Cecilia Grace La Puma

My name is Cece, and I am a senior studying international relations. I was placed at Vabamu, Museum of Freedom and Occupations as an intern this past summer, and it was genuinely one of the best summers of my life. Not only was I able to live in the vibrant community that is Tallinn, Estonia, but I was also able to explore museum work and, ultimately, realize that it’s something I want to pursue as a career. 

While at Vabamu, I got to work with almost every department, including collections, marketing, curation, and visitor experience/tour guiding. One of my favorite parts of the internship was working with the collections department because while we were working to preserve objects, we were able to hold history in our gloved hands! 

The photo attached is from my work in the collections where I was working to preserve soviet-era resistance documents. These thin, delicate documents had to be first printed by Estonian ex-pats in Sweden and then surreptitiously snuck into Estonia to spread the truth about unfair trials and treatment of Estonian people under Soviet rule and to stir up resistance. These papers to me represent the courage and tenacity of the Estonian people that even under oppressive Soviet rule and censorship, they were still able to find ways to resist. It was through this internship that I was able to come in contact with amazing artifacts such as these, and the stories behind them. 

Thank you again for your generous support that made this possible!