Tag Archives: History of Art

Semiconductors, Trade Compliance, and La Vie en Rose: Charlotte Kimmerling ’28

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Name: Charlotte Kimmerling
Class Year: 2028
Major: History of Art
Minor: Museum Studies

Internship Organization: MACOM European Semiconductor Center
Internship Title: Global Trade Compliance Intern
Location: Paris, France

What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!

I am working on a variety of projects centered around global trade compliance. This includes reviewing classification records, customs recordkeeping, performing deny party screening, and creating communications both for Global Trade Compliance and in collaboration with the Information Technology team. The Trade Compliance Team at MACOM is relatively new, so they were working on fixing the older customs and classification records in preparation for an audit.

I helped them go back and find misplaced files, or contact DHL and Fedex for the missing records. In addition to this, I worked on three communications projects which are being shared and displayed globally. Each was done in both English and French and centered around education. I worked with Information Technology and Information Security on the content for one, and I worked with Engineers and the other people in Trade Compliance for the other.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I applied to this internship for the opportunity to experience a corporate environment and improve my French. After studying French for six years now, I really wanted to expand my French vocabulary and conversational skills while living in Paris and experiencing French culture. I had done a month abroad in Southern France before my Junior year of High School, and I knew this would be very different. Not only is Paris very culturally different from the south, I would be learning French in a business setting. I also knew that getting some experience working on customs projects and gaining familiarity with export and import law and processes as a History of Art major would be useful for my future career in the art world. 

What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship?

It has been interesting getting used to a corporate environment. Every communication I created had to go through several people before it was ready to be put on the screens around the office, meaning I had to get used to constructive criticism quickly. I was always proud of the end result, and I am glad for the input I received because it ensured the right message got across. By the end, I felt my communication skills improved immensely.

Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?

I have had to do a lot of my own research and I’ve had to figure a lot of things out on my own and through that, I have gained a lot of confidence in my own problem-solving skills. I also feel I have improved upon and developed some practical skills. I have gotten better at writing emails, Microsoft Powerpoint and Excel, and using industry-specific programs like SAP and Agile to perform denied party screening. Working on these different programs for the various projects has shown me the value in being easily adaptable. Before this internship writing emails was very difficult for me, so I am very grateful that I was able to use this opportunity to improve my email skills.

Jadyn Anderson ’28 Interns at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

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Name: Jadyn Anderson
Class Year: 2028
Major:  History of Art
Minor: Museum Studies

Internship Organization: Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
Internship Title: Research Intern
Location: Omaha, NE

What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!

This summer, I’ve been digging through Bemis’ physical archives of exhibition catalogues, interorganizational communications, artist records, and more. While I create an inventory of our archive, I’m searching for information about the history of Bemis, such as interesting exhibits, community outreach initiatives, and notable individuals that the gallery has worked with. One of my favorite artists, Hiroshi Sugito, was a Bemis artist in residence in 1996, and I was so excited to find an interesting quote from him in the archive. The gallery’s curator, Rachel Adams, is planning to use the information I find for upcoming projects in celebration of Bemis’ 50th anniversary.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I’ve helped out at Open House Open Studios, an event where our artist-in-residence (AIR) studios are open to the public. Two of this summer’s AIRs have been working on tangible models of botanical drawings.

I was an intern at Bemis last summer where I primarily organized digital records. Though the work I did was in communications rather than with art directly, the gallery environment I was in confirmed my love for, passion for, and desire to work in art spaces. I was thrilled to be accepted back this summer for a museological research role where I could explore my interest in how art spaces influence and interact with their communities.

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect?

In my field, I’m interested in the ineffable and ephemeral, what cannot be archived, and rethinking the constraining effects of hypercategorization in museum spaces. I wasn’t sure what task Bemis would assign me this summer, but I certainly wasn’t expecting my role to be so intertwined with these interests. Working with Bemis’ archive has helped me confront the grey area between a demand for systematization and what I consider a necessary shift away from methodologizing art history.

What is most rewarding about your internship?

As I’ve pored over decades of faxes between Bemis and other art spaces, I’ve gathered so much insight about how exhibitions come to be. I’m pursuing a career in curation, and the amount of coordination and collaboration required to put on a show can feel daunting, but I understand the process better now that I’ve seen the behind-the-scenes operations and what timelines tend to look like. I look forward to bringing this insight to my museological studies and future career.

