I usually have a really bad attitude about tourist attractions, so when my wife and I were in San Francisco a couple weeks ago I was a little annoyed when she asked me if I wanted to do a self-guided audio tour at Fisherman’s Wharf. I would have said no, but it was through a new startup that her former boss founded, so I figured it was worth a shot. The company is called Detour, and the audio tour was absolutely amazing. I usually hate this kind of stuff, but it was probably the most enjoyable 90 minutes of the entire trip (and that’s including The Serpentarium!). The San Francisco, CA based company set out to offer “immersive, location-aware audio walks,” and they completely knocked it out of the park. They took the audio tour and turned it into something remarkable.
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I swear that every kid who grows up in Connecticut goes on a field trip to Old Sturbridge Village at some point. For me it wasn’t until 10th grade (and we were on our way back from a longer trip to Boston and Plimoth Plantation), but I think most kids go earlier in their lives. If you weren’t lucky enough to grow up within a couple hour bus ride of Old Sturbridge Village (which is based in Sturbridge, MA), you should know that it’s the “largest outdoor history museum in the Northeast” and it “depicts a rural New England town of the 1830s.” It’s the perfect place for immature children to try to get the staff to fall out of character.
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One of the best parts of growing up in Connecticut was the history. As a kid, I was always imagining myself back in the Revolutionary era. There were constant reminders of the past, and I found them fascinating. (One of my favorite hobbies was digging holes in my backyard looking for artifacts.) The tough thing is that New England is a thriving part of our economy, which means that there is constant pressure to erase the past so as to build something better. That’s ok to some extent, but history needs to be preserved. Historic New England is a non-profit that does just that. It’s a Boston, MA based “museum of cultural history that collects and preserves buildings, landscapes, and objects dating from the seventeenth century to the present and uses them to keep history alive and to help people develop a deeper understanding and enjoyment of new England life and appreciation for its preservation.”
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I spent at least a week every summer on Nantucket until I was 18. It was also a great time, and it’s where I have some of my fondest childhood memories. Oddly enough, I’ve only stepped foot on Martha’s Vineyard once. I was flying from Nantucket and the plane stopped on the Vineyard. I got out for some fresh air (it was a tiny plane) and got right back on. That means that I’ve never visited the Martha’s Vineyard Museum in Edgartown, MA, but I’m sure it has a lot in common with the museums that I’ve visited on Nantucket. The museum is “dedicated to furthering an interest in, experience of, and appreciation for the history and culture of the Island and its environs.” That’s exactly what you’d expect, and they do this with exhibitions, collaboritive educational programs, scholarly research, archival collections, and community outreach.
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We all have our own September 11th stories. I shared mine last year when I wrote about the National September 11 Memorial Museum. These stories, whether they are from the front lines or from people thousands of miles away, are what will ensure that we continue to use the memory of those whose lives were lost 10 years ago today as a positive force. VOICES of September 11th is a non-profit organization that was founded by two women who lost loved ones in the attacks to serve as “an information clearinghouse for those affected by the attacks through the use of a Web site, electronic newsletter, direct mailings and media outreach.” They are based in New Canaan, CT with a satellite office in New Brunswick, NJ, and they have expanded their mission over the years to include “providing continuity of care to promote resiliency and address the long-term issues” of those who were directly affected by the attacks.
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I’m on Cape Cod for a wedding this weekend, so I decided to take my girlfriend over to Nantucket, MA for the day yesterday. I hadn’t been there in 9 years after going there every summer for the first 18 years of my life. It’s a wonderful island that is loaded with history. We walked around all day and made stops at the Old Gaol and the Whaling Museum, both of which are owned and operated by the Nantucket Historical Association. Both are well worth a visit, and so are all of the other NHA properties. If you want to learn about early American history, Nantucket is a great place to visit, and much of the reason is because of the work of the Nantucket Historical Association.
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We often forget that this country has been built (and is continuing to be built) by immigrants. For hundreds of years people have risked everything that they had to try for a better life in America. While just getting here is a journey, the first few years of “making a new life, working for a better future, starting a family with limited means” can be daunting. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York, NY tells the story of life in America for nearly 7,000 immigrants from over 20 countries who lived in the building between the years of 1863 and 1935. It’s a part of American history that doesn’t get a lot of attention (how many of us have visited colonial era museums?), yet it’s an extremely important part of our national identity.
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Interested in the intersection of media and public policy? Then you have to check out the Washington Media Scholars Program.
