Sarah Coffman: Share a bit about your academic background.

Weronika Grajdura: I'm from Niles, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.  I grew up there, but I was originally born in Poland and my family immigrated when I was a baby.

I completed my undergraduate degree in history and anthropology with a minor in art history at Saint Louis University. At first, I was first really interested in going into art conservation because I really liked art and visual culture, but I pivoted to be more history focused. My interest in historic art conservation eventually led me to museum studies and the professional path that I'm pursuing right now. This May, I graduated from Villanova University with my master’s in history. 

SC: How did you get into history? What history interests you?

WG: I've always enjoyed history. As a child, I liked watching historical movies with my dad. I also enjoyed taking history classes in school. My AP history classes in high school were very engaging. That's when I first started to think about history as a potential career. 

The stories of everyday people experiencing extraordinary events were very fascinating to me. Coming from an immigrant background led me to research a lot of immigrant history, specifically focusing on identity formation in Polish American communities. I am also very interested in archaeology and material culture and examining how immigrant life manifests in different ways.

SC: What other experiences have you had in museums? 

WG: Throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies, I've had several different internships in museums and have been part of several different public history projects. I was an undergrad intern at the Saint Louis University Museum of Art. That was a great starting point for me, because I got to learn about the basics of how museums function on a day-to-day basis. I also spent a summer as an undergraduate fellow at Historic Deerfield in western Massachusetts, where I attended lectures and completed research on the town’s Polish community. That was also where I started gaining interest in material culture studies and local histories. Most recently, I was a graduate assistant on the Last Seen Project, a digital archive of advertisements placed by formerly enslaved people searching for their separated friends and family members after the Civil War. Projects like these have played a big role in how I approach historical research and consider how to bring history to wider audiences, both in museum settings and but also through digital projects.

It’s important to me to make historical information accessible to people and to find new creative ways to make people care about history. It's unfortunately somewhat easy to go to a museum and leave after an hour because you get bored with staring at the text panels. My previous experiences have made me think a lot about engagement within and outside of museum settings. As I start my career in public history, I hope to continue to make history fun and accessible to people of all backgrounds.

SC: What are you working on right now at the museum? 

WG: With my interest in Polish American history, I am working to expand research on Roebling’s small Polish community. I'm also completing research on the different religious institutions in the town to see how they contributed to day-to-day life and what roles they played within the community.

SC: What's your favorite part about your internship so far?

WG: Definitely the community and the staff! The office is a very lively environment. Every single day, I get to meet new people, whether it's local residents, volunteers, or board members and I get to learn about what draws them to Roebling. That close-knit community is one of the things that make this place so special. 

SC: What do you like to do for fun?

WG: Since I'm new to the East Coast, I like exploring new neighborhoods and going on walks. I like going to local coffee shops and farmers markets and seeing what different communities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have to offer. I also enjoy reading, shopping at local bookstores, and participating in different book clubs in Philly. Connecting to my culture is also important to me, and food is the best way to do that! I already love to cook but I’m learning more about cooking Polish dishes.