27 Jul Summer 2023 Wrapped

For some interns, they still have a couple more weeks, but it’s the end of the road for me at the Chaco-Aztec Museum and Archives Facility in Chaco. I am set to turn over everything I’ve done this summer on Friday, and head to the leadership conference in Washington D.C. The summer went by so fast, but I have really enjoyed the experience I’ve had here. Like almost every experience, there were bits that went as expected and others that didn’t go as planned. Often times, the times where I didn’t know what to expect is where I have found the most growth.

In this experience, I knew I was going to be working with collections, but what I didn’t expect was people’s reaction to the collections that I made tours for this summer. Chaco Culture NHP is an interesting park for a variety of reasons, including astronomy and migration in the American Southwest. Because I am personally always tucked away in the museum world, I am deeply fond of collections. I’ve always understood the interest in the behind-the-scenes perspective, but I also realize that not everyone might share the fondness of a cold room with windows. However, I found that similar to my own opinion, people who came on the tours were excited to get the perspective of the park from documents and objects.

This internship has been particularly motivating for my career because it has shown me that people are interested in similar topics that I’m interested in and that more collections should do outreach of their permanent collections. Other aspects of my internship were also motivating on this front because through social media and website work, I can also contribute to the public’s knowledge of collections and convey the existence of these great resources that are in the public trust.