“One of the reasons I am so passionate about museums is the ability of tangible objects to tell a story. I feel like it’s really powerful when you are in the setting where history took place. I’ve worked in a lot of historic house museums, like the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park, where you are literally following in people’s footsteps. You have the opportunity to stand in places that were private and, feel what people in the past were feeling or react to certain pieces of furniture that they had or the artwork on the walls. Here at Mount Rushmore, I will go walk through the exhibits or go down to the Sculptor’s Studio and see people making connections when they see the bosun chair or the jackhammer in the place where it was used, and there is this joy and awe they are experiencing in making that connection.
When I was in 4th grade, we went on a school field trip to Washington, D.C. and I saw Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers at the Smithsonian Museum of American History which made an impression because it was something I could understand as a child. As an adult, I visited that same museum again and saw a lunch counter that was removed from one of the sites of the civil rights sit-ins. The whole lunch counter is in the museum which is particularly moving because even though you aren’t in the original setting, it’s such a large object that you can really imagine yourself in that space and almost feel as if you were there.
I studied History and Anthropology in college and knew I wanted to work in a museum setting. When I graduated, I was trying to find a job and a lot of nonprofit museums wanted years of experience even for the entry level positions. I didn’t really know that museum work was an option in the National Park Service until I found an internship at Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, and that kind of opened my eyes to the museum side of the Parks. I went to school for something I was passionate about and was able to find a career in the NPS, so I would encourage others to follow their passions and more than likely, you can find a position in the many different types of careers in the NPS that will utilize those skillsets."
Amy McKinney is a museum curator and is responsible for the collections of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Devils Tower National Monument, and Jewel Cave National Monument. She has interned and worked in a variety of NPS sites including Longfellow House- Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park, Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, Adams National Historic Park, Yosemite National Park, Zion National Park, and the Museum Resource Center (National Capital Region).
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service