Skip to main content
Ingenium Logo

You are leaving IngeniumCanada.org

✖


This link leads to an external website that Ingenium does not control. Please read the third-party’s privacy policies before entering personal information or conducting a transaction on their site.

Have questions? Review our Privacy Statement

Vous quittez IngeniumCanada.org

✖


Ce lien mène à un site Web externe qu'Ingenium ne contrôle pas. Veuillez lire les politiques de confidentialité des tiers avant de partager des renseignements personnels ou d'effectuer une transaction sur leur site.

Questions? Consultez notre Énoncé de confidentialité

Ingenium The Channel

Langue

  • Français
Search Toggle

Menu des liens rapides

  • Ingenium Locations
  • Shop
  • Donate
  • Join
Menu

Main Navigation

  • Browse
    • Categories
    • Media Types
    • Boards
    • Featured Stories
  • About
    • About The Channel
    • Content Partners

Diving into museum work: The life of a summer intern

Share
3 m
Aug 8, 2019
Categories
Education
Categories
Exhibitions
Media
Blog
Profile picture for user Charlotte Clemens
By: Charlotte Clemens
Intern Charlotte Clemens, standing outside the museum in front of the museum sign.
Photo Credit
Brenda Clemens
Charlotte Clemens standing outside the Canada Aviation and Space Museum before the start of her internship at the site.

When I arrived in Ottawa about three months ago to work as an exhibition intern with the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. My short time with the museum turned out to be more interesting and colourful than I ever could have imagined; I’ve conducted damage reports, gone “undercover” for an in-house investigation, and even built an airplane out of a pool noodle! But before I delve into everything, let me tell you the real reason I’m here.

This internship has been a valuable experience and a key piece of my formal museum training. It’s one part of the Museum Management and Curatorship graduate certificate I am completing through Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario. The program has been very hands-on, giving me the opportunity to move beyond course readings and theory to engage in real museum work. My summer placement at the museum has provided me with another opportunity to gain this real-world experience; I have completed projects for the museum and worked alongside a variety of museum professionals, including exhibition, programming, and curatorial staff. 

Damage control

As an exhibition intern at the museum, naturally, I spent the majority of my placement working on exhibition related projects. One of these early projects involved evaluating damage levels on the text panels. I looked for any type of damage, including smudges, marks, dents, rips, stains, and fading, while evaluating how that damage affected legibility. Walking around looking at panels sounds like a fairly easy, simple job; that’s basically what all visitors do when they come to a museum, right? In reality, it was an in-depth, time-consuming project. There are a lot of panels in the museum, and I evaluated almost every single one — from artifact labels to the signs explaining how to use interactives. To ensure the panels were accurately analyzed for the exhibition team, a lot of patience and attention to detail was required. 

A Canada Aviation and Space Museum text panel with considerable damage.
Photo Credit
Norman Smith/Ingenium

A very damaged text panel that the intern, Charlotte Clemens, analyzed for the exhibition team.

A Canada Aviation and Space Museum text panel in good condition.
Photo Credit
Norman Smith/Ingenium

A text panel in very good condition, analyzed at the museum by intern Charlotte Clemens.

An undercover mission

My second major project was a visitor study, with a focus on both the Second World War and the British Commonwealth Air Training Program sections of the museum. This project was an undercover mission of sorts; I studied which artifacts visitors were looking at, which panels they read, and which interactives they used. Now, I will be the first to admit that watching and following visitors may sound a bit creepy, but rest assured I wasn’t lurking in the shadows of the museum! I stayed in the open and simply walked the space with visitors, noting how the exhibition was being used. The resulting data from this study will help staff understand which elements garner the most visitor interest.

Intern Charlotte Clemens, standing with a clipboard in the Second World War section of the museum.
Photo Credit
Erin Poulton/Ingenium

Charlotte Clemens in the Second World War section of the museum, ready to do some visitor tracking.

Alongside these major exhibition projects, I worked on a variety of smaller tasks. One of these was image research to be used by the curatorial team. This involved locating Apollo 11 mission images for a moon landing display, and searching through old Air Canada advertisements for an upcoming exhibition. These research tasks involved two different processes. For the moon landing images, I scrolled through the online NASA archives, and for the Air Canada material I was able to carefully examine the delicate papers tucked away in books and folders. While online research might have been more efficient, it was a unique opportunity to see the material in person and work with the real files and artifacts.

Giant bubbles and pool noodle airplanes

A few of my other non-exhibition tasks were completed for the museum’s programing staff. I put together a “rainy day” folder for the summer camp program, filled with craft instructions and activity handouts (a lot of the classic connect the dots, fill in the blanks, and word searches). For the big Canada Day celebration at the museum, I planned an obstacle course for kids, as well as some crafts and activities. After spending a considerable amount of time sitting in the office researching ideas and writing instructions for these projects, I stepped away from the computer to test some of the activities. This wasn’t an excuse to simply sit in the yard to try to make giant bubbles with hula hoops or build airplanes out of pool noodles, popsicle sticks, and clothespins, though I did enjoy doing that! The reason I wanted to test several of the activities was to ensure the instructions were accurate for the staff who would deliver them.

