Intern Focus - Margot Johnsen - Gammelgården Museum

Intern Focus – Margot Johnsen

Margot Johnsen, one of Gammelgården’s summer interns, worked at the museum from May 20th to August 10th. As a history and theatre major at Smith College, Margot came with a diverse skill set in costume design, dress history, and historical scholarship. She also had archival research experience with the Smith College Historic Clothing Collection.

Margot’s special project for the museum was focused on researching and creating an ensemble of reproduction clothes – including a linen shift, corset, quilted petticoat, white petticoat, and dress – that will be displayed on a mannequin in the Immigrant House. She worked with Hunter Panoch, the museum’s Marketing/P.R. Coordinator, to create a video that will be posted on social media and Gammelgården’s website; and a booklet for use by the tour guides and staff.

She presented her project to Gammelgården’s tour guides on August 2nd so they have a deeper understanding of the clothing worn by women in the mid-1850s.

In addition to her project, Margot photographed 20 bindmössor (frame caps) and 27 kjolsäckar (waist pockets), and scanned two 19th century photo albums. She added all of the photographs and images to the Collective Access database. They are available for anyone to view on MNCollections.org

Another significant part of Margot’s internship was cleaning and restoring 45 textiles from the Pastor’s House. This involved an outdoor set-up and four-step washing station, where she gently cleaned textiles with a diluted vinegar bath and Vulpex, a specialty conservation soap.

Margot had three opportunities to learn from the Midwest Art Conservation Center (MACC):

(1) She attended the Safe Storage: Making Boxes and Mounts for Collections on the first day of her internship.

(2) Brought three bins of textile artifacts that she, Linnea Johnson (who has been working with the collection and CollectiveAccess since May 2024 in addition to managing the Butik), and Ann Rinkenberger (Executive Director) selected for evaluation by MACC’s Textile Conservator.

(3) Took a tour of MACC and was able to talk with the textile, paintings, paper, and objects conservators about the projects they were working on and their careers.

This represents some of the many ways that Margot contributed her skills and knowledge to Gammelgården. Her enthusiasm about textiles, historical research, and restoration work will have a lasting impact on Gammelgården, visitors, volunteers, and staff.

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