Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Making Egyptian History Accessible to the Public

Museum Studies Intern at The Carnegie Museum of Natural History – Spring 2018

A much-anticipated facelift is coming to the Walton Hall in The Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Audience Evaluations at the Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt

Museum Studies Intern at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History - Spring 2017 

As an undergraduate student who is double majoring in Anthropology and Art History with a Museum Studies minor, I was overwhelmed when offered the opportunity to work side-by-side with Dr. Erin Peters, assistant curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, during the initial stages of development for the institution’s new ancient Egyptian exhibit.

My Best Friend is a Vacuum: A Tribute to R2D2, the Faithful HEPA-Vac

Museum Studies Intern at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History - Spring 2017

This semester, I was lucky enough to be an intern with Gretchen Anderson, the conservator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. I learned a lot. I cleaned a lot. And throughout all of this cleaning, I was always accompanied by R2-D2, the trusty HEPA vacuum. For most conservators, HEPA vacuums are the most efficient for the gentle cleaning of objects. For every diorama we were cleaning, R2-D2 was invariably by our side, waiting patiently to collect our dust.

Changing Roles of the Botany Hall Dioramas Video - Final Blog Post

Museum Studies Intern at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History - Fall 2016

It has been enlightening and eyeopening semester while working on the Botany Hall internship. Not only have I gain a great deal of knowledge about Botany and the hall and the workings of the museum, but it has allowed my to realize the amount of work and drive that is required for an internship that is largely independent work. My project is a short documentary about the changing context of dioramas, specifically those of Botany Hall, in museum context. Here is an exerpt from the intro to my script:

To Survey or not To Survey: Conducting Audience Evaluations

Museum Studies Intern at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History - Fall 2017

A survey is just a piece of paper or an online questionnaire that takes a couple of minutes of your time; a completely insignificant portion of a lifetime. Who knew that the small piece of paper or the few seemingly simple questions could hold so much weight in the world of museum curation.