Summer tends to be intern season at NRF’s museums—a time when we welcome one or more up-and-coming museum professionals to the organization to develop new skills, meet new people and learn about the varied and interesting work of museums. Internships are often a critical step in introducing potential museum professionals to museum work. They are a central part of most training programs in collections and conservation work. After all, where else can one get experience in handling, cataloging, and conserving a diverse range of museum art and artifacts? I began my career in museum work with a summer internship, and that experience led to my first paying job in the field. These opportunities are so important in determining whether or not someone enters the museum field, that one of my colleagues once wryly noted that “The best way to get a job in a museum is to have a job in a museum (or an internship).” And yet, for some students, especially students from marginalized communities, internships are hard to learn about and harder still to enter into.
While there are many reasons for this last point, one indisputable factor is how many museum internship opportunities favor students with observable privilege and resources. For example, most internship opportunities across the field tend to be unpaid or low paying, nor does the staff that creates the program typically have time for the outreach necessary to communicate with specific communities of students. The economics of internships often fail to take into account the transportation needs of those who may be unable to afford a car. And sadly, those interns who are selected to join an institution a great distance from their homes often find out that they cannot afford the living expenses in a new place even for a few months. Many museum internships prove more expensive for the intern than for the institution that offers them, and since race and class tend to be inextricably bound up in American society, the structure of a lot of museum internships tends to exclude most potential interns from underserved communities.
Some institutions have done terrific work in helping undergraduate students of color and others overcome the significant barriers to learning about and partaking in museum internships. In Southern California, the Getty Foundation has supported a multicultural internship program across the region, providing funds for institutions willing to bring in summer interns from previously underrepresented minority communities. The Ford Foundation is doing similar work with early career curators at a national level, and as an occasional reviewer for National Endowment for the Humanities’ grants, I can tell you that museums in places like San Jose, Newark, NJ, Pittsburgh, and other sites are creating programs that account for the needs of previously excluded groups in their intern programs.
As a longtime participant in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work, I brought my experience in creating these opportunities to NRF. In late 2020, I reached out to several of my colleagues locally and regionally to help me create NRF’s first DEI program, and this year, I am delighted to note that we will be hosting our second such intern. NRF engages with a wide variety of interns, including an internship for graduate students engaged in the field of conservation.
Meet Our Interns
Brian Villa is a history major at Rhode Island College and President of its Latin American Student Organization. He is also a McNair Scholar (a national program that prepares traditionally underrepresented students for Ph.D. programs), and finally, he is our DEI intern. Brian is excited to connect with others within the field. He looks forward to encouraging other students to explore museum opportunities.
We are equally fortunate to welcome a second undergraduate intern to the fold this summer. Her name is Emi Zeyl, and she is an art history major at URI. Emi is looking forward to the various learning opportunities this internship offers and is interested in NRF’s community engagement initiatives.
Our graduate intern is Mel Kennelly, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and a graduate student in textile conservation at the University of Rhode Island (URI). Mel is working with our Senior Curator, Kristen Costa, on cataloging, photographing, and rehousing the Doris Duke fashion collection from Shangri La and doing 2023 exhibition research.
We are delighted to have these talented young professionals join us this summer and look forward to having them share what they learn with you.
Bringing these interns together from different backgrounds, different schools, and with different personal histories and asking them to work and learn together has been a longstanding dream of mine. For many years, I have created educational programs that enliven the study of history and make the learning of that subject a more active and engaging process, but I have always lamented the fact that that work has tended to focus on a single student or group of students from one school at a time. I believe that success in any career depends on creating a widespread and diverse network of colleagues. And in Rhode Island, where it is only a slight exaggeration to say that you are less than six degrees of separation from anyone who works in the local and regional museum field, such networking is both essential and easier to accomplish than in a big city like New York or Los Angeles.
