I was overjoyed the day I was notified of my acceptance into the Penn Museum’s paid internship program. This summer, I’ve been working with the Marketing and Communications Department to produce video and audio guides for an inaugural mobile app that the Museum will be launching this fall. I have also been involved in developing digital ads and collaborating with fellow interns to document their experience for the Voices blog in honor of National Intern Day.
This year, there are 17 students in my cohort, the largest number the Museum has had for its paid internship program. In between supporting our respective departments, we meet for Museum Practice Programs (MPPs) and take weekly field trips to other Philadelphia museums. This has helped us learn about museum occupations and how different institutions curate collections, lead educational programs, and serve their communities. Through these initiatives, I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with my peers and learning more about their assigned departments.
Nathaniel Erb
Rising Junior at The Catholic University
At the Penn Museum: Ur Project
Nathaniel is an intern for the Ur Project, which began in 2003 as a joint effort between the Penn Museum and the British Museum to digitize their collections from Ur and assist the Iraq National Museum. It progressed in 2012-2015 to create the Ur-Online website, which brings together the original field notes with modern photographs and information. The project has continued in recent years with excavation and restoration at the ancient city itself, and Nathaniel is helping to organize and analyze data from the 2022 field season.
In 2022, Dr. Brad Hafford, Ur Excavation Field Director and Curator of the Penn Museum’s Middle East Galleries, worked with a team of archaeologists to excavate a mound east of Ur. Nathaniel is working to transcribe those field notes, organize important documents, create maps, and interpret the data.
His current focus is gathering data on “square six,” a house occupied during various periods in Ur’s history. By examining data from aerial and satellite maps from past excavations, they can see that the house underwent various changes with walls being added and rooms being blocked off.
“I went into this project not knowing much about Ur or archaeology, but I have learned much since starting,” Nathaniel said. “I have enjoyed my work so far and looking forward to uncovering more information about square six.”
Diana Escobar
Rising Sophomore at Bryn Mawr College
At the Penn Museum: Archives & Conservation
During her time as a Conservation intern, Diana Escobar has been honing her skills through working directly with artifacts. “While I had a basic understanding of many of these skills prior to this summer,” she said, “the experience has allowed me to learn and build on many new skills.”
Diana has spent time examining and reporting on the condition of objects. These reports generally include a wide range of information about an object’s current state, such as missing or broken pieces and previous treatments. She notes that through this meticulous lab work, she has developed stronger attention to detail.
“At the beginning of the internship, I was incredibly nervous about handling objects and certain tools for extensive periods of time. However, through practice and repetition, I have grown more comfortable working with both objects and tools in the lab. With the help of my outstanding mentors, who have guided and taught me all of these essential skills, I am able to do work that real conservators do every day!”
Emily Jeong
Rising Senior at Georgetown University
At the Penn Museum: Penn Cultural Heritage Center
Emily Jeong is an intern in the Penn Cultural Heritage Center (PennCHC), which is committed to the protection of cultural heritage and cultural rights initiatives around the world.
Currently, Emily is involved in a research project that seeks to connect how museums conceptualize their role in society with their collection practices. “Within my internship, I am contributing to the first phase of data collection for this project that will inform future scholarship by examining a list of academic museums in the United States and collecting data through their websites.”
What Emily enjoys most about her work is the opportunity for professional experience outside the classroom. “Museum studies is a discipline I am not able to fully explore as an undergrad student at my university,” she says. “I hope to learn more about the projects actively in progress to protect cultural heritage in the U.S. and around the world. I also hope to build meaningful connections with people who are working on these projects and are passionate about cultural heritage protection.”
Tingshu Liang
Graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania
At the Penn Museum: Family Programs
Tingshu Liang spends her days interacting with families in the galleries for Summer Wonder, an interactive experience offering hands-on activities for Penn Museum visitors of all ages. She prepares craft materials, sets up tables for activities, and manages the AV system when the staff is ready for Story Time.
Tingshu’s role in Summer Wonder is extremely important as she welcomes families and ensures they have a memorable day. “I greet the audience and introduce what’s in the space, give instructions on how to do the crafts activities, encourage the children, and answer their questions about the Museum.”
When she’s not interacting with families in the galleries, she’s refining approaches to data collection to better gauge how audiences use the Museum. That information can help inform which spaces are ideal to book for future family events.
Victoria Rogers-Rivera
Recent graduate of Florida State University
At the Penn Museum: Academic Engagement
A recent graduate of Florida State University, Victoria Rogers-Rivera is an intern in Academic Engagement, which facilitates class visits and sets up workshops to connect Penn students and faculty to the Museum’s collections.
For Victoria, her most exciting project has been researching, cataloging, and photographing a set of tarot cards from the early 19th century. She then creates object descriptions, which are uploaded onto Electronic Museum (EMu), the Museum’s online collections database.
“My projects have allowed me to gain experience in collections management and student engagement in an academic museum,” Victoria said.
Grace Loeser
Rising Senior at Loyola University of Maryland
At the Penn Museum: Visitor Services
For Visitor Services Intern Grace Loeser, a typical work week is always full of surprises. “I do something different every single day,” she said. “But everything I do looks at how visitors experience the Museum.” Essentially, Grace’s job is to provide guests with a positive and memorable experience.
“I love people, so I love having a people-centered job. Everything I do is to ensure that when you—the guest—come to the Museum, you have a great experience because we’re ready for you,” she said.
Her latest project has been developing a new kids guide for the Greece and Rome Galleries so that families can engage at their own pace. “As a lover of museums and kids’ literature, this is such a fun project as I get to think about not only how to get families to engage with the material, but also how they want to engage with the material.”
Ashley Howard
Graduate Student at Baylor University
At the Penn Museum: Exhibitions
Ashley Howard has been learning about the process of developing exhibitions. “Most Mondays, I have helped out with installations for rotating objects in the galleries,” she said. “I also get to observe a lot of the planning process for the new Native North America Gallery, which includes meetings, object viewings, and speaking with Indigenous advisors.”
Ashley’s main projects this summer involve cataloguing object mounts, helping to storyboard interactives for the new Native North America Gallery, and—her personal favorite— surveying guests and analyzing visitor information. “I have a degree in data analytics, which I have not used much since graduating, so it is nice to finally use my skills in a way that is useful to the Museum,” she said.
A graduate student at Baylor University, Ashley also notes how her internship has expanded her worldview. “This internship has allowed me to experience living on the East Coast and to visit several new museums that I would not have seen otherwise. I am in love with the Penn Museum because it combines my passion for anthropology with my museum career, and after experiencing how it operates and meeting so many amazing people here, I hope to ultimately build a career here.”
Emmanuel Beatty (pictured below, left) is the Summer 2024 Marketing Communications intern at the Penn Museum. He is currently a rising senior at DeSales University, majoring in TV and film with a minor in psychology.
Interested in becoming a summer intern at the Penn Museum? Learn more about their nine-week paid summer internship opportunities for undergraduates, recent graduates, and graduate students from any college or university.
The Penn Museum gratefully acknowledges the following supporters of the Summer Internship Program for college and university students: Mark P. Curchack, Ph.D., and Peggy L. Curchack; Andrew R. Moelis, C10, and Rosa Levitan Moelis; Asma Furniturewala and Irfan M. Furniturewala, WG01, PAR and the Capital Group Charitable Foundation.
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