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Museum of the Bible intern plays role in Passover history exhibit

Cloe Medrano at the opening of the Museum of the Bible exhibition in February

As an intern at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., Liberty University graduate student Cloe Medrano has seen firsthand what it takes to be a museum registrar and make fascinating artifacts available to the public to view.

Medrano, originally from California, came to Liberty after earning her undergraduate degree in European history with a minor in museum and gallery methods. She said the opportunity to do an internship at a national museum as part of Liberty’s Washington Fellowship is what attracted her to the M.A. in History program.

Medrano said her experience at the Museum of the Bible has enhanced her perspective of the many ways that Christianity shapes various part of life.

“Working at an institution that showcases the history of the Bible and its influences on the human story is rewarding,” she said. “Working beside co-workers who come from all walks of life brings a new understanding of how museums are perceived for everyone. For my faith, I love being able to see how Christianity has shaped everyday life such as music, fashion, and literature; it brings a better understanding to the Christian story.”

Medrano has spent much of her time in Washington working with one of the Museum of the Bible’s latest exhibits, With a Mighty Hand: The Art and History of the Passover Haggadah, which opened on Feb. 27 and was scheduled through May 15. The exhibit showcases different Haggadahs (the guidebook for the Jewish Seder, the ceremonial meal that starts the first two nights of Passover) from the past 500 years. The books often included beautiful illustrations. (The museum is temporarily closed due to COVID-19 but the exhibit may be extended once the museum is allowed to open).

“The Haggadah translates to ‘telling’ in Hebrew, and is the story of Exodus and the guide to the Passover Seder,” Medrano explained. “The Haggadah is more than a story and includes various prayers, songs, rituals, and how the Seder should be performed. Visitors to the exhibit can learn more about the tradition of Passover for the Jewish culture.”

She said one of her favorite parts of the exhibit are the Christian influences that appear in the book’s images.

Medrano points out one of the artifacts in the exhibit that came from a Holocaust survivor.

“In the Jewish tradition it was uncommon for there to be images in the text. However, once western European printers started printing the Haggadah, they took images from Christian manuscripts.”

Medrano was mentored by curators from Ets Haim Library & Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from which many of the Haggadahs are on loan, as she worked with the professionals to set up the exhibit. The library is the oldest still functioning Jewish library.

“I was able to see firsthand what it takes to be a curator and all that goes into an exhibit from the behind-the-scenes to the finished exhibit visitors enjoy,” Medrano said.

Medrano said one of her favorite exhibitions is The People of the Land: History and Archaeology of Ancient Israel because of her interest in the artifacts of late antiquity. She particularly loves the coin collections because they represented what the empire was experiencing. “It’s bringing what I have learned from books to real life,” she said.

Even though the museum is currently closed, Medrano has continued her work remotely and is conducting research for future exhibits. One of the projects she is currently working on is an exhibition for the 400th Anniversary of the Mayflower.

She said her love for working in museums started when she interned at the Charles Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa, Calif. She said she likes the fact that the job is “never the same thing every day” and, while there are consistent tasks, “there is something new about working with different people, pieces, and artifacts.”

Medrano said her time at Liberty and in Washington “has confirmed my love of working in museums, and I know it’s where I’m supposed to be.”

She will graduate in May but is staying in Washington, D.C., for the summer interning at the Smithsonian, where she will help create documentation for the human resources department and gain experience in working with a different business aspect of the museum environment.

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