This panel features four students who spent the summer in museums and archives, making history accessible to the public using artifacts, data, and stories. Their roles included behind-the-scenes and public-facing history work, from transcribing to curating, installing, and interpreting. Megan Bliamptis worked as a costumed historian at Old Sturbridge Village, bringing nineteenth-century New England to life by demonstrating domestic work. At Historic Deerfield, Morgan Brennan worked behind the scenes, doing original research, compiling and processing museum files, and learning about curatorial operations. Charlie Barnard worked on archiving with an Indigenous Boarding School research group, learning about Library Sciences through the lens of restoration. At the New Britain Museum of American Art, Lily Alexander learned how museum collections departments perform object management to make collections accessible to the public. The panelists will share their successes, challenges, and takeaways, exploring what it means to work with history.

Moderator: Ellen Alvord, Associate Director for Engagement and Weatherbie Curator of Academic Programs of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum

Restorative Archiving with an Indigenous Boarding School Research Group
Charlie Barnard ’25, Art History major, Computer Science minor

Interacting with Information as a Museum Intern
Morgan Brennan ’27, Art History major, Environmental Science minor

Everyday Operations: The Museum Day to Day at the NBMAA
Lily Alexander ’25, Art History & Religion double major

Historical Interpretation and Public Education at Old Sturbridge Village
Megan Bliamptis ’25 Sociology & Religion double major, Museums, Archives, & Public History minor