Table of Contents Introduction --------------- Page: 2 Record of Activities --------------- Page: 5 Learning Plan --------------- Page: 7 Narrative --------------- Page: 9 Sample Work --------------- Page: 11 Evaluations ---------------- Page: 13 Coursework Connections ---------------- Page: 14 Reflection and Conclusion ---------------- Page: 16 Journal Entries ---------------- Page: 19 Exhibit Numbers Email to Archives Organization ------------------ 1 Midterm Evaluation ------------------ 2 End of the Semester Evaluation ------------------ 3 Email conversation with Bill Hitchcock ------------------ 4 Letter to Mike Gibson regarding a work assignment ------------------ 5 Art Inventory ------------------ 6 Lorian Newspaper Index, Overall Subject Listing ------------------ 7 Lorian Newspaper Index, Topic Listing ------------------ 8 1776 Indenture Photocopy ------------------ 9 1
Transcript
Table of Contents
Introduction --------------- Page: 2 Record of Activities --------------- Page: 5 Learning Plan --------------- Page: 7 Narrative --------------- Page: 9 Sample Work --------------- Page: 11 Evaluations ---------------- Page: 13 Coursework Connections ---------------- Page: 14 Reflection and Conclusion ---------------- Page: 16 Journal Entries ---------------- Page: 19
Exhibit Numbers
Email to Archives Organization ------------------ 1 Midterm Evaluation ------------------ 2
End of the Semester Evaluation ------------------ 3 Email conversation with Bill Hitchcock ------------------ 4 Letter to Mike Gibson regarding a work assignment ------------------ 5 Art Inventory ------------------ 6 Lorian Newspaper Index, Overall Subject Listing ------------------ 7 Lorian Newspaper Index, Topic Listing ------------------ 8 1776 Indenture Photocopy ------------------ 9 1776 Translation ------------------ 10 Journal Entries ------------------ 11 Official Job Description ------------------ 12 Cover Letter and Resume ------------------ 13 Learning Plan rough draft with comments ------------------ 14 Final Learning Plan ----------------- 15 New Resume ----------------- 16
1
Introduction
The Dubuque Center of History internship interested me for a number of reasons. First, I
know that over 80% of students who leave colleges in the United States leave with an
internship. Since I am a history major, I figured that this particular internship would keep me
competitive with my peers while stimulating my interest in history. Another reason why I
wanted this internship was because I have been thinking about graduate school a lot; however I
am not sure if it would be more advantages to go into Archival Administration, Archeology, or
History. This internship definitely was helpful in that it gave me a better understanding of my
purpose in society.
This is a selection from the official job description for the internship:
“The Center for Dubuque History at Loras College was established in 1976. The purpose of the Center is to provide leadership and direction to faculty, students, and the public in the systematic study of local and regional history. The general objectives include: (a) to collect, organize and provide materials for research to interested groups and individuals (b) to conduct research of local interest; (c) to publish studies of local interest and (d) to offer special course, workshops and lectures and other forms of instruction for those interested. The CDH internship program provides an on-campus opportunity for students to experience working in an archive.
Interns will learn what an archivist does, the basics of how an archive operates and gain understanding of possible alternative career choices for lovers of history. Interns will better understand how to perform historical research utilizing primary and secondary sources in the archival collections. They will gain an appreciation for the role of an archive in the scheme of historical studies.”1
1 See Exhibit # 12, “Official Job Description”.
2
The interview process was not stressful. I knew going into the process that I would be
accepted based on my previous volunteer service at the Dubuque Center of History.2 I also
knew that it does not cost the center any money to have interns. The most difficult and
important part was creating my resume. I took my resume to the Writing Center what seemed
to be about a dozen times and finally made it seemingly perfect. I sincerely hope that I will be
able to take a fraction of what I learned from creating my resume with the help of the Writing
Center.3
My work responsibilities consisted of mostly keeping archival records up to date. I did
this through the catalogue as well as through the Art Inventory Project.4 I also had to manage
the patrons that came in and assist them with their requests. Lastly, it should go without saying
that I had to keep a professional manner in regards to helping patrons and in regards to
protecting the integrity of the Center of Dubuque History
There were predominantly two people I was in contact with. These persons were: Mike
Gibson who was my supervisor and Tarry Grant who works with Mike but is in charge of
photographs. Most of the other people who I was in contact with were that of the general
public. The layout of the “office” is very unique. There is the archive itself, but then next to it is
the “Archive’s Processing” room where materials are recorded and sorted before entering the
archive. Outside these rooms are a few tables for people to work and microfilm and obituaries.
