The history and art history senior is spending the summer with the Office of Historic Alexandria where she is developing a passion for museum education.
Claire Bishop ’27, a history and art history major, is gaining experience this summer in Virginia that is preparing her for a career after graduation.
Bishop is serving as a summer intern at the Office of Historic Alexandria, which oversees all the museums in Historic Alexandria. During her internship, she catalogs artifacts in the city archives, assists with citywide events and cleans museum collections. One of her biggest projects has been designing and proposing an interactive activity to accompany an exhibit at the Alexandria Black History Museum.
“Since being at this internship, I have learned how different departments in the museum environment interact with each other,” Bishop said. “I have worked with museum educators, archivists, archaeologists and directors and have seen how their roles overlap and work together. I’ve also learned practical skills like collections handling, through cleaning the collections, and archival practices.”
Bishop’s favorite part of the internship has been working with her co-intern to develop the interactive activity for the Moss Kendrix exhibit at the Alexandria Black History Museum.
“I have loved getting to apply the research processes I’ve learned in my art history and history classes at Elon to a real-world exhibition,” Bishop said.
While searching for an internship to accompany Capital Connections, a Study USA program in Washington, D.C., Bishop expanded her search beyond the city. She discovered Old Town Alexandria community-centered network of museums, preservation projects, archaeology and public programming. She jumped at the opportunity to work in a smaller office where she would get hands-on, diversified experience in several areas of museum work.
She learned about the internship through George Mason University’s database of history internships, which was recommended by Cindy Sweeney in the Student Professional Development Center.
The internship has helped Bishop explore different areas of museum work while preparing her for a future career in the field.
“This internship has exposed me to several areas of museum work that I was not previously familiar with, which has allowed me to test which parts I enjoy and want to pursue further,” Bishop said. “I will take away significant hands-on experience in the museum space and strong connections with several staff members at the Office of Historic Alexandria.”
As she enters her senior year at Elon, Bishop has developed a passion for museum education, an area she is considering pursuing in graduate school. After graduation, Bishop plans to gain professional experience before attending graduate school.