My next full day at the site brought a bit more work and getting started on my project. Beginning of my day, we went through some paperwork and I visited the rest of the site that I hadn’t seen yet. I was given another opportunity to take another tour in order to see how the tour guides differ in their presentation, which I decided to do in order to be more informed. The tour guide was more informative and to the script than the previous guide. Both helped give me a grasp on what makes New Lanark a significant piece of living history. After my tour and my break, I ran around with Helen and Paige collecting various items from the different buildings that Paige was going to feature during her time on the news later today. Getting to move around was definitely exciting and made it an eventful day!
Later on, Helen debriefed me on what I will mainly be doing for my time here. “Robert Owen at 250” will be a project that connects Newtown and New Lanark in the UK with New Harmony in the U.S., amongst other organizations and institutions connected to Robert Owen. The project is still in the “Big Idea” stage and is liable to transform from the original layout that was discussed in the first meeting between the organizations. Since I’ll be the first intern working on this project, I am allowed to lay down some of the groundwork for how the exhibit will come about.
Before that can happen, I need to research more on Robert Owen’s life and how his ideas relate to the contemporary world. I find this to be quite interesting since what I have learned about Robert Owen so far is that he was a man well before his time. His philosophies and ideas led to him implementing various reforms within New Lanark and New Harmony before they would ever be recognized on a global scale. Connecting him to the modern age seems like an interesting challenger that I’m excited to take on. First, I have to read up on Robert Owen before I can begin looking into possible exhibit ideas, but hopefully some ideas will come about during my reading. Wish me luck!
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