Re: Volunteers and interns in institutions

[Gail Niinimaa <niinimaa@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, I have had about 6 interns in Textile
Consevation over the last 20 years.  In the beginning, they were
primarily Graduates from the program at the University of Alberta,
interested in Textile Conservation.  The positions were strictly done on
a volunteer basis (ie no money given to the volunteers, and no money
received by the Museum for hosting the intern), and they were learning
and assisting as they were able to.

Recently there have been students from the Alberta College of Art and
Design who have participated in a Practicum for the course requirements
of their program.  These internships were designed to give the student
an overall glimpse about Textile Consevation but not specifically
teaching skills.

All of the interns have worked under the supervision of the Textile
Conservator.  The students have been the ones to contact the Museum to
arrange an internship.

Today we have a more formalized process whereby the internship or
volunteer position needs to be approved and a job description written up.

As the work of the Museum is centered around the exhibitions presently
on or upcoming, the work of the internship may vary depending on what is
coming and if there are any major Textile exhibits.

Gail Niinimaa
Textile Conservator
Glenbow Museum


On Wednesday, June 12, 2002, at 09:58 AM, Paige Myers wrote:

> Hello.  I would like to know what types of policies or requirements (if
> any)
> exist in your institution regarding the type of work done in the
> conservation labs by volunteers or interns.  Do volunteers work on
> treatments (supervised or unsupervised) or are they delegated to work
> on non
> treatment projects such as assisting with packing, handling, dressing of
> forms/mounts or administrative work.  Also, how do you go about
> selecting
> interns for your labs?  Are there certain criteria ?  Do you actively
> seek
> out universities or programmes for candidates or do the universities
> contact
> your institution?
>
> We are re-evaluating volunteerism and internships in our museum and I
> would
> like to know what others "out there" are doing to keep the conservation
> work
> flowing.  If anyone has any suggestions of universities that I may
> contact
> for information about intern programmes feel free to email me via this
> list
> or privately.  Thank you in advance for any information.
>
> Paige Myers
> Textile/Costume Conservator
> North Carolina Museum of History
> 4650 Mail Service Center
> Raleigh, NC  27699-4650
> (919) 715-0200  Ext.239
> e-mail:  pmyers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my
> agency.