Welcome to the weekly roundup! We do our best to collect the latest job openings and welcome submissions from the community. For more opportunities, we recommend the following databases:

• HireCulture – Jobs in the Humanities in Massachusetts
• Job HQ – American Association of Museums
• American Association of State and Local History Career Center
• New England Museum Association Jobs
• New York Foundation for the Arts
• Maine Archives & Museums   

INTERNSHIPS

• Hingham Historical Society (Hingham, MA): Summer Public History Internship
• Maine Maritime Museum (Bath, ME): Sandra D. Rapp Curatorial Internship
• Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area & Minute Man National Historical Park: Public History/Digital Media Intern
• Wing Fort House & Wing History Museum (Sandwich, MA): Collections Management Assistant Intern

NORTHEAST

• Newport Restoration Foundation (Newport, RI): Action Center Project Manager; Part-time project- based
• Cahoon Museum of American Art (Cotuit, MA): Curator
• MassArt Art Museum (Boston, MA): Exhibition Manager
• Historic Deerfield (Deerfield, MA): Assistant Tutor
• The House of the Seven Gables (Salem, MA): Events Assistant
• Montshire Museum of Science (Norwich, VT): Education Program Manager: STEM Education Specialist
• Billings Farm & Museum (Woodstock, VT): School & Youth Programs Coordinator
• Brown University (Providence, RI): Associate Curator
• Adirondack Experience (Blue Mountain Lake, NY): School Program Educator

MIDATLANTIC/SOUTHEAST

• Kentucky Historical Society (Frankfort, KY): Research Library Manager
• Art Museum of West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV): Director
• Please Touch Museum (Philadelphia, PA): Museum Learning Educator
• The Baker Museum (Naples, FL): Assistant Curator
• Milken Institute (Washington, D.C.): Associate Director, Content and Exhibits
• Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC): Fashion Fellow

 MIDWEST

• Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, MN): Curatorial Department Assistant – Arts of the Americas
• Milwaukee Art Museum (Milwaukee, WI): Associate Registrar/Database Administrator
• Cranbrook Art Museum (Bloomfield Hills, MI): The Jeanne & Ralph Graham Curatorial Fellow
• Holland Museum (Holland, MI): Executive Director
• Indiana Historical Society (Indianapolis, IN): Director, Exhibits
• Missouri Historical Society (St. Louis, MO): Objects Conservator

WEST COAST/SOUTHWEST

• National Medal of Honor Museum (Arlington, TX): Museum Director (General Manager)
• City of El Paso (El Paso, TX): Art Museum Senior Curator
• Edward-Dean Museum & Gardens (Cherry Valley, CA): Museum Curator
• Loveland Living Planet Aquarium (Draper, UT): Education Manager
• Museum Arts Inc (Dallas, TX): Exhibit and Experiential Spec Designer
• Wing Luke Museum (Seattle, WA): Senior Exhibit Developer/Oral History Manager
• National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum (Leadville, CO): Curator
• Pratt Museum (Homer, AK): 
  • Curator of Collections & Exhibits
  • Curator of Education & Public Programs

Sometime in early 2020, I came across a video that changed how I approach history. In this video, costumer Bernadette Banner was constructing an Edwardian walking skirt to wear around her native NYC. While at the time I had no idea what a bias was, center seams, or really any idea how to sew beyond simple embroidery, I found myself drawn to this world of history as she narrated. Not only was she showing her reference patterns, she explained how women would wear these long garments, as well as how to read clothing for the history and culture of the time. There was so much to learn about the textiles that went into extant garments and how the quality of the textile was so important. Clothing had more Easter eggs than a Taylor Swift music video, and honestly the approach to dressing made more sense than our modern ways. The more I watched Banner, the more I was exposed to other historians such as Abby Cox. She truly opened the door to understanding how people in history were actually exceptionally smart, even if there were no iPads or internet. 

We often think about people in history as being stupid, purely because they didn’t know the same things we know today. George Washington died just before the first dinosaur bones were discovered, germ theory didn’t exist when the plague hit, and people didn’t bathe in tubs for a long time. But this doesn’t mean that people were dumb and dirty. For example, the outer layers of a woman’s clothing was often re-worn several times before it was washed. And it was not because the fabric was like your jeans and you were concerned about the fabric stretching or the dye coming out. There was strategy. 

