February 8, 2007

At a time when funding for paid staff in many Alabama historical sites is dwindling, The University of West Alabama’s Department of History has teamed up with the Alabama Historical Commission and UWA’s Center for the Study of the Black Belt to offer internships in historic preservation.

UWA currently sends graduate students to two antebellum homes, Magnolia Grove in Greensboro and Gaineswood in Demopolis, providing the students with valuable hands-on experience in historical research and preservation, in addition to classroom credit. In turn, the sites receive highly skilled students to assist with a variety of museum functions that may otherwise be deferred due to staff shortages.

Eleanor Cunningham, Magnolia Grove site director, and Dr. Joe Wilkins, former UWA Dean of Graduate Studies, began the collaboration in the fall of 2005, when Magnolia Grove was facing staff layoffs due to budget constraints.

“Dr. Wilkins wanted to know if there was a way that UWA could assist us, and I mentioned several projects that would be ideal for students,” Cunningham explained. “We received graduate assistants in the 2006 spring and summer semesters, and by the fall semester, it expanded into the internship program.”

Graduate student Lakeisha Croxton of Forkland is currently serving as the historic preservation intern at Gaineswood, and Angelina Sprye of Boligee is interning at Magnolia Grove. They each spend at least five hours a week at their assigned sites, working directly with the Alabama Historical Commission’s site directors.

“The internship in historic preservation has been a tremendous benefit,” Cunningham said. “Some of their projects have included processing manuscript collections and entering data into collections management software. This semester, Angelina is developing lesson plans that integrate Magnolia Grove’s interpretive themes into the Alabama social studies curriculum.”

Sprye says she is learning valuable lessons from the internship. Accordingly, she hopes her lesson plans will inspire younger students to take an interest in preservation.

“With the plans I am developing, the students will learn about the history of the home, the lifestyle of its residents and its architecture," Sprye said. “If the students are enlightened by the study, they may consider a career in historic preservation.”

Gaineswood, one of the most architecturally unique antebellum homes in the state, is also very grateful for the intern assistance provided by the UWA students, according to Matt Hartzell, site director. Last summer, graduate student Ed Abdella researched both the role of Gaineswood owner-architect Nathan Bryan Whitfield in responding to the Eliza Battle steamboat accident on the Tombigbee River and Whitfield’s oil painting depicting the accident. Croxton, the site’s current intern, is transposing Gaineswood’s historical documents into digital format and developing a procedures manual for digitizing archived materials.

Croxton, who is pursuing her master’s degree in history education, says her favorite part of the internship is the hands-on training.

“This internship is helping prepare me for my career by allowing me to actually see and touch history for myself,” said Croxton, a Stillman College graduate.  

UWA, the preservation professionals and the interns agree that the partnership between the University and the Alabama Historical Commission is a beneficial collaboration.

“This course resulted from UWA’s desire to service the Alabama Historical Commission sites in West Alabama by aiding in preserving the past,” said Leigh Wallace Griffith, the Center for the Study of the Black Belt’s curator and intern coordinator. “The course offers our students first-hand experience in preserving historical documents and artifacts, and it is the University’s first step in expanding our history offerings in the area of public history and preservation.”

 “The UWA students are getting real-world experience in Alabama museums that can be applied to the classroom and to other professions,” Hartzell said. “Gaineswood and the other sites are receiving valuable and badly needed assistance to accomplish many basic museum functions, including records management, research and interpretation, at a time when funding for paid staff in those fields in nonexistent.”

For more information on UWA’s internships in historic preservation, please contact intern coordinator Leigh Wallace Griffith at lgriffith@uwa.edu.