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{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
One, side one of an interview of Sharon Reinckens by Eduardo Contreras in June 27, 1996, at the Smithsonian Memory Stand of the 1996 Festival of American Folklife.
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Start by having you state your name.
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{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
Sharon Reinckens
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{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
And when and where were you born?
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{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
I was born in Washington, D.C. January 1951.
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{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
Okay and what is your occupation?
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{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
My job title at the moment is Deputy Director of the Anacostia Museum.
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{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
Okay and when did you come to work at the Smithsonian?
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{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
I came to work at the Smithsonian about 1983.
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{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
And where, what type of work were you doing at that time, or were you somewhere else before?
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{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
Yeah, I worked at, I was working as a designer at a small aviation museum in Quantico, Virginia, installing an exhibition on [?] aviation in the early years.
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{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
And that was part of the Smithsonian--no?
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{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
No.

{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
No?

{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
No, that was like a Defense Department museum that I was working for at the time.
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{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
Okay. And where did you start, when you came to the Smithsonian where was your first position or--?
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{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
I came to the Smithsonian to work at the Anacostia Museum.
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{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
Oh, at the Anacostia Museum. Okay. As a deputy, or--?
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{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
No, I came as a designer.
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{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
Okay.

{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
And I held a lot of other positions since then.
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{SPEAKER name="Eduardo Contreras (interviewer)"}
And do you have any favorite stories about working at the Smithsonian?
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{SPEAKER name="Sharon Reinckens"}
It's been a lot of work! And it was--I've been working with a lot of people.
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I had the opportunity to work with the founding director of the Museum, John Kinard, which was a great learning experience about the power of culture, the purpose of culture, for people.
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And that was a series of learning experiences, watching him negotiate a community museum, find a funding base, and promote his lifework.
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