People in the History Field: Director of Interpretation

What is your name, position, and organization you work for?

Janet Dennis, Director of Interpretation, Living History Farms in Urbandale, Iowa

What does your job entail? What do you do on a daily basis?

Generally, I am responsible for hiring, scheduling, training and evaluating historical interpreters, planning/researching/facilitating the implementation of new interpretive programs and events, and interpreting to the public when extra historic interpreters are needed. I also develop budget proposals to be approved by the museum president and then monitor department expenditures for current budget year.

The Collections Registrar and Period Clothing Specialist also currently report to me. I have input in the selection of traveling exhibitions and sometimes assist our registrar in installation of traveling and in-house exhibitions. I serve on the collections and livestock committees, assisting in taking meeting minutes, setting agendas, and writing/compiling drafts of policy for committee approval.

I am a member of the museum senior management team, which means I serve in the daily Manager on Duty rotation (serving as the daily manager contact for visitor issues, maintenance and other requests, and emergency management), make monthly board reports, help in strategic planning, and assist other departments as needed, such as providing planning input for our education department or working fund-raising events with our development team and occasionally making potential donor visits.

A typical day really depends on the season of the year. I am a front line interpreter on event days in period clothing during the June-August period—maybe two to four days a month. In early spring and late fall, as we handle high volume school touring, I am often on site in period clothing 3 days out of five. In the winter program season, I generally work an evening class or program at least once every two weeks and help cover holiday events and education programs. I also give periodic outreach presentations to local adult groups as part of our interpretive programs.

My office days include working on scheduling, budgeting, research and program development. I attend many staff status meetings with front line interpretive site supervisors,as well as administration meetings. I handle customer service communications with guests requesting information or giving feedback to the museum. Periodically during the year, I plan and lead interpretive training meetings for both paid staff and volunteer interpreters. In late summer and fall, I assist site supervisors with their seasonal staff evaluations and then conduct site supervisor performance evaluations.

Do you think you need a degree to get this job? (if so what kind(s)?)

I think a bachelor’s degree, in something-history, business, communications, science, something-- is needed and a museum studies focus can be very helpful. My history and museum studies degrees have been useful in knowing best practices for my field, building research and writing skills, and gaining a foundation in many aspects of museum work.

How did you get started in this line of work?
 I interned as a historical interpreter at the recommendation of my college adviser during my undergraduate college work. That sparked my interest in working in the public history field rather than in a classroom. Professional mentors helped me find a museum studies program to support my interests. I did several more internships that helped me develop contacts, new skills and experiences.

How did others get their start? Are there other ways in?
I really think you have to be willing to put in the time to gather many experiences and network with others. Many co-workers in the interpretation field started out as volunteers or seasonal staff before realizing this is what they wanted to do full time. Some went off to a museum studies program, but others worked to learn from their peers and find other internships for training. A museum studies degree isn't always necessary, but experience is - and that takes time. Seeking out opportunities to volunteer in different museum areas, working as an intern or part-time staffer in museums is a good way to get resume building and skill building done. Attending professional conferences, even local and regional ones, is also a great way to network. This can be expensive for a student of a new professional but there are often scholarships available. I would encourage people not to discount the field experience found in other lines of work; retail, teaching, marketing, all of these areas teach you to work with the public and how to organize program instructions and communicate clearly.

How do you get a job in your position? (What are the steps?) 
I have worked many different positions in my current museum before becoming a department manager. I have been fortunate to be able to internally apply for next level positions as they opened up. I was an intern, a summer seasonal staffer, then a site lead, then a full-time area supervisor, and then director. This happened over the course of about 12 years. I have now been with my current institution for almost 25 years. Museums definitely hire outside of their own internal staff, but, I feel, they really look for candidates with experience in supervising others, training new staff, developing new program ideas.

How do you progress in this line of work?

