BETHEL — The Bethel Historical Society will again offer a history internship to a qualified high school student this coming July and August. Applications are available at Telstar Regional High School, Gould Academy, at the society’s main office at 10 Broad St. and online at www.bethelhistorical.org.

The High School History Internship Program was inaugurated in 2007 to provide valuable historical education experiences for qualified students in grades 9-12 in SAD 44 and Gould Academy. Students who are home-schooled or attending school elsewhere, but whose parents are legal residents of SAD 44, are also eligible.

Over an eight-week period, interns participate in a variety of activities, including house museum interpretation, his­torical walking tours, exhibit research and preparation, special event and programming development, and collections management. This educational opportunity, which carries a $1,000 stipend, offers important public history experiences and numerous insights into the preservation and interpretation of local and regional history.

Applicants must be between 14 and 18 years of age, possess a strong interest in learning about local and regional history, and be highly motivated, honest and reliable. A group of local educators will review all applications, select candidates to be interviewed and make a recommendation to the society’s executive director. Applications should be received by Friday, May 24. A decision will be made by June 14, and the internship will run from July 2 through late August.

Bethel midwife discussed

The latest issue of History News, the magazine of the American Association for State and Local History, contains historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s keynote address at the 2012 AASLH Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City. In her presentation, titled “Change Is a Crossroads,” she discusses what she calls “two very humdrum diaries produced by two remarkable mid-wives,” Martha Ballard, born in Oxford, Mass., and who later lived in Hallowell, and Patty Bartlett Sessions, born in Bethel and who later went west as a newly converted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons.

In comparing details of the two women’s lives, Ulrich (who won the Pulitzer Prize for “The Midwife’s Tale”) demonstrates how their writings show both continuity and change in the years between the Revolution and the Civil War. Throughout her talk, Ulrich illustrates how small details can aid in an understanding of “sensational events, national, global events,” to the point where seemingly insignificant details can represent the real drama in a life.

For those interested in learning more about these women, and especially Patty Bartlett Sessions, who was one of three Bethel-born plural wives of the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, the full audio of Ulrich’s address is available at j.mp/UlrichSLC2013.

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