Refresher Introduction

As you can see from all over the website, my name is Kailey and currently I am going into my second year of the Public History MA at UCF. Since I first started the MA, I knew I wanted to study a topic related to Cultural Heritage Management, however, what specifically that topic is has indeed changed with time. I am beginning to explore the role that reconstructed historic sites as well as replicas of extinct historic sites play in people’s experiences with authenticity of history.

This semester, I am doing an internship with the Seminole County Museum under Dr. Deborah Bauer, the director of the Seminole Cultural Arts Council, as my supervisor. This internship will be separated into at least two parts. (Depending on how long these first two things go will affect whether or not I get another task.) The first part involves taking a look at several historic sites in Seminole County that individuals are interested in adding a historic marker to. For this, I have to do some preliminary research on the sites in question to learn more about its historic relevancy to the county. The second part of this internship will involve me cataloguing a collection or materials that are being added to the Seminole County Museum’s archive. I will be looking at various county documents, organizing them, and creating a finding aid, so the materials can be used for research in the future. Ultimately, the two biggest things I want out of this internship are hands-on experience work related to cultural resource management (CRM) and archival work, and that is exactly what I will be getting with this internship.

Already this week I have done basic research on many still standing and destroyed historic sites in Seminole County. This included several sites from a funeral home to the Sanford Municipal Zoo that used to stand where the City Hall in Sanford now is. I have not done a whole lot of modern historical research though. So, there is definitely a learning curve as I am still figuring out exactly where it is I need to go to find the information that I am looking for.