This post is part of our Internship Spotlight series. For this installment, Emma Blankenship (’27) tells us about her internship experience at the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington.
Can you provide a brief introduction of yourself, what you did, and what you were looking to accomplish with this specific internship opportunity? Additionally, what did you bring to the table that your host site was looking for?
I am a first-year Museology student with a B.A. in History from Indiana University. During my undergraduate studies, I focused primarily on Asian American history, so working with the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington (JCCCW) in Seattle has been incredibly meaningful for me both academically and personally.
My internship centers on archival research and exhibition development focused on Nisei youth in prewar Seattle. One of the most rewarding parts of this experience has been spending time in the archives, looking through photographs, documents, and community records that capture everyday life within Seattle’s Japanese American community. Seeing this history firsthand has been incredibly powerful it really shows how much dedication, resilience, and collective effort went into building and sustaining these community institutions over the past century.
I have been working closely with the curator, Mads (Museology alumni), who has been an amazing mentor throughout this process. Under their guidance, I have been helping research and identify stories within the archives that could help fill gaps in the historical narrative surrounding Nisei youth. Many of these stories highlight how foundational young people were to the development of the Japanese American community in Seattle.
What makes this internship especially meaningful is that JCCCW is truly a grassroots, community-centered institution. The museum exists for the community and because of the community. Being able to work with archival materials that reflect over 100 years of community organizing, cultural preservation, and resilience has been incredibly inspiring. It is a reminder of how important it is to preserve history and continue sharing these stories so they are not lost.
In terms of what I bring to the table, I think my strongest contribution is my passion for historical research and my background in Asian American history. I really enjoy digging through archival materials and piecing together historical narratives, especially when those stories help highlight the experiences of communities whose histories have often been overlooked.
In interning with your host site, did you feel like your contributions led to a tangible, sustainable, or positive impact?
It is sometimes difficult to know whether my contributions will lead to a tangible or lasting impact, but I hope that the research I am doing helps contribute in some way to filling historical gaps within the archives.
One area I am particularly interested in exploring further is Nisei women’s history in Seattle. Much of the historical narrative around Nisei youth often focuses on men, especially through sports and public leadership roles. However, there are many untold stories about the experiences and contributions of Nisei women within the community. If my research can help bring more visibility to those stories and broaden how we understand Japanese American history in Seattle, I would consider that a meaningful contribution.
More broadly, I hope that by contributing to exhibition planning and archival research, I am helping ensure that the histories of Issei immigrants, Nisei youth, and later generations continue to be preserved and shared with future visitors.
In what ways did your internship unexpectedly challenge you? How did you overcome that?
One unexpected challenge was having a great deal of independence in deciding what to research. While this freedom has been incredibly rewarding, it also requires a lot of self-direction and accountability.
Without someone telling me exactly what to focus on, I had to learn how to develop my own research questions and figure out where the most important historical gaps might be. This pushed me to be more proactive with my research and to think more critically about how archival materials can be used to tell meaningful stories.
Over time, I learned to approach the archives more strategically taking detailed notes, identifying themes across materials, and thinking about how individual documents or photographs might contribute to a larger historical narrative or exhibition concept.
How did this internship help you narrow down what you would like to do in your career?
This internship helped me realize that I want to work in spaces where I feel like the work truly matters to a community.
Working with JCCCW has shown me how powerful community-centered museums can be. The work being done there is not just about preserving artifacts, it is about preserving identity, memory, and cultural continuity for a community that has faced significant historical challenges.
Being able to see how the community engages with the museum and how the archives help tell their collective story has made me realize that I want to pursue a career that centers community impact. Ideally, I would love to continue working in museums or cultural institutions that serve and collaborate closely with the communities whose histories they represent.
In what ways did your classes prepare you for your internship?
The community engagement course helped me understand how museums can work collaboratively with communities rather than simply presenting history about them. That perspective has been incredibly relevant in my work at JCCCW, where the museum’s mission is deeply tied to serving and supporting the Japanese American community.