Catherine McCarthy ’27 Interns with Eastern Connecticut Center for History, Art, and Performance

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Name: Catherine McCarthy
Class Year: 2027
Major: History of Art
Minor: Environmental Studies

Internship Organization: Eastern Connecticut Center for History, Art, and Performance
Internship Title: Dye & Bleach House Community Gallery Director
Location:  Willington, CT

What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!

During the first week of July, the gallery opened a new show that will stay on through the end of August. For most of June, my work was focused on preparing for this new exhibition. This meant collaborating with the artist to design a poster, distributing the poster at local businesses, getting the word out through social media and mailing lists, installing the art, and hosting an opening reception. The opening was wonderful, and it was very rewarding to hear from community members that our poster design grabbed their attention! Recently, I have been preparing for two shows that will be at the gallery in the fall, as well as working on a creative direction and marketing guide that I will be presenting to the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization the art gallery falls under.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I applied for this internship because I am interested in working at art galleries or museums post-graduation, and I wanted a truly hands-on experience to prepare for that future work. I knew that because the gallery is small, and mostly volunteer-run, I would be learning by doing rather than watching, and involved in every process of running a community art gallery.

What has been your favorite part of this internship?

My favorite part of the internship has been installing and designing the layout of our current show. It was incredibly informative to work with the artist to understand what pieces worked next to each other in order to deliver the right experience and story. Installation day started with every piece leaning against the walls, a blank canvas. It was so fun to put the puzzle together, to find the “just right”, where the message and emotion of the show really emerge.

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect?

I have been improving my graphic design skills since part of my job is preparing announcement cards, posters, and programs for upcoming exhibitions. For our current show, I made about 5 different poster designs that I presented to the artist. We then collaborated to choose a favorite and turn it from a draft into a final design, and we got them printed at our local print shop.

Sarah Kurth ’28: Paleography and the Spanish Inquisition

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Name: Sarah Kurth
Class Year: 2028
Major: Intended History of Art, Spanish
 
Internship Organization:  Bryn Mawr Department of Spanish
Internship Title:   Digital Humanities Fellow
Location:  Virtual/Salt Lake City, UT
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  


I’ve been transcribing Spanish Inquisition trial documents housed at the University of Pennsylvania. I completed transcriptions of five trials, each centered around a woman accused of being a false convert from Islam to Catholicism. I read through the folios in their entirety, created a plain-text copy in a working document, and included short summaries of the content at the bottom of each page. To finalize my internship, I authored a blog published at UPenn. I’ve really enjoyed getting a look at what daily life looked like for the five women before and after their imprisonments by the Inquisition.  

Folio 893 from the Henry Charles Lea Collection Ms. 728

Why did you apply for this internship?

I’d been doing Paleography work during the Spring Semester with Professor Phipps, and had fallen in love with the process of transcription as well as the content within these primary documents. I thought that this internship would be an amazing opportunity to explore what a focus of career in a similar field could look like. I’m so excited to continue my work this year and in the future, potentially through a senior thesis.
 
Was there anything special about how you found this internship? 

I found it through being the facilitator for Professor Phipps’ Paleography Working Group, a weekly meeting of interested students that I’m excited to continue working on this coming year. 

What has been your favorite part of this internship? 

my transcription

I was consistently moved by the stories included in the trial’s witness testimonies. There were so many beautiful moments of female relationships across the five trials. It’s staggering to witness events that occurred 500 years ago, that could have just as easily happened last week, like two sisters being sent to sleep over at their friends house while their parents were out of town. 

Can you give us three adjectives and three nouns that describe your internship experience? 

Tragic, beautiful, nuanced. Spain, religion, justice. 

Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you? 

Paleography is such a specific skill, and I’ve loved getting to familiarize myself with specific notary’s scripts, as well as the general vocabulary and formatting of Inquisition trials. Even if I don’t go into a paleography-related field as a career, I think that the critical thinking skills and added Spanish vocabulary will aid me in the future. 

What is most rewarding about your internship? 

Getting to familiarize myself with women whose lives were not evaluated positively. It’s my hope that my work this summer will make the trails more accessible to future engagement and research, broadening the impact of these women’s trials on Inquisition scholarship. 

Was this internship what you expected it to be? 

Everything and more! 

