5/20/12 Internship

On May 20 I worked from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM for a total of four hours worked. I have worked 25 total hours at THS. The reason I worked on a Sunday was because I wanted to help out during Museum Day since that is the day when THS gets the most visitors. I stood outside for most of the day greeting people to the Museum, giving people directions, and keeping track of the number of people who visited. The total number of visitors for Museum Day was 407 people. I feel like I was really able to help out during Museum Day and many of the people exiting told me how much they liked the exhibit I worked on. 

5/18/12 Internship

On May 18 I worked at my internship from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM for a total of seven hours worked. I have worked at my internship for a total of 21 hours. 

On May 18 I finished my work on the exhibits detailing CinemaScope. I also  worked on editing the entire exhibit. It was important to finish work on the exhibit since it needed to be ready for Museum Day on May 20. Most of the day was spent preparing for Museum Day.

A Playbill from 1918

I also worked on continuing top sort through old playbills. 

A Playbill from 1906-1907

5/16/12 Internship

On May 16, 2012 I worked at my internship from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM for a total of seven hours. I have worked 14 hours total now at my internship. I had a really cool day when I worked at THS on May 16. A bunch of press books arrived at THS for old movies. Press books were books given out to the media in order to hype up particular movies. 

A Press Book

The press books I looked at were for Dr. Strangelove, The Thief of Baghdad, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. 

Another Press Book

As a huge movie buff it was exciting to go over these pieces of film history.

Another Press Book

I also finished some of my work for the exhibit on the evolution from film to digital. I finished the work on carbon-arc lamplights and moved on to working on a display devoted to CinemaScope, CinemaVision, VistaVision, and Cinemiracle. These screening methods were used by film companies and movie theatres to entice people away from television during the 1950s.

A Display in the exhibit I worked on

In addition to working on the exhibit I also worked on sorting through file cabinets and getting rid of unneeded documents. 

An add from one of the playbills I looked at

This may sound boring but the documents I went through were playbills for different theatres, some dating back as far as 1888. 

A playbill from the 1920s

It was really interesting to see the different ads and plays from the time period the playbills were from. 

5/14/12 Internship

On May 14, 2012 I started my internship at the Theatre Historical Society of America, located in Elmhurst, Illinois. The Theatre Historical Society of America (THS) specialized in the preservation of theatres throughout America and deals with documents and artifacts pertaining to theatres. I will mostly be working on Mondays and Wednesdays, occasionally working on Fridays. On May 14 I worked from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM for a total of 7 hours. I will work until August at THS. Throughout the summer I will be working on archival work, research, odd jobs, and museum work while interning at THS.

A Model of a Theatre Built

On May 14 I spent about half of the day working on an exhibit on the transition from film to digital. The area of the exhibit I worked on was researching and writing for a display on carbon-arc lamplights and the gradual extinction of the skilled projectionist. I ended up writing two pages that were used for the exhibit. The exhibit I worked on was used for Museum Day on May 20, 2012, a citywide tour of museums done through the city of Elmhurst.

The Exhibit I worked on

The other half of the day I spent watching videos detailing the history of and problems that old theatres face in adapting to the modern world. I learned a lot about the efforts to remodel the Uptown Theater in Chicago and how unique and beautiful the theatre is. What I found interesting in my work for May 14 was the fact that old theatres can be remodeled or renovated in order to bring new life to city centers across the country.

An old projector on display at THS

The final activity I accomplished on May 14 was the organizing the projects that children do on Museum Day. Overall I loved my first day at THS and feel I will be gaining great experience and doing important work that helps to preserve historical landmarks.