The Iowa Historian is a monthly publication of the State Historical Society of Iowa. If you would like to subscribe, please send us a blank e-mail.
A World of Choices
Michael
Smith, chief curator of the State Historical Museum recently made a presentation
to a group of 4th, 5th and 6th graders as part of “A World of Choices,”
hosted by the West Des Moines Extended Learning staff.
Smith talked about the nature of his work: putting together exhibits, researching Iowa history, giving tours and answering many, many, many questions every day. He was quite happily surprised, then, when he received a large envelope full of thank you cards from the students who listened to him talk.
Some of the letters included the following:
Dear Mr. Smith,
Thank you for sharing with us about your job! You have a cool job and I’m
glad you took time out of your time to tell us about it! You rock! You rock!
Mr. Smith,
I can’t believe you have one of the original Darth Vader helmets! Your job
sounds so cool and fun. I learned so much from you. It was very interesting. Please
come back next year.
–Brian W., Jordan Creek Elementary
Dear Mr. Smith,
I really enjoyed your presentation at the World of Choices. Thank you for coming!
I never knew that there was such (a) job as a curator. If I were a curator, I
think it would be fun to collect movie props. I would mainly collect Harry Potter
props.
-Natasha
Dear Mr. Smith,
Thank you for coming to World of Choices to share about your job. I had no idea
what a curator was until now. I think being a curator would be fun because I can
spend a long time organizing (my) room or desk a certain way, and organizing a
museum would be even better!
-Rachael W.