Sarah Elizabeth Fernandez ’26 Learns about History, Art, and Archives for the Summer

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Name: Sarah Elizabeth Fernandez
Class Year: 2026
Major: Political Science
Minor: History of Art
 
Internship Organization:  Centro de Documentación (CEDOC) Angélica Pérez Germain, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA)
Internship Title:   Archive Intern
Location:  Santiago, Chile
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

For the last few months, I have been doing work in the archives at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA). The tasks I completed for the Centro de Documentación (CEDOC) Angélica Pérez Germain varied but all the work had a focus on preserving and promoting Chile’s contributions to the art world. Within the work one transferable skill I learned were the procedures to follow when handling documents and photos.

Why did you apply for this internship?  

I discovered my internship opportunity through the partnership Bryn Mawr has with IES abroad. I was thrilled once I received my placement in Santiago because I had studied abroad the previous fall in Latin America through the study abroad office. I felt this was the right choice for me since I could continue to build upon skills and IES matches students to internships that aligns with their career interests which was an important deciding factor for my junior summer.
 
What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect? 

One of my main projects while working in the archives was assisting in the translation of documents from English to Spanish. This work was valuable because it allows for more researchers to access the history and for the archive to be more complete overall. I was able to step into the role of a translator and learn more about my capabilities as an individual. Since I had been abroad in Argentina the previous year, I had some experience using my Spanish in professional settings. However, the practice of translating documents such as those outlining art purchases and internal communications allowed me to see I have a stronger set of comprehension skills than I had expected of myself.  

What is most rewarding about your internship?

The most rewarding part of my summer internship was contributing to the archive. Due to the fact that the museum is the oldest in the Americas, the archive is vast and is in need of constant organizing. Throughout the summer the archive received various donations from Chilean artists who left their documents and personal archives to the museum. It was exciting and impactful to uncover history through the stories of artists, collectors, and institutions in connection to the museum. The team I worked with including students from local universities and departments in conjunction with the archive helped me understand the importance of Chilean history. One experience that was particularly valuable was the opening of the Sala Chile (Gallery) focused on the life and art of Chilean artist, Roberto Matta. The archive helped organize the exhibition and provided historic context to establish the permanent exhibition titled Historias de una Colección. I was able to attend the opening and hear from the various groups who collaborated on this project including the ministry of culture. 

Laurel Gabbard ’26 Works in the Archives in Santiago, Chile!

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Name: Laurel Gabbard
Class Year: 2026
Majors: History of Art, Spanish
Minor: Museum Studies
 
Internship Organization:  Archivos de la Facultad de Artes en la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Internship Title:   Archives Intern
Location:  Santiago, Chile
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

This summer, I have been interning in Santiago, Chile, working in the archives of the School of Arts at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. As an intern working in the theater archives, I have been introduced to a wide array of archival materials, including but not limited to documentary footage, interviews, photos, letters, posters, and theater programs. My main task consisted of transcribing, subtitling, and translating three documentaries that focus on different elements of Chilean theatrical history, all of which, in some capacity, focused on theater as a revolutionary act that can operate as a push against state power and dictatorship. I also transcribed interviews conducted with Alberto Kurapel and Susana Cáceres, Chileans living in exile in Canada during the dictatorship, and who, in their time in Montreal, formed a theater company that produced acts based on their own experiences in political exile. I also had the chance to meet with the subject of one of the documentaries, Jacqueline Roumeau, the founder of an organization that coordinates theater, and more broadly, art opportunities, within prisons as an act of rehabilitation and reintroduction into society after incarceration. My supervisor recently presented the three documentaries that I subtitled at a three-day long event at the Chilean embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and knowing that I contributed to the accessibility and understanding of these visual archives is very exciting!
 
Why did you apply for this internship?  

Digital Humanities Lab

I originally applied for the IES Abroad summer internship program, along with Career and Civic Engagement funding knowing that I wanted the opportunity to live and work in a Spanish-speaking country and get more comfortable with my professional abilities in my second language. As I worked with IES to find an internship placement, I knew I wanted to be in the arts and humanities sector, so when I was presented with the opportunity to interview for a position in the archives of the School of Arts, I knew that would receive the guidance and experience I was looking for!
 

What has been your favorite part of this internship?  

My favorite part of this internship, besides the professional experience I have gained, has been getting to know my coworkers and supervisors, and in doing so, gain insight not only into professional life in Chile, but also being able to learn tons about Chilean culture, history, social issues, and be a part of the day to day office conversations! My coworkers, in addition to other university-age interns at the office all welcomed me with open arms and helped me learn tons about what it is like to be young in Chile, and I feel very lucky to have had this experience of full linguistic and social immersion in addition to my professional experience.   

