N. Trent Chamberlain 2025 Spring Internship

 Hello, readers! Welcome back for my week six update on my summer internship at the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center (BVMC). This week was a little different, as I had a brief training session on 3D scanning with Dr. Giroux at the University of Central Florida. Unfortunately, our time was cut short due to some technical difficulties with the equipment. I also spent some time this week creating a write-up to accompany the 3D models of the trench art we scanned last week. You can read that description below. "The practice of creating trench art is as old as military conflict itself, but it was World War I that truly defined it, giving the pastime its name and, through technological change, its most classic material, the brass cartridge. Later, the mechanized nature of World War II provided soldiers with greater access to the tools and materials needed to produce these items in greater variety and quantity. Servicemembers transformed materials like spent artillery shells, bullets, an...

Hello, readers! Welcome back for the week five update of my summer internship at the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center (BVMC). After a quick detour last week at CHDR( Center for Humanities and Digital Research), I was excited to get back to the museum and apply some of the new techniques I learned. This week, Eric and I dove headfirst into the 3D modeling of some of the artifacts housed within the museum. We started with  trench art from World War I and World War II. For those unfamiliar with it, trench art refers to decorative items made by soldiers, prisoners of war, or civilians from various military weapons, in this case used artillery shells. E Our process began with meticulously photographing these intricate objects. Eric then used a specialized software called Agisoft Metashape to stitch the high-resolution images together, creating highly detailed and accurate 3D models. It is a tedious process of taking pictures on a rotating turntable every few seconds, but we hope that th...

  Hello readers!This fourth week of my internship took a slightly different path. Instead of my usual schedule with Eric at the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center, I had the opportunity to attend a special training session at the University of Central Florida's Center for Humanities and Digital Research (CHDR). The training was led by UCF graduate student Sarah Boye, who guided us through some of the incredible digital tools available at the center. We received hands-on training with their large-scale Titan scanner, a powerful scanner capable of creating incredibly detailed digital reproductions of paper documents. The scanner was detailed enough that we could see the exact penstrokes on the postcards we scanned. We also learned how to operate smaller, more portable scanners, which are essential for a community focused initiative called a  History Harvest. I learned that a History Harvest is an event where community members can bring in their personal artifacts to be professiona...

  Hello, readers! Welcome back for another update on my summer internship at the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center (BVMC). Summer is in full swing, and we've had another busy week exploring the possibilities of 3D digitization within the museum. Following our work photographing the outdoor monuments, this week Eric and I had the opportunity to walk through the interior of the museum. Our main goal was to thoughtfully curate a list of artifacts that would be prime candidates for 3D digitization. It was fascinating to move through the exhibits, not just as a visitor, but with the specific purpose of identifying items whose stories could be enhanced and made more accessible through this technology. We saw a wide array of compelling objects, from personal items donated by veterans to larger pieces of military equipment. Each piece tells a powerful story, and the challenge lies in selecting those that will translate best into a 3D model and offer significant educational value. We were lo...

 Hello again, readers! Another week has flown by at the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center (BVMC), and it's been a productive one, despite the notorious Florida heat! This week, Eric and I braved the summer heat to photograph some of the incredible monuments that grace the center's grounds. The goal is to begin creating 3D models of these important historical markers. It was a lot of careful positioning and snapping hundreds of photos to make sure we had everything we needed to start modeling. Beyond our outdoor photography expedition, we also spoke with representatives from the museum. We talked about which objects inside the center would be ideal candidates for our 3D digitization project. It's exciting to think about bringing some of these incredible artifacts to life in a way that will be viewable online to more people At home I had some additional work to start the modeling process. I spent time uploading all the photographs we took and then started experimenting with th...

 Hello, readers! I'm excited to share the details of my upcoming summer internship at the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center (BVMC). Following my previous internship experience, I'm looking forward to a new opportunity to work in public history, this time focusing on a different aspect of preserving military history. This summer, I'll be working alongside Eric, a grad student from UCF, and Paul, a staff member at the BVMC whom I had the pleasure of taking a World War II class with last semester. It's great to be collaborating with both familiar and new faces in this endeavor. The main focus of my internship will be on learning and utilizing new 3D digitization tools. Eric and I will be working together to create 3D mappings of some of the exhibits at the center. This hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology is something I'm particularly eager to dive into. Among the exhibits we'll be working with, I'm most looking forward to mapping a Vietnam-era helic...