2 See Exhibit # 4, “Email conversation with Bill Hitchcock”. This exhibit relates to my previous volunteer project where I was working on establishing a website for the center to help both the archival administration of the center run more effectively but also patrons who visit the center. This project alone involved over 12 hours of time spent. While the internet site is still not up and running I have gotten as evidence through the email several faculty who are willing to assist the center. 3 See Exhibit # 13, “Cover Letter and Resume”.4 See Exhibit # 6, “Art Inventory”.
3
I usually worked outside of the processing room and so that I could be most available to assist
the public.
Some useful job site information includes:
Location: Center of Dubuque History, at the Academic Resource
There are several supporting important pieces of work that showcase the completion of
the learning plan and its objectives. The first objective is “to become knowledgeable and
understand basic archive administration.” The second objective was “use the skills and
knowledge to create the Lorian index” and could be shown through the following evidence of
support:
The email written to Archivists.org.13 This is significant because it shows one of
my recourses that I used to create The Lorian newspaper index. Also, it shows
critical thinking and openness to constructive criticism and openness for
learning. This relates back to the objective because indexes and organization is
extremely important for archives and this newspaper index will be just as
important when finished. This also directly relates to the second objective,
because its subject is the Lorian newspaper index
The Lorain newspaper index its self is a good amount of work that shows not
only dedication and determination but the fulfillment of both objectives because
of the amount of planning that went into it but also because of the end
product.14 15
13 See Exhibit 1, “Email to Archivist Organization”.14 See Exhibit 7, “Overall Subject Listing”.15 See Exhibit 8, “Newspaper Index Topic Listing”.
11
The Art Inventory took a lot of time while at the internship.16 While placing
together this intensive inventory I learned a lot of first hand indexing skills as
well as brushed up on Microsoft Excel and the application of computer
technology to the workplace and especially that of archiving.
The email and research for John Thompson.17 Is a prime example of helping
patrons, something that I did on a daily basis at the Center of Dubuque History
and is a good example of an inquiry that a patron would request an answer to.
The 1776 Indenture is an English legal document that’s housed in the Special
Collection’s Room at Loras College.18 Under an agreement with my supervisor I
was able to assist the faculty member who volunteers at the Collection’s Room
to transpose this document in efforts to encourage others to use the room.19 This
is an example of stewardship with that archival administration, and further
evidence of work supportive to accomplishing the stated objectives of my
internship
16 See Exhibit 6, “Art Inventory”.17 See Exhibit 5, “Letter to Mike Gibson regarding a work assignment”.18 See Exhibit 9, “1776 Indenture Photocopy”.19 See Exhibit 10, “1776 Translation”.
12
Evaluations
There were two written evaluations that were done while interning. The first evaluation
occurred at midterm Spring semester 2009.20 The second evaluation happened on May 12, 2009
and was a capstone evaluation of the whole semester.21 Both of these evaluations were done
by my supervisor and discussed over with myself and I think they reflect a far and accurate
account of my work. The evaluations will be talked more later, as well as other aspects of the
internship in the conclusion.
20 See Exhibit 2, “Midterm Evaluation”.21 See Exhibit 3, “End of the Semester Evaluation”.
13
Coursework Connections
My experiences while doing the internship at the Center for Dubuque History directly
relate to my classroom experiences. I have used the Center for Dubuque History for several
Loras papers and projects, for example: just this semester I spent a large amount of time
researching the Civil War life in Dubuque. Also, I have used the center as I have mentioned
earlier for my own research projects.
However, one of the aspects of the internship that relates to the traditional classroom is
the critical thinking. As I noted on in my journal on 2.4.09 – I had to “look up "Bill Thinnes” in
the Purgold for the Hall of Fame award….my conclusion of him being not significant comes from
the lack of Lorian articles where he is mentioned. Logically, the more Lorian articles about an
athlete, the better or at least the more newsworthy he or she would be.” 22 I used critical
thinking to come to that conclusion and assessment. This would be the same critical thinking
found in the classroom. I used critical thinking every time a task was asked of me regardless of
the topic and regardless if it was in regards to a patron or supervisor. Every time a patron asked
a genealogy question or any question relating to the center, it was my job to find out the
answer, and if I could not, to find them my supervisor.
Another few areas where the classroom and the internship fell in unison was
through the importance of clear communication. Obviously, if I could not communicate, I would
have been ineffective in my position. Organization and attention to detail is another topic
where the classroom and internship coincide – a perfect example would be trying to write a
long research historical paper. Without research, the paper will not come together right, a
22 Journal Entry, 2.04.09
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situation similar to that would have been when Mike Gibson told me he saw an issue with the
dates, “noticed an error with the dates. I labeled the Lorian by: Volume #, Issue #, Page #.
