand and activities for children to learn from as well. When I read about Tufts’ community involvement, I felt that it would allow me to continue to understand that whatever position I hold at any museum, at the end of the end of the day it is the visitors and their experience that matters. I want to form that kind of relationship with the communities surrounding Tufts’ campuses.
Another aspect of community at Tufts that caught my eye is the community within the museum studies program. I have been reading the student run Museum Studies Blog and it has given me a look into the program through the eyes of its own students. I would be eager to learn with a group of committed, like-minded students in the Museum Studies program.
In researching Tufts University, I found the qualities that I realized that I valued in museum work while I was an intern with NMAAHC. Education, service, and community both within the museum community and with the museum visitors are key components that I believe make this profession worth pursuing. If I am admitted, I envision my education as a natural extension and continuation of the role that museums have served in my life. From my time as a child at the Highlands Museum, to my internship with NMAAHC, to a graduate education in Museum Studies, I believe that the university’s unique museum studies program will thoroughly prepare me for a museum career.