1.Description of Division
Within NMAH, the Division of Home and Community Life focuses
on the architecture, foodways, and lifeways of Americans. This newly created
division incorporates collections such as Ceramics and Glass, Costume,
Textiles, Domestic Life (home furniture and furnishings; toys, games, and
dolls; kitchenware; architecture, etc.). In addition, this Division holds
collections on various American racial and ethnic groups, immigration,
religion, folk music, and other materials. Within this division, I have a
particular specialty in African American History and Culture as well as in
immigration and ethnic history.
In Fall, 2014 and Winter, 2015, I will be serving as the
project director and chief curator for a major exhibition project titled: Our
American Journey: Many Voices, One Nation which is to open in 2016. This
exhibition is a 21st century presentation about the “peopling of the nation”
and the cultural complexities out of which American society has emerged.
During 2014, the project will transit from 10% to 65% design to be completed by
the end of the year. I am personally curating section five of the
exhibition titled “Migration Nation” which focuses on US history from
1880-1960/65.This timing means that the fall semester would be a very exciting
period to learn about and participate in the production of a major exhibition.
2. Describe the project (include duties, nature and
scope of the work
Serving as a “junior curator” under my direction would allow
the intern to participate in the extensive graphics and artifactual research
process and in interpretive development of a specific section of the exhibition
focusing on U.S. History between 1880 and about 1965; to see what the
intellectual process for acquiring and selecting objects is; and to join an
on-going exhibition development team. The intern could choose which sub-section
she was most interested in – for example, the history of the Nez Perce nation;
the interpretation of Hawaii or Puerto Rico; African Americans or Latinos in
Chicago, or any of the other elements of this section of the exhibition.
3. Learning goals
This is an educational opportunity for someone with a background
in American Studies or U.S. History, (or perhaps Ethnomusicology, Folklore,
Anthropology, or Cultural Geography) to utilize their prior training and apply
this knowledge to the particular situation of producing an exhibition. In order
to do this, the student will need to analyze historical and contemporary texts,
prepare interpretive strategies based on those texts and their object research,
and formulate component ideas and design strategies for the exhibition.
Interested applicants should send their résumés and cover
letters to Fath Davis Ruffins (RuffinsF@si.edu)
and cc: me EatonMO@si.edu by Friday August
29, 2014.
Omar A. Eaton-Martínez, M.Ed.
Intern & Fellows Program Manager
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History
14th St. & Constitution Ave., NW
MRC 605 P.O. Box 37012
Washington DC 20013-7012
Room 5303
Twitter - @amhistoryintern
202-633-3556 (office)
202-281-8601 (cell)
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