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect? 

Coworkers and I on my last day!

As a history of art major, I came into this internship with a lot of knowledge about art history, but less about theater and performance art as archival materials. I have been able to learn a lot about the way that archives can preserve the history and memory of works of art and performance that are less tangible and more fleeting. In this case, it has to do with the way that the archives at my internship hold onto the memory of Chilean theater, although one can never experience the exact moment of the production in the same way again. The collections of videos, audios, interviews, pamphlets, posters, and other mediums that the theater archives hold has pushed me to reconceptualize my understanding of what forms of art are easily “archivable”. As I prepare to begin my senior thesis this coming year, I have been considering the way that the corporeality and tangibility, or lack thereof, of performance art can be catalogued and remembered, and how our perceptions of history and memory are changed by how we register art as a physical or non-physical item. I did not go into my internship expecting that something that falls into the realm of theater performance could be so related to what I may want to write my thesis on, but I feel lucky to have had this experience and open my mind to a new realm of critical thinking in the field of art history! 

Hannah Carroll ’26 Interns at The Weitzman  

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Name: Hannah Carroll
Class Year: 2026
Major: History of Art, History, German Studies 

Internship Organization: The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History
Internship Title:   Curatorial Intern
Location:  Philadelphia, PA
  
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

Who is she? Portrait of Mrs. N Eckstein by Louis Lang, 1839

Museums are surprisingly dynamic workplaces, meaning no two days are ever the same! I have done so many different things, from accessing objects, to getting really good at using an office scanner while digitizing old exhibition files. The Weitzman is hoping to unveil some new and improved exhibitions in the coming years, and many of the tasks I have worked on have been related to the museum’s upcoming temporary exhibition for the semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) of the Declaration of Independence called The First Salute. What I think is so amazing about this exhibition, which will follow the story of the Jewish community on Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean and its involvement with the American Revolution, is that it really highlights the sometimes unexpected dynamism and diversity (of peoples, of goods, of ideas, etc.) present in the 18th century Atlantic World. I cannot wait to see and share the final project with all of you next spring!
 
Why did you apply for this internship?   

Even before working there, the Weitzman was probably one of my favorite museums in Philadelphia. Believe it or not, it is the only Jewish museum in the country which focuses exclusively on telling the stories of the American Jewish experience from the 17th to the 21st century. Working in a museum was something I have really wanted to do since I started college, and the Weitzman unique collection and specialties would help me bridge connections between many of my academic passions, such as American history and Jewish history, as well as object interpretation and material culture. I also feel that working in a Jewish museum and helping to tell these stories of American Jewish life is particularly needed in our current moment in which anti-Jewish bigotry has become commonplace in our politics and culture.  

Was there anything special about how you found this internship? 

Yes! I had really been struggling in my search for an internship, and I was talking to one of my friends who was working at the Weitzman as part of the Praxis program this spring and really loved the work she was doing. Even though I am probably not going to be able to do a Praxis next year, I reached out to the Praxis director, Tiffany Stahl, who said that she heard the museum was actively searching for summer interns and gave me the email of my eventual supervisor. I know this is incredibly schmaltzy, but if you are struggling in your search for internships, it never hurts to ask for information from friends, your advisors, or even the Career and Civic Engagement Center — it is their job, after all!
 
What was your favorite part of this internship?  

“Everything” is kind of a silly answer, but I mean it! I have loved both the breadth and depth of my work there.
  
Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?

Learning how museums work has been very fulfilling as an art history major, because it has shown me what kinds of things I can do with my degree as I pursue further study. Understanding a museum from the inside out has also helped me think about how to research better, especially as I prepare to write my thesis. I have been working on solving the mystery of one particular painting in the museum’s collection, a portrait of a woman from the late 1830s. We know basically nothing about her except for her last name and the artist who painted her portrait. Uncovering her story has led me down so many different paths, as I research the life of a woman who, pending further evidence, I suspect may be the sitter. It has also been interesting (and sometimes a little frustrating) to read the internal records we have on the painting, and see how others who have attempted to identify her have tried and failed, and at times made and propagated shaky claims about who she was, somewhat like a game of art-historical telephone! Hopefully if I am similarly unable to confirm her identity, I can at least leave a better framework and documentary trail for the next person in my stead. The lives of American Jewish women before the late nineteenth century are quite under-researched (although this is slowly changing), and I hope that in the future my own research will build upon illuminating more stories like this!