It’d be pretty cool to have your home turned into a museum. Not only would it mean that you lived in a pretty sweet place, but it would also mean that you made enough of a mark on history for people to actually want to learn about your life. There’s no better example of someone worth learning about than Thomas Jefferson. Not only did he write the Declaration of Independence, but he was also the third president and founder of the University of Virginia. It’s no surprise that he ended up on both the two dollar bill and the nickel. Anyway, many might expect Jefferson’s Monticello to be run by the government, but it’s actually managed by a non-profit organization called the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in Charlottesville, VA. They’ve been maintaining Monticello and 2,500 of its 5,000 acres for nearly 90 years with a dual mission of education and preservation, which is a great service to our country and its history.
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September 11th, 2001 was supposed to be a great day for me. I was a senior in high school, and through the intricacies of my school’s scheduling system, I only had two classes scheduled that day. I was going to be out of there before 11 AM. Things didn’t go as planned, as the Head of the School made an unexpected appearance during morning announcements (the school was small enough that we could all meet in one large room). Something terrible had happened, but it wasn’t quite clear how bad it actually was. A couple friends and I immediately went to the beach across the street from our school. We knew that on a clear day you could see the Twin Towers, and September 11, 2001 was as clear as they come. We watched as a mass of smoke obscured the New York City skyline, and we listened to radio reports of what was going on. Luckily, many of the things that were reported on the radio about other possible attacks weren’t true, and the magnitude of the casualties from the attacks weren’t nearly as bad as we first feared (we thought there might be 50,000 dead in New York City alone). Still, there was a feeling of terror that none of us had ever faced before. I spent much of the day with other classmates, some close friends and some not so close. We went to another beach, watched the news at someone’s house, and went to a church service. September 11th is one of the days that has defined the world that I grew up in, and it’s likely that you feel the same way. It’s a day that I will always remember, which is why I am happy to see the National September 11 Memorial & Museum progressing. It’s supposed to open a year from today, and I’ll certainly visit once it’s open on the Ground Zero site.
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Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays—not only because it signifies the start of summer, but also because I love small town patriotism. My hometown always has a fantastic parade that is often accompanied by a fighter jet fly over. Now, today’s employer may not immediately make you think of Memorial Day like last year’s did (it was Weber-Stephen, the manufacturer of my favorite charcoal grills), but you’ll realize pretty quickly why the National Park Service is a great choice for today. Not only are some of the parks that they manage great places to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend outdoors, but they’re also responsible for quite a few memorials including The Marine Corps War Memorial, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Korean War Veterans Memorial, and The World War II Memorial. Memorial Day is really about our fallen heroes, and the National Park Service is constantly working to honor them by maintaining and managing our memorials.
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Henry Ford was one of the most ingenious men to grace our country’s history. “Fordism,” his philosophy of bringing inexpensive automobiles to the masses through cost cutting and the assembly line has truly changed the face of world history. It’s amazing to think that ideas that we now take for granted were so revolutionary back then. You can find plenty more on Henry Ford on Wikipedia, but what about The Henry Ford. It’s kind of an odd name for what it is, but it’s a place in Dearborn, MI that includes historic Greenfield Village, the Henry Ford Museum, the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, the Benson Ford Research Center, and The Henry Ford IMAX Theater. It’s something between a museum and an educational center. It’s a non-profit organization, but that doesn’t really tell us much about what it is. I guess that’s why they call it The Henry Ford.
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I bet that you have some friends whom you can listen to for hours – friends who can straight up tell a story. Whenever they speak, people listen. I bet that you also have friends (or quite possibly professors) who can make any story boring, no matter how good the facts of the story actually are. Storytelling is an art, but it’s also a skill that can be learned. It’s essential to making friends, getting internships, and persuading people. Everybody loves a good storyteller, and that’s why StoryCorps, an independent non-profit, is focused on honoring and celebrating people’s lives through listening. Here’s the story on StoryCorps and their internship opportunities.
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After I graduated college, it took me some time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. One of the best ways I spent my “time off” was a trip to Oregon. My girlfriend happened to have a volleyball tournament in Portland, and the Deschutes River in September is prime for steelhead fishing. I put together a trip of 3 days in the Oregon desert, and 2 in the heart of Portland. It was absolutely amazing. Although I didn’t figure things out right away, I found that the Oregon desert is a perfect place to spend some time considering the next step in your life. It’s also an awesome place to be outdoors. The High Desert Museum is located in Bend, OR and it has quite a few internships that will allow you enjoy the desert, get relevant work experience, and ponder your future.
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