Bonnet House Internship Summer '25

Frederick's Studio Hello Reader, This week at the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens, I continued my work on the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Exhibit and also had the opportunity to take on some unexpected and fascinating collections work. It was a week of both planning and hands-on tasks that gave me a deeper appreciation for the responsibilities involved in museum work. Wednesday: Exhibit Planning Planning the layout Since I had finished writing the signage text and pulling archival materials last week, my goal this week was to move forward with the physical setup of the Helen exhibit. Katie and I began by looking through the boards that had been used in previous exhibits. We decided on a 7-foot-tall tan fabric board that had previously served as a room partition in the studio. Using the signage text I had written, I decided on the corresponding photographs and began mapping out how everything would be arranged on the board. I used Canva to create a digital mockup, organizing the...

Hello Reader, This week marked my first full stretch of hands-on work at the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens, and it was incredibly rewarding. I originally planned to be in on Wednesday and Thursday, but I ended up going in for five hours on Friday as well. I was fully invested in the project I had started and wanted to make progress while Katie, the curator, was available to support and guide me. Research on Wednesday When I arrived on Wednesday, Katie and I sat down to discuss four upcoming projects that the museum is preparing to take on. The first is the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Exhibit, which will be installed in the Music Room to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Helen’s passing. The second involves redrawing the docent tour map to reflect updated exhibit labels and room descriptions. The third project is updating the museum’s signage system, transitioning from QR codes (which are rarely used by visitors) to more accessible and permanent physical signage. Finally, the f...

Hello Reader, Today was my first official day in person at the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens. After preparing for several weeks, it felt good to finally be on-site and begin working in the space I’ve spent time researching. When I arrived, I was greeted by my supervisor, Katie, who gave me a tour of the property via golf cart. She shared a brief overview of the house’s history and pointed out key features around the grounds. Afterward, she introduced me to members of the curatorial staff and brought me to her office, where we went over my schedule and upcoming responsibilities. Later in the morning, I went on a more detailed tour with Sid, one of the museum’s guides. He gives about ten tours each week and has a strong understanding of the house’s history and interpretation. It was helpful to see how the museum presents its narrative to the public, and it gave me useful context for the work I’ll be doing behind the scenes. The Rooster My first assignment as an intern involves inve...

Hello Reader! This week’s blog post is a little different than what I originally planned. Since my internship at the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens doesn’t officially begin until next week, I decided to take this opportunity to explore the broader context of house museums in the United States. I had initially considered writing about plantation houses, but ultimately felt that the topic wasn’t relevant to the work I’ll be doing at Bonnet House. That said, Emma J. Walcott-Wilson’s article, "Cultivating Memoryscapes: The Politics of Language at Plantation House Museums in the American South," is a compelling read that highlights the complexities of interpretation and memory at those sites. Instead, I’m focusing on the history and role of house museums more generally, using Bonnet House as a case study and drawing from Patrick Butler’s Interpreting Historic House Museums . According to Butler, a house museum is defined as a museum that centers on the preservation and interp...