The last post was tinged with gloom about the public humanities with the picture getting gloomier in the ensuing days. Even so, spending the last two semesters engaged with the Smithsonian Institution provided me with perspective on the behind the scenes life of an iconic organization. As we worked through the “Meet Me at Mi Museo” piece, I learned about the history of the Smithsonian and its realization that as an organization it needed a better understanding of the Latino population it employed and how Latino history, arts and culture were (or were not) present in the museums. And in these challenging times, having an e-mail address with the Smithsonian, receiving the mail with leadership’s guidance and strategic vision also gave me an unexpected glimpse into how they are crafting a response to all the outside pressures.
Over the past few weeks the struggle with mapping continued, with ArcGIS layers built for the “tour of salsa” stops and a map of 2025 salsa festivals to illustrate the worldwide reach of the music and dance. The vision of mapping locations in song defaulted to mapping the performer’s birthplaces, to demonstrate to unexpected sources of music and inspiration. As I continued to pull on string, the secondary music challenge became the lack material, as much of it was in draft or incomplete for the upcoming exhibit. As a result, instead of a fully blown story in story maps, I have developed a framework that can be fleshed out as content in determined. I have also developed a quick guide to help them access and work with the content in the Smithsonian’s ArcGIS hub. I am a little disappointed to not get it over the finish line, but I do think it is in a useful place.
After this internship I am better educated about museum beginnings and hybrid museum models. I have taken classes about exhibit development and experience, but rarely seeing how museums come into existence. We all see events such as the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian or the National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMAAHC), but short of reading Dr. Bunch’s book about bringing the latter to life, we rarely get to see how they begin. I reviewed legislation, committee reports, the report on how the Latino story was ignored and underrepresented and was able to see the positive initiatives to overcome the bias. The research into museum websites was really interesting, with all the different public faces they chose.
After this internship, I hope that I am a better public historian moving forward.
