Hi.
I’m Chelsea.
As you can perhaps see from my brief little bio up there, my life is seemingly disparate, but weirdly interconnected.
Let me explain:
Vocalist.
When people ask me what I do, my answer depends on who is asking. Most commonly, I tell people that I sing for a living—because I do. I went to Temple and received my Bachelors in Music, double majoring in Jazz Vocal Performance and American Studies. Throughout college, I served and sang at a supper club on Walnut Street until I finally had enough non-cocktail related singing gigs to stop waiting tables. I tour the country playing for swing dancers about five weeks of every year in a minivan with these lovely gentlemen pictured below and have recorded three albums in the past four years. Also, if someone in your family got married in Philadelphia, there is a 60% chance I sang Signed, Sealed, Delivered at it.
Historian.
However, I began singing jazz because of a love for history. One book report on an Ella Fitzgerald biography in 4th grade launched me into a lifelong obsession with jazz music and its stories, and I strongly believe that every jazz musician fancies themselves an amateur historian. The entire culture of musicians rests upon a never ending search for the stories behind songs, venues, and musicians, and more importantly, the telling of those stories to other people on and off the bandstand. My love for history pushed me to get a double major in American Studies and eventually to spend my limited free time at unpaid internships in museums throughout the city. Currently, I am in my last semester at Temple University to obtain my Masters in Public History.
Educator.
People associate museum work with the terms “curator” or “librarian” or “archivist,” but they have probably never heard of museum education. I mean, I hadn’t before I fell into it. I randomly began my internship life in Museum Education departments and fell madly in love with informal education. I have created scavenger hunts in historic cemeteries, led farm tours for students in 18th century attire, crafted digital walking tours about Reconstruction Era Philadelphia, and currently, I get to help plan National History Day in Philadelphia for over 500 students. I love being a part of the community of museum educators in Philadelphia, but I also think there are systemic inequalities in what audiences we serve and why—which brings me to my next point:
The Caucus of Working Educators is a group within the Philadelphia Teachers' Union fighting to transform the school district's educational model to be more student and teacher centered.
Activist.
Museums claim to be spaces for public history, but they often only cater to a specific public. To combat this, we need more inclusive programming, both in content and in cost. In Philadelphia, we have so few spaces dedicated to African American history, but that in no way means that the city lacks those spaces. They exist, but they go unrecognized. To that end, I am writing a thesis that highlights some of those spaces by creating intersectional and interdisciplinary lesson plans about jazz history in Philadelphia. Working with the Caucus of Working Educators and the Teacher Action Group, I am trying to craft a thesis that will be useful beyond just obtaining a degree. As promised, all these different aspects of my life intertwine, but it’s hard to sum up in one sentence.
So, now that you know about me, it shouldn’t be a surprise that my @phillyhistory posts will be mainly musical in nature. Even though my research revolves around the Civil Rights Era, I’m excited to #explore1918!
100% of the SBD rewards from this #philly5151 post will support the Philadelphia History initiative @phillyhistory. This crypto-experiment is part of a graduate course at Temple University's Center for Public History and is exploring history and empowering education to endow meaning. To learn more click here.