| Jenni's Museum Mania |
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| Well, some of you who knew me during my youth will no doubt remember how boring I used to find museums. My dad always said I whizzed through them as if I were wearing roller-skates! Well, things have changed a little. I am just completing a Masters in Museum Studies. I'm quite passionate about museums now - yes, you may laugh!!! |
| Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh: I worked here as a volunteer, from October 2002 until June 2003, in the Discovery Centre. It's a really fun, fantastic and informative hands-on exhibition aimed at children and families, covering various phases of Scotland's historical and cultural heritage. The rest of the museum is great too. It opened in 1998, and is housed in a beautiful, modern architecture, sandstone building (see photogaph on the left). You start in the basement with Scotland's geological beginnings, and work your way up the galleries, through Scotland's history, to the 20th century exhibition on the top floor. And from the roof-top terrace you have the most amazing views of Edinburgh! Visit the Museum of Scotland |
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| Museums I Have Worked In |
| The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington, D.C.: The CFCH is part of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex. The photograph on the right is actually not of the CFCH itself , but of the "Castle" - the Smithsonian's first building, which for me symbolises the Smithsonian as a whole. The CFCH produces the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which takes place for two weeks each summer on the National Mall in DC. It's a huge, temporary, open air museum - an exhibition of living culture, presenting people from all over the world. Its programmes feature music, song, dance, cooking, crafts, storytelling, discussions, games, and a lot more. I was an intern at the CFCH in 2001, working on the "Masters of the Building Arts" programme. Specifically, I helped to run the family hands-on activity area. I came back as an intern in 2003, to do visitor research with families at the "Scotland at the Smithsonian" programme. Visit the CFCH |
| The Museum of Welsh Life in St Fagans, Cardiff: I did a two month work placement here, from April to May 2003. It is "one of Europe's foremost open air museums", with a fantastic collection of various buildings as well as other objects, which "shows how the people of Wlaes lived, worked and spent their leisure time over the last 500 years." I had the luck of being there in one of the finest and hottest Springs Wales has ever seen - perfect weather to be working in an open air museum! Visit the Museum of Welsh Life |
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