My Summer Internship at the Smithsonian
Lirit Gilmore, author of this article
Since I was younger growing up in the Washington DC area, I have attended the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, a 2-week festival held each year to center folklife within a region or culture. This summer I had the privilege of living with my family in Washington DC while working at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution. I was one of many dedicated people who worked on the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival this year. My assignment for this summer’s festival was Ozarks: Faces and Facets of a Region.
My internship began with a focus on organizing participants of the festival, transcribing recipes, and learning more about the Ozarks, a region recognized across Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Illinois. Interns and staff wrote up documents to be used during the festival like guides, supply lists, and schedules.
While working in the office we got to learn about the roles the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage has within the Smithsonian. These festivals have been going on for over 50 years, and folks in the Smithsonian have worked on it for a long time. Every person working was significant to the inner mechanics of such a large and iconic event. This festival is completely free to the public, just like all Smithsonian museums in DC. It was special to be able to see the importance of what this festival means to the employees and to the public.
When the actual festival began, my work was mostly in the Foodways stage. As a Chatham student in the Food Studies program, I was incredibly fortunate to work within the foodways aspect of the festival. Chefs came from all across the Ozark region to cook food, prepare drinks, and share stories of what brings folks together. Though we all helped each other when it was needed, all of the interns had the chance to work closely with a subject that related to their own area of study.
I was assigned to work with many of the chefs who had intersections with other aspects of Ozark folklife. I learned even more about cuisine, mixology, and foraging within the kitchen. Participants and presenters in the festival got to know interns and staff and we spent time learning directly under pioneers of their craft.
Lirit’s Faves from the Festival:
Favorite meal/food: Fry Bread/Indian Tacos
Favorite sweet treat: Blackberry pie
Favorite demo: Hog butchering
Most important thing I learned: How to take our time in the kitchen
So many kinds of people displayed their craft like foragers, moonshiners, quilters, and a Dutch oven wild game chef. It is almost impossible to summarize all of the incredible accomplishments everyone made together. I also got to know many of the people who work full-time within the Smithsonian, and made connections that I know are worthwhile for my own career goals.
In my free time, I got to know some of the other interns who worked with me on the festival. We saw more of the Smithsonian’s museums, went out after work, and got to know each other well in the two months we spent together. While I am from the Maryland area, many people I interned with were not and got to explore a city they’d never seen before. It was nice to see that it’s possible to do an internship somewhere new, and witness how special the experience was for them. I’m grateful for the food studies program offered at Chatham and the faculty who supported me in applying to an internship where I had the chance to learn more about Foodways and regional anthropology.
If you want to learn more about how to find meaningful internships you can attend the Job and Internship Networking Mixer on September 27th hosted by the Office of Career Development! No registration is required, and you will have the opportunity to meet with employers within all kinds of career fields.
Lirit Gilmore is a Creative Writing and Food Studies student. Lirit’s academic focus is centered in food writing and how it intersects with social location and identity. She is from the DMV and the Midwest, and enjoys baking in her free time. See all her work on Pulse@ChathamU here.