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Interning at the Campbell House museum was an incredibly rewarding experience. The intimate nature of a small museum like the Campbell House enabled first hand interaction with guests of the museum as well as experiencing another facet through learning about its business and membership management. A huge bonus of working at a small museum such as this is the exposure to the Campbell family’s original belongings which enlivens their fascinating story.

I really liked my experience as an intern at the Campbell House because I was able to work hands-on with the collection.  As the collections intern, I completed an inventory by myself of every piece in the whole house, a task that many museums would not entrust upon their interns.  This was supplemented by giving tours of the house to visitors where I could share my knowledge of the objects and their history with the guests.  Because of this, I was able to see what it would be like to work in a museum every day and it helped me realize that I would like to pursue a career working with museum collections.

My two summer internships spent at the Campbell House Museum have been rewarding, educational, and fun.  Having the opportunity to work at a small museum allowed me to participate in more important and larger projects that interns might otherwise be able to at larger institutions.  Over the last two summers, I have worked on an exhibit to go in the Museum’s special exhibit spaces, and the entire process was mine to conceptualize, organize and design.  The diversity of jobs and skills that one learns at a small museum will be more beneficial to my future career in that I will have a background in different elements of museum work.  At the Campbell House Museum I was given responsibility and really felt apart of the museum.  My opinions were always wanted and considered, which really helped to enhance my feeling of importance as a member of the museum’s staff.

Giving tours at the Campbell House Museum helped me learn about the family and St. Louis, which was fascinating.  Telling it to others during tours helped cement the information into my mind and better taught me how to mentally organize and present information.  Entering Robert Campbell’s letter information into Excel was tedious but gave me a good idea of the immense amount of work that goes into history museums, historic sites, etc.  It is exciting to think that there are sources still to be explored and more stories to be told, and I’m glad I could help out with this.

Spending the summer as an intern at the Campbell House Museum was extremely enlightening. While my main project was revamping and creating finding aides for the museum’s archives, I was included in several of the other daily aspects of the house; I assisted with the collection inventory, answered phones, helped with large visitor groups and gave tours, just to name a few. But, I must say, that the most impressive thing about CHM was the dedicated staff and volunteers.  Never have a met a more friendly and lively group.  As a graduate student in a museum studies program, I was excited to be able to be a part of an institution whose volunteers were so involved in the research and history of the Campbells and whose staff allowed me to experience so many aspects of the museum.

Working as an intern for the Campbell House Museum was a fantastic,hands on experience. As an undergraduate interested in the field of museum studies I was able to learn what it is like to work for a small staffed museum. Hands on is not an exaggeration as I literally touched every item on display in the museum while learning more about inventory, cataloging, and using past perfect computer software. The staff was friendly and willing to make time to individually help me learn.  I would recommend an internship at the Campbell House to any student looking for real work experience that they can apply to a career.