I was fortunate enough to be able to gradually move up in one institution by demonstrating I could handle new responsibilities. This was a very lucky thing as I was committed to staying in the same city due to family. But in many museums, internal promotion can take a long time as senior management positions don’t open up quickly. To move through the ranks faster, I think a young staffer needs to be willing to move around to where the jobs are. Before coming to work in the Des Moines area, I worked in several other cities and types of museums, moving to be able to take positions that would build experience for me. I worked at a children’s science museum as a gallery program leader for two years, before coming to Des Moines. Even though my long term plan was to work in history, science was where I found a starting job. I made A LOT of bubbles and did a lot of programs on magnets before I was able to switch to a history museum. In that time, I learned how to work with community partners, how to program for traveling exhibits and curriculum trends and how to engage with small children—I had not really worked with toddlers before. My manager at the science museum was a fantastic teacher and I credit many of my programming skills to her leadership. It was worth the time to work out of my field to learn future skills.

Why do you like this position? What are the benefits? Are these typical?
I like this position because it has so many varied duties. I still am able to work with the public in period clothing, but I also have the research and development aspects of creating new programming. I enjoy training new interpreters and working with many different types of staff, in my own department and across the museum. New ideas and new creative energy come from these relationships. Because my institution is a relatively small staff, departments work with each other. I have an opportunity to support the marketing team, the maintenance team, collections, and education teams. I think this helps break down department silos. In a larger institution, I am not sure this collaboration exists to this degree.

What do you not like about this position? What are some of the drawbacks? Are these typical?  
The challenge of my position is similar to any middle management position. There are always too many work projects that are constantly on deadlines and not enough hours in the day to get them done. Budgets in the museum field are tight and it’s necessary to constantly make tough prioritizing decisions about expenses. I think that is typical everywhere, regardless of museum size and department.

And much of the time, I am working on the logistics of managing current programs—schedules, budgets, staff evaluation, not researching or creating new dynamic history programming. As a manager responsible for staffing, I often get calls on my “days off” to cover for staffers out sick or to address sudden changes in programming resources, etc. I think that both of those challenges are typical. If you manage people, you have to put in the logistical time and deal with personality conflicts. I do still work some evenings, some holidays and many weekends—it’s not a set M-F kind of thing. Most of the time, I actually like that, but for someone else who wants every Sunday off, it might not be their cup of tea. 

Is this a rapidly growing field? Is it possible to predict future needs for workers in this field?
There are many industry studies tracking tourism and museum growth trends. The trends currently talk about the changes in corporate giving and the difficulties historic house museums, especially, have in attracting new visitors. While there are a great many museums nationwide, the funding to support the museum work force is a constant challenge. There will always be a need for curators and museum educators, but most of the positions are not glamorous and certainly most do not have salaries to compare with a for-profit corporation. Someone going into this field needs to realize they have to be in it for their own personal love of the work, not for the "fortune and glory." 

"Knowing what I know now, I would do something differently"? What would you do?
I would break down and take an accounting course. And I would have tried to work in more internships with varied museums or be more active in professional organizations. I'm an introvert (yes, really) and networking conferences are pretty challenging for my personality - but they are really useful.

What would be the best thing you could suggest to someone if they want to be a historic site interpretive program manager?
Be willing to gather field experience and commit to the long haul. It may take time to find a permanent position in your perfect place. Be patient and keep at it. When needed, be willing to work other jobs to support your passion. I held a part-time retail job for several years to supplement my income until I was promoted to full-time at the museum. To me, it was worth balancing the two to continue doing what I loved.

Is this a position that you would recommend to others as a line of work to get into? 
If you like helping people discover connections to the past, if you enjoy being flexible and creative, and feel your satisfaction in seeing the work completed well will outweigh the need for a six figure salary, I would definitely recommend it. I enjoy my work and feel I am giving something back to the community. I am adequately compensated for my efforts based on the cost of living in Des Moines and local industry standards. My co-workers care about what they do and are inspiring to work alongside. On my front line program days, I get to dress up in carefully crafted period dress, feed chickens, and work with wood stoves or other historic machinery and I actually get to see the outside. I get to see people's eyes light up when they really engage with the program or historic resource. Office days can be just as rewarding when I am able to solve program challenges, support new staff, and feel like I am contributing to moving the museum forward.

Thanks for sharing Janet! You can check out Living History Farms at their website here!