Brian’s, Mel’s, and Emi’s internships are just the first part of the network building. As part of our program, we connect our interns to other museum professionals in the region, including Akeia de Barros Gomes, Senior Curator at the Mystic Seaport Museum, and Lorén Spears, Executive Director of the Tomaquag Museum. Our interns will travel to both institutions to meet with Akeia and Lorén as well as other members of their staff and their seasonal interns, and sometime this summer we will welcome staff and interns from Mystic and the Tomaquag to Newport. I hope that these experiences will help connect a diverse range of potential museum professionals to the local and regional museum world and each other.
We invite you to come to Newport this summer to meet our interns and other staff and visit our museums. Both Rough Point and the Whitehorne House Museum are now open for the season, and we can’t wait to see you.
By Erik Greenberg, Director of Museums, Newport Restoration Foundation
Thank you for following along throughout Preservation Month as we shared updates on our preservation projects and the people who make them possible. One of our largest undertakings is the preservation of the William Vernon House. In this final video in our Behind the Walls series, we take a look back at all we have learned from the Historic Structure Report, and what remains ahead for this important part of Newport’s history.
With the support of the community and friends like you, we are able to continue our mission to preserve and protect Newport’s architectural heritage. Thank you again for caring about historic preservation.
There’s still time left to give to NRF this Preservation Month! Please consider making a gift today to support our preservation efforts. Make a one-time gift, or have greater impact by joining Restoration Partners, our monthly giving program. Thank you for protecting historic resources in our community!
With profound sadness, Newport Restoration Foundation shares the news of the passing of our former Director of Preservation, Robert Foley. His passion and dedication to NRF helped shape our organization.
Prior to his time at NRF, Robert was an active member of Operation Clapboard, a Newport-based organization founded in 1963. Operation Clapboard was a grassroots project and was the first serious effort to recognize and save Newport’s eighteenth-century architectural treasures. Though the project only lasted a few years, Operation Clapboard saved 40 buildings and helped raise awareness about Newport’s historic structures.
When Doris Duke founded NRF in 1968, she hired Robert to document the restoration process of properties across Newport. From 1968 to 1974, he took thousands of pictures in one of the first concerted efforts to document existing conditions in the preservation field. Many of his photographs are still used by NRF today and are featured in Extraordinary Vision: Doris Duke and the Newport Restoration Foundation, which Robert co-authored.
During his career, Robert worked as a NRF archivist and later became Director of Preservation. He referred to the role as his “dream job.” He led the preservation crew through both daily maintenance and full-scale restorations. His involvement from the very beginning helped to perpetuate the historic trades in Newport and solidified NRF as a preservation leader.
Robert retired in 2016 after more than 50 years of preservation efforts in Newport. Contributions in his memory can be made to the Seamen’s Church Institute.
Newport, R.I. – The Newport Restoration Foundation has selected Franklin Vagnone to serve as the organization’s President, following a competitive national search. Vagnone comes to Newport from the Old Salem Museums & Gardens in Winston-Salem, NC where he served as President and CEO of the renowned national historic landmark heritage site. He will assume this new role on July 11, 2022.
“Franklin Vagnone epitomizes the personal and professional qualities NRF was looking for in a leader,” said NRF Board Chair Jim Ross. “Based on his experiences, and his many successes, we are confident that he will move NRF and its important programs to new levels of local and national importance.”
“The entire NRF board was impressed by Franklin’s leadership experience as well as his successful track record,” Ross continued. “He is the ideal person to continue and refresh our programs, to care for our many properties and to advance the legacy of Doris Duke.”
In his role at the Old Salem Museums & Gardens, Vagnone led a 100-acre historic district containing 90 buildings (85% original, with 27 fully-interpreted historic sites) that included the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) as well as the 1861 St. Phillips district, which includes an African-American Heritage Center and Historic Burial Ground. The site also includes multiple collections storage facilities, and extensively-restored agricultural and archeological landscapes. Previously, Vagnone served as Executive Director of the Historic House Trust of New York City and earlier, in the same role at the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks. He is also the founder and President of Twisted Preservation Cultural Consulting.
