Since it is almost time for me to leave my internship, I have mostly been wrapping up my work at the museum. My supervisor, Karin, was hoping to feature some of my work in the annual Christmas newsletter, so I have been working on writing a summary of myself and the people I have interviewed. Karin explained to me that she wants me to take the raw transcripts and turn them into stories that can be presented in the newsletter so people can understand the oral history project better.
I also had the opportunity to do some other things outside of oral history today since the museum is working on a new gallery that features Swedish folk paintings from the early 19th century. These paintings were originally donated to the Art Institute which were then passed on to the Swedish American Museum. These paintings featured two main categories which were ceremonies such as weddings and biblical scenes. These paintings were fascinating because they showed the mindset of rural Swedish people over a hundred years ago. Many of the people in the biblical scenes are not wearing ancient clothing, but clothes from the 19th century which really showed how little these people knew about ancient cultures or history in general.
I would also like to think that these paintings also show why I would like to work in a museum some day because many of the artifacts would remind me why I studied history and why I love it so much.
Swedish American Museum 