1/2 of a Masters Degree

Classes have officially ended for first semester and I cannot believe I am halfway through my Masters degree. It feels like yesterday when I was visiting the Campus in late August before the semester had started.... I was so excited, stress-free, and I had about three less grey hairs than what I have now... which is not a lot but shows how stressful and jam-packed this program has been.

This semester I had Public History Theory, Digital Public History, and Understanding Archives for my classes. I have finished my final project for Digital Public History which was a StoryMap about a man from my town named Douglas Carr who travelled the world from 1937 to 1939. I first discovered Doug Carr's photo collection of his journey when I worked at the Beachville District Museum two years ago, and thought it would be the perfect story to display on a GIS StoryMap. Here is the link to the StoryMap, but it is currently still a work in progress as I plan to keep working and expanding on the project over the holiday break. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c671d9ae86964910b2d2fd8bbc7f41eb

I am finishing up the last two assignments for my Public History Theory class. I am basically finished my Built Heritage Report which focused around a heritage house in London and we spent basically the whole semester researching about the history and architecture of the home. This was definitely a love-hate project. I really enjoyed researching about the origins of the property before the house was built, and about the first occupants of the house. What I did not like about this project was that it was sort of a wild goose hunt and some things took days or even weeks to track down or figure out. For instance, it took me weeks to fully understand the early chain of ownership for my property and how it turned into the property that it is today. In the end, I feel a bit of a connection to this house and the first occupants. It is also interesting to think about that if this house gets designated for heritage protection... it will be because of my report. That makes me feel kind of important.

For my Archives course, I have a lot of work left to do on my final project. The task is to critique an online Archival exhibit or digital classroom of our choice. I have decided to use this project as an opportunity to dive into a historical topic that interests me and therefore I have chosen to critique an online exhibit from Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem is an online resource for the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre and I have used their website a few times throughout undergrad to find primary sources on the Holocaust. I discovered that they have a lot of really great online resources, educational tools and exhibits so they were a great choice for this project. https://www.yadvashem.org/exhibitions.html

Besides my final projects that I have left to complete, I would like to reflect back on some of the other activities I did this semester. Some of the highlights from this semester include our field trip to Oil Springs, the meet and greet with last year's Public History cohort, hearing about Public History internship opportunities from alumni and people in the field of Public History, and of course meeting and spending time with my colleagues in this program. When I graduate from this program, I will most likely not remember each and every assignment I did, but all the fun extra activities we get to do in this program really make it worth the while. My goal for next semester is to get a little bit more involved. I would like to try and attend more speaker series, attend other events on campus that seem exciting to me, and spend more time with classmates outside of school.

Next semester I will be at the Royal Canadian Regimental Museum for my GSA position and for my courses I have Public History Group Project, Introduction to Museology and Interactive Exhibit Design. I am excited for these new classes as they seem more hands on and related to the Museum field, which I have past experience in. Most importantly, I am looking forward to relaxing for a couple weeks before my classes and new GSA position start... Cheers to being halfway done my Masters!