The NRF has purchased, restored, rented, and resold numerous historically important buildings in the center of Newport over the past 50 years with the mission of sparking community renewal. The Foundation currently owns, maintains, and leases more than 70 historic homes throughout the city. In addition, NRF operates the Rough Point Museum, Whitehorne House Museum, and the 40-acre Prescott Farm.
NRF also collaborates with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) through the facilitation of Rough Point, Doris Duke’s home, as a cultural asset for the city of Newport. Following more than 50 years as a successful catalyst for restoring the Point and Historic Hill neighborhoods of Newport, NRF is preparing to re-envision the future work of the foundation by asking Vagnone, an internationally renowned museum and cultural thought-leader, to collaborate on a wider, more deeply imagined community-based mission.
“The potential to contribute to the diverse communities of Newport is an exciting opportunity,” Vagnone said. “NRF has been such an important facilitator of Newport’s historic core renewal. I look forward to building on this success and engaging in a much broader context of helping to restore communities, as well as preserving important properties.”
About Newport Restoration Foundation: NRF is a non-profit organization founded in 1968 by Doris Duke to preserve, maintain, and interpret Aquidneck Island’s 18th- and early 19th-century architectural heritage. In addition to a collection of more than 70 early American houses, now rented to tenant-stewards, NRF operates three museum properties that are open to the public: Rough Point, Doris Duke’s Newport mansion which is home to a significant collection of European paintings, furniture, and textiles, and other European and Asian decorative arts; Whitehorne House Museum, featuring 18th- and early 19th-century Newport furniture; and Prescott Farm in Middletown, RI, a public park and historic site with ties to the Revolutionary War. Learn more at www.newportrestoration.org.
Historic homes require regular maintenance, and Rough Point Museum is no exception. Recent visitors will have seen exterior scaffolding and preservation contractors working diligently. The museum’s roof system is currently undergoing restoration to address water infiltration. With increases in storms and precipitation due to climate change, it’s more important than ever to protect this historic structure and plan for its future. NRF’s Director of Preservation, Alyssa Lozupone, describes the meticulous restoration process in our latest video.
You can help us maintain Rough Point Museum and the other historic homes in our collection by becoming a Restoration Partner. To learn more about our monthly giving program, click here.
Over the past year, NRF has explored ways in which we can have an impact in promoting the historic trades as a career path. Our talented Preservation Crew, several who have worked for NRF over 30 years, are an integral part of our organization and care for over 70 historic properties in and around Newport. Tradespeople (carpenters, masons, metal workers, etc.) play a critical role in ensuring historic properties are carefully and properly preserved. Unfortunately, the current generation of skilled craftspeople are aging out of the field. Fifty-five percent of all properties in Newport are considered historic, and are always in need of repair. Without trained tradespeople, historic properties owned by NRF and other organizations cannot be maintained.
The mission of the Historic Trades Initiative is to perpetuate and diversify the historic trades by creating strong connections with our community and sharing our expertise. The Initiative was developed through conversations with other preservation organizations, workforce training companies, and the local contractor community. Its focus is to raise awareness and offer training opportunities to create a robust workforce of people who specialize in the preservation trades. Working with national organizations including the National Park Service and Campaign for Historic Trades, as well as local contractors, NRF will launch several programs in 2022.
Tours through NRF properties and the carpentry mill for local tradespeople, vocational schools, and colleges to build awareness about our preservation initiatives.
Summer carpentry internships for students enrolled in related trades programs such as boat building and furniture making. Students will gain an understanding of how those skills are transferrable to the preservation field.
Upskill training program for individuals with basic carpentry or masonry skills who wish to specialize in preservation. Graduates will receive a certificate in the preservation trades from NRF.
Job shadowing for local residents who are interested in the trades but who do not have formal training. NRF will facilitate job shadowing with various local contractors.
We look forward to sharing updates as these programs get underway. For people with basic carpentry skills who are interested in learning more about historic trades, we invite you to consider applying for our 12-week paid summer internship. More details and application information are available here.
By Kris Turgeon, Trades Initiative Manager, Newport Restoration Foundation