Intern Charlotte Clemens, attempting to make a giant bubble by pulling a hula hoop out of a kiddie pool.
Photo Credit
Ingenium

Testing the bubble recipe for Canada Day. 

A pool noodle airplane with wings and a tail made out of yellow foam and pieces of cardboard.
Photo Credit
Charlotte Clemens/Ingenium

The pool noodle airplane created as a “rainy day” activity for summer camp.

Between these two programming projects and work with the curatorial and exhibition staff, it has been a busy and exciting summer. However, my internship is only temporary, and soon all the bubble blowing, plane building, collection research, and exhibition projects will come to an end. As I wrap up my placement — the last piece required for my graduate certificate — I have been reflecting on the fact that it will soon be time to find a full-time job. This internship has been such a valuable part of my training for a future career in a museum. I’m grateful that I’ve had the chance to make connections in the field, while receiving helpful advice and gaining experience with a national institution. It has truly been an incredible way to spend my final semester as a student.

Author(s)
Profile picture for user Charlotte Clemens
Charlotte Clemens

Charlotte Clemens is currently completing her Museum Management and Curatorship graduate certificate from Fleming College. As part of the program, she is working as an exhibition intern at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum for the summer of 2019.

Related Stories

A young man stands in the foreground. The elevated nose section of a jet airplane is on display behind him, flanked by two jets sitting behind a low barrier.

Testing Things Out: An Intern’s Experiences at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum

A woman is silhouetted in front of a circular, glowing showcase presenting the Koenig Sound Analyser. The title, “Seeing Sound” is visible on the wall.

Mind the gap: The positive impact of multi-sensory experiences

A close-up shot of two young people wearing safety goggles, in a lab environment. The person in the foreground is holding up a glass beaker filled will blue liquid.

STEAM Horizon awards program seeks inspiring, science-minded youth

A guide stands behind a small plastic aquarium. A big red letter X covers the image.

Adventures in Virtual Field Trips: "Check that camera angle, please!"

A composite image of several orange pumpkins, a spacecraft next to a rocky body, and a zombie

3 things you should know about pumpkins, Trojan asteroids, and embracing your inner zombie

An illustration of a multi-ethnic group of children holding up a sun, a plant sprout, a raindrop and a recycling symbol. At the center, a child hugs planet Earth.

Science Literacy Week: 6 great ways to learn about climate

A young girl wearing a flowered dress is running through a path in a wheat field. Wind turbines are visible in the background, against a bright blue sky.

Bringing the past, present, and future to life with a captivating artifact

A desk with monochromatic white and silver objects on it, including an open laptop, a cellphone, a coffee cup, and several books. There is a plant in the background, and a white wall behind the desk.

Music meets public history and digital humanities in Garth Wilson Fellowship

Some personalities present at the inauguration of the École d’avionnerie de Cartierville, Cartierville, Québec, 3 March 1941. Anon., “À l’inauguration de l’École d’avionnerie de Cartierville.” La Presse, 4 March 1941, 19.

A magnificent achievement, full of promises for the future, swept away by the narrow mind of Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis: The École d’avionnerie de Cartierville

A woman wearing an astronaut’s helmet holds a rabbit up to the camera of a laptop, which is open in front of her. Children’s faces are visible on the laptop screen via videoconferencing.

Virtual field trips offer a breath of fresh air amidst pandemic restrictions

A scene captured at the launch of the Jeu de l’électricité by Éditions Héritage Incorporée, Montréal, Québec, 6 November 1968. Anon., “–.” Le Devoir, 6 November 1968, 11.

A B C Abécédaire. Viens avec nous autour de la Terre: The Société Radio-Canada’s Tour de Terre children educational television program

An image of Angeline Lafleur holding up Arduino, a coding tool.

STEAM Horizon Awards: Catching up with Angéline Lafleur

Footer

About The Channel

The Channel

Contact Us

Ingenium
P.O. Box 9724, Station T
Ottawa ON K1G 5A3
Canada

613-991-3044
1-866-442-4416
contact@IngeniumCanada.org
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Channel

    • Channel Home
    • About the Channel
    • Content Partners
  • Visit

    • Online Resources for Science at Home
    • Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
    • Canada Aviation and Space Museum
    • Canada Science and Technology Museum
    • Ingenium Centre
  • Ingenium

    • Ingenium Home
    • About Ingenium
    • The Foundation
  • For Media

    • Newsroom
    • Awards

Connect with us

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest Ingenium news straight to your inbox!

Sign Up

Legal Bits

Ingenium Privacy Statement

© 2023 Ingenium

Symbol of the Government of Canada
  • Browse
    • Categories
    • Media Types
    • Boards
    • Featured Stories
  • About
    • About The Channel
    • Content Partners