[Hist_Pres] Student Summer Internship in Curation and Public Interpretation

[Cara Kaser]

The Shelton McMurphey Johnson House, Eugene's Victorian house museum, is
offering an internship for a student of history, historic preservation,
museum studies, or similar material culture and historical
interpretation-related field during the summer of 2011.

One of the most historically significant collections currently curated by
the House is that in the attic and turret left behind by Curtis Johnson, a
former House owner and career Army doctor who served as Gen. Douglas
MacArthur's son's personal physician in the Pacific theater during World War
II.  This collection largely remains quite literally as Dr. Johnson left it.
It has not been completely catalogued, and current interpretive materials
need updating.

The student intern will complete cataloguing of the Curtis Johnson
collection using our PastPerfect collections management software and
assemble existing data and do historical research as necessary on Curtis
Johnson's life and career sufficient to permit the development of new public
interpretive displays.  While funding is not available to support this
internship, it may provide the basis for applying for grant funding for
improving curation and interpretation of the Curtis Johnson collection in
2011 or 2012, and we would be particularly interested in finding a student
who would like to be part of that ongoing process.

Applicants should have some background in primary source and material
culture research and good computer, technology, and writing skills.
Applicants must be physically able to climb steep, Victorian-era stairs (the
Curtis Johnson collection is located on the third floor of the building) and
lift boxes up to about 25 lbs.  The successful applicant's most important
characteristic is enthusiasm about public interpretation, old buildings, and
World War II era history.

To apply, please send a vita and a letter of interest to:

Sara E. Palmer
Shelton McMurphey Johnson House
303 Willamette Street
Eugene, Oregon 97401
or sara at smjhouse.org <mailto:sara at smjhouse.org> (electronic submissions
should be formatted as PDFs)


Applications should be sent no later than April 15, 2011.