Heinz History Center- The Italian American Program (complete with outdoor bocce)

Museum Studies Intern at the Senator John Heinz History Center - Fall 2016 

This summer, I was able to complete an Internship at the Senator John Heinz History Center within their Italian American program. Here, I was able to meet with donors and handle collections. The biggest feeling of success was not only getting to work with other people who were as passionate about Italian American history as me, but also getting to work in the highly competitive field of museum curators and exhibitionists. As a Museum Studies Minor, this internship allowed me to use my knowledge of the Italian language to translate documents, and combine that with my love of history, and furthering education. Throughout the summer, I met with various donors and was able to hear their stories of their immigration, or of their parents and other families immigrations. I worked closely with a project that focused on a group called I Campagnoli, an Italian folk dance and singing group. From the members I received pamphlets and photos and other memorable items from their time together. From these items I started curating an online exhibition for the group, that I was unfortunately not able to complete due to time, but at least had the experience of working with digital media which to me is important as it seems many museums are taking this route for future exhibits since it eliminates the concern of accessibility and preservation. This site is still not complete as there are so many interviews to transcribe, and other collections to be archived and used. In addition to this online work, I was also able to see the side of collections and preservation, education, and many other elements of the museum. This is one of the benefits I felt I had in such a big museum- I was always working and getting an experience! By having this internship over the summer, I was fortunate enough to participate in their Bocce Event, which is an outdoor bocce competition with many teams competing with sponsoring companies. This by far was one of the more exciting experiences as I not only got to watch players compete, but there was live music and free food and drinks. I felt this is program showed me the effectiveness of fundraising for a museum and how events don't always have to be educational or history based. Although my internship here has ended, I’m still volunteering at events and promoting the Italian American website and exhibition. This past October I attended Italian American Heritage Day and was able to see the group I worked with, I Campagnoli, perform, and it felt like a great culmination to my internship. The Italian American Program Online Content can be found at this link: http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/collections/italian-american-program