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Collected Item: “Lucinda Hemmick Oral History, 2022/02/08”

Title

Lucinda Hemmick

Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.

Kit Heintzman

Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.

Lucinda Hemmick

Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.

kheintzman@gmail.com

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#education, #educator, #fundraising, #highschool, #history, #jingledress, #LongIsland, #mandates, #mask, #medicine, #museum, #NativeAmericans, #NewYork, #normalcy, #onlineteaching, #overreaction, #safe, #school, #socialmedia, #teacher

What is the format of your recording?

Video

In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.

Long Island, NY

What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*

Female

What is the age of the interviewee?

55 to 64

How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*

Caucasian

Describe the oral history.

Self description:
“My name is Lucinda Hemmick and I’m the President of the Southold Indian Museum, which is a chapter of the New York State Archaeological Association. The museum is owned by the chapter and it’s located in Southold New York. I am the museum President, but I am also a high school science research teacher. So I do always have an agenda and that’s going to come out in this interview.”

Some of the things we discussed include:

First learning about the Southold Indian Museum through teaching students science, becoming interested in its research, and becoming the museum’s president.
New York State requirements around Native American content in curriculum.
Museum losing foot traffic during the pandemic; ongoing research at the museum throughout COVID.
Public science, science education.
Working as a highschool chemistry teacher.
Early preparation in 2020 to bring teachers online while watching other schools in different parts of the USA shut down; comparisons between online and in person teaching.
Feeling safe, wanting an end to restrictions, and a return to normalcy.
Social media messaging.
Comparing shutdowns in the school and shutdowns at museums.
Digitizing archival materials.
Preparing the museum for reopening, new exhibits.
How liability impacts the museum’s decision to reopen.
Mental illness in teenagers, observing depression in students online and offline.
Having a high risk aversion threshold.
Gain of function research in virology.
Comparing New York’s policy to the policies of neighboring states.
Choice and masking.

Other cultural references include: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Spanish Flu

See also:
http://www.southoldindianmuseum.com
https://www.longislandhistoryproject.org/lucinda-hemmick-and-the-southold-indian-museum/
http://longwood.k12.ny.us/district_news/teacher_coauthors_article_in_science_publication

On what date did you record this oral history?

2022-02-08T18:16
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