My posts have been lacking lately, and I have feeling this post is going to be ridiculously long and diverse! I have many things to discuss about my coursework, ideas running through my mind, crazy good announcements, and progress reports! Enjoy and skim at your leisure… I will try to organize it best for optimal reading pleasure.
First things first: I have been offered and accepted the position of “Interim Education Coordinator” at the Sam Davis Home in Smyrna! You may know that I worked there as an intern and docent during my senior year at MTSU, and I’m so thrilled to be back. It is absolutely the kind of place I hope to make my career one day; the staff is amazing and supportive. I will be presenting educational programming to school groups during the spring semester and helping with special events, and once classes are over, things will get really exciting. Golf Tournament will be April 29th, Easter Eggstravaganza is April 23 (my birthday!!), and in April and May I will coordinate Days on the Farm – a huge event that tons of school groups come to, complete with farm animals and demonstrators. Everyone mark your calendars for May 5th and 6th for that!!! The rest of May I will be planning for all of the June Summer Camps: Rutherford Co. Heritage Camp, Jane Davis Academy, Apple Valley School, and School of the Soldier. I’ve even managed to coordinate an Advanced Projects in Public History course with the SDH. The museum and historic house are in need of a disaster plan as well as other parts of the AASLH “Steps” Assessment program. And possibly the most important part? I get to wear my hoop skirts and corset again. And hunt for ghosts!!
As for school progress, this semester I have a class set up much like my Ancient Egyptian course last semester with Dr. McCormack, with outside readings and discussions in addition to traditional coursework and lectures. Classical History with Dr. Graham from the Center for Historic Preservation has been a great integration of “traditional” history with supplemental discussions and readings about public history, museum politics, material cultures, and other topics related to my interests and degree program. I have several ideas for future blogs that have come out of our discussions, so stay tuned for those!!
Similarly, my Native American history course includes a hands-on museum-related project: I am developing an exhibit about the Trail of Tears and Indian Removal for the C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa. It is still in the research/development stage, but by the end of the semester I should have a completed project to produce and display at the museum.
I am also taking a seminar course about material cultures. I’m not sure how I made it this far without an official course on this topic, but I love it! My special project for this course is one that I’m really going to enjoy. Another student and I are developing a driving tour pamphlet about historic Murfreesboro. Once it is complete (by the end of May), we hope it will be published and distributed throughout Rutherford County.
So these are the reasons my posts have been lacking lately. I have several ideas to explore here soon, so don’t give up on me just yet. I will be doing some traveling for conferences this month and the next, so that should stimulate some ideas for conversation as well. ‘Til then… Here’s a question for you: If you could build your very own museum, and money was no option, what would you will it with and why??
Katie Stringer Clary, PhD 
unlimited funds and whatever I wanted would be a hands on type of museum. My favorite historical era is the time from the civil war to the 1950’s. I would love to learn all about the textiles, home life and everyday goods. We saw a lot of these exhibits at the http://shelburnemuseum.org. I know a hands on exhibit is ot feasible with rare material. It would be a good way for people to learn what it was like then. I know SDH has some exhibits like this especially on Days on the farm.. but it is a easy way to teach something–in my opinion
Late congratulations on the position! It sounds like it’ll be a blast. Let’s see. If I were to open a museum without having to worry about the costs, I’d probably have to choose between two subject matters: 1) The European High Middle Ages or 2) The American Old West. Both eras interest me and, depending on which one I chose, I’d probably have the museum set up to look like a village of the corresponding time period. And if I couldn’t choose between those two… I’ll just make a museum about ghosts or UFO sightings. What the heck! 🙂