Instead of having your nice expensive garments touching your body and getting sweat and oils on it, multiple underlayers would be worn. Depending on the period in history, there would be a lightweight linen shift or chemise and some form of support garment for the bust. In the middle ages it was a kirtle, in the 1700s it was a pair of stays, and in the 1800s it was a corset. These garments were designed to provide support, take pressure off the back, and give clothing smoother lines. There was no need to suck in your stomach or do extra ab workouts!

These underlayers not only protected you from the outside, they also protected your clothing from you. Linen and cotton (natural fibers) are exceptionally breathable and dry quickly when the wearer is sweating or exposed to more heat. Underlayers like the shift would be rotated out daily and washed consistently. Things like the stays or corset would be washed less frequently, but still more often than the outer layers. If you think about it, women at this time washed their undergarments more frequently than most women today do. (seriously, ask a friend how often she washes her bras.) 

In the 1700s, women didn’t wash their hair as often (maybe once a week or two), but they used the equivalent of a hair mask and dry shampoo to protect the hair from the world and handle oils. Cox went as far as to spend a year doing this method, and documented how her hair felt mostly the same as it did with her modern hair routine. She also did an in depth exploration into shapewear and how if women in history didn’t match the shape of the day, they could modify their clothing to look like they had a tiny waist or a flat chest or whatever was en vogue for the time. Women weren’t pressured to change their bodies like they are now. If you were pregnant or bloated, you could let out your corset. Trying to attract a man at a ball? Add more hip padding so your waist looks snatched. Fashions would stay on trend for years at a time, garments were made to last, and if you are following along and counting, this means that women only needed a few items of clothing to last through their whole adulthood. 

I would not call myself a stylish person by any means, but I love watching historical sewing videos. Not only have they given me perspective on how slow fashion has worked throughout history, they’ve changed how I think of people in history. They may not have known about germs or dinosaurs, but they were smart and strategic – down to their undergarments.

Welcome to the weekly roundup! We do our best to collect the latest job openings and welcome submissions from the community. For more opportunities, we recommend the following databases:

• HireCulture – Jobs in the Humanities in Massachusetts
• Job HQ – American Association of Museums
• American Association of State and Local History Career Center
• New England Museum Association Jobs
• New York Foundation for the Arts
• Maine Archives & Museums   

INTERNSHIPS

• Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (Amherst, MA):
  • Alix Zacharias Internship, Museum Administration & Leadership
  • Trinkett Clark Internship, Education and Collections
• Hingham Historical Society (Hingham, MA):
  • Andrews Family Curatorial Internship
  • Sally Hess Memorial Curatorial and Archival Internship
• Billings Farm & Museum (Woodstock, VT):
  • Curatorial Intern
  • Interpretation & Education Internship
• Albacore Park (Portsmouth, NH) Education Intern

NORTHEAST

• Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, CT) Head of Education
• Historic New England (Boston, MA, North Shore MA, New Hampshire) Preventive Care Assistant (part-time)
• Historic Beverly (Beverly, MA) Education Manager (part-time)
• University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT) NAGPRA Coordinator
• Delaware Division of Historic & Cultural Affairs (Dover, DE) Museum/Historic Site Supervisor
• Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, CT) John Walsh Fellowship in Museum Education
• Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, CT) Jock Reynolds Fellowship in Public Programs

MIDATLANTIC/SOUTHEAST

• Frost Art Museum at Florida International University (Miami, FL) Chief Curator
• Historic Annapolis (Annapolis, MD) Museum Educator & Living History Interpreter (part-time)
• Marco Island Historical Society (Marco Island, FL) Museum Specialist
• Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History (Kennesaw, GA) Operations Manager
• National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington D.C.) Museum Curator (Religion)

 MIDWEST

• Indiana University Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (Bloomington, IN) Exhibitions & Design Manager 
• Arts Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL):
  •  Senior Educator, Creative Spaces
  • Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Curatorial Fellow, Architecture and Design – African American Architecture and Design in Chicago
  • Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Curatorial Fellow, Painting and Sculpture of Europe – Dutch and Flemish Paintings Collection Catalogue
• Figge Art Museum (Davenport, IA) Assistant/Associate Registrar

WEST COAST/SOUTHWEST

• Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, TX) Curator of Prints and Drawings
• Wing Luke Museum (Seattle, WA) Senior Exhibit Developer/Oral History Manager
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA) Manager of Public Programs
• San Bernardino County (San Bernardino County, CA) Museum Curator of History
• Yellowstone Art Museum (Billings, MT) Curator