Mike thinks that this might cause too much confusion with the researcher and recommends a
change to: Year, Day, Page #.” If I had paid more attention during that time to what I was
doing, then I would not have needed to restart the newspaper index.23
23 Journal Entry, 5.11.09
15
Reflection and Conclusion
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - Chinese Proverb
I started a journey out of curiosity when I started to intern for the Dubuque Center of
History. I was motivated to take part because I felt a need to stay competitive with other
students who were leaving their undergrad with an internship. Furthermore, I was motivated in
this internship as a tool to hopefully decipher a possible carrier path and graduate educational
path.
While participating in this internship I have seen many positives as well as negatives to
the archival line of work. A positive of archival work from my point of view is being literally a
foot away from history. Furthermore, I enjoyed the patrons that came in – they are a rare breed
of people who enjoy history almost as much as me and many of them are extremely nice and
understanding when it comes to waiting. On the other side, I disliked many of the monotonous
activities that I undertook (art inventory, filing obituaries, and newspaper index) as they were
repetitive and boring.
This internship has prepared me for the working world, in that I know that I would
dislike a conventional office setting. I have inconsistent sleeping patterns which makes me more
prone to working individually with projects or assignments. I also have a high amount of
boredom steaming from my Aspergers Disorder, meaning that if I am interested in what I am
doing its extremely hard to get the task accomplished, however the opposite is true where if I
am interested in something it will consume me so that that’s all I want to be doing. Needless to
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say not all of archive work is the glimmer of researching that I like, most of it is record keeping
and indexing so I found it very hard for me to focus myself.
My supervisor was fair. Gibson rated myself accurately and commented accordingly. As I
have mentioned numerous times previously, Gibson stated that I accomplished a majority of
my learning objectives and that I was very helpful and enthusiastic. I thought it was interesting
how he stated in the second evaluation that I set my goals too high and would get very
disappointed in myself if they were not met. I have not really noticed that before however, I
agree with it after looking back to various times when I was disappointed. Mike often would tell
me to slow down and that its quality of work he wants and while understanding that I met the
learning objectives and my boss was pleased at my work I still can’t help being slightly
disappointed because I did not accomplish as much as I had hoped.
Overall as I have touched on slightly in the above paragraphs I feel that archive work
would not be something that I would in the long term enjoy. I enjoy being in the archives. I very
much like researching and helping people research using the archives. But, I dislike inventory
work and indexing. I understand and use indexes a lot but putting them together was insanely
boring and is an example of the tedious work that goes into the upkeep of a good archive.
However, by doing this internship and working on indexing and archival management I have
gained more of an appreciation of archives then I already had.
The Center for Dubuque History internship in my opinion is a great asset for not only the
Center and the community but also for the Loras College student. This internship encourages
“active learning, reflective thinking, ethical decision makers and responsible contributors” and
17
by taking in these dispositions I have met my learning objectives for this internship. This
internship expands into “active learning” though its hands on experience. “Reflective thinking”
was used while journaling and figuring out how to accomplish set tasks. “Ethical decision
makers” was used though preserving the historical integrity of the archive. Finally, “responsible
contributors” was definitely used while helping clients with their intimate personal questions –
regarding past family genealogy, property requests and general historical requests.
Furthermore, the personal growth and development that took while participating in this
internship and working on my learning plan cannot be matched or put down in words in a
portfolio. These types of hands-on experiences are what makes liberal colleges unique and I
would like to personally thank Mr. Mike Gibson my supervisor and Director of the archive as
well as Faye Finnegan who operates the Center for Experiential Learning for my learning
opportunity. While, I am not interested in pursuing archiving management as a career, this
internship helped me make that decision and for that I am most thankful.24
24 See Exhibit 16, “Final Resume”
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Journal Entries
1.28.09
Today was very exciting. I woke up well rested and was able to work 100% without any
mental or physical distractions. After the usual hellos from Mike and Tarry I was given a key to
the archive.
The feeling of receiving the key was similar for me to that of going to a vending machine
it having an error and dispensing two of the candies instead of the one that you were expecting.
The key not only represented unrestricted access and freedom, but also responsibility. As I
would like to quote Spiderman – “with great power, comes great responsibility”. The purpose
of the key however, is to assist both Mike and Tarry as well as the general public.
Also, during this day I noticed a lot of boxes being placed near Mike’s office. As it
turned out I was to move Mike from his office to a new temporary location that was also inside
the ARC. The words that I can use to describe Mike’s office: A historical black hole. I was to take
the items on the floor (there were many) as well as along the wall and move them to the new
location down the hallway. The reason behind this was because when the ARC was built the
instillation was never installed along this side of the building.
It was after this task however, that I began to do actual archival work. I started to
enter in unfiled information. This information would be items like: Dubuque newspapers,
organizations in Dubuque newsletters, Loras newsletters as well as other print documents that
were deemed important to save for future generations. As a side note, the Loras archive is very
small in comparison to other major institutions – these institutions have a lot more space and
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usually house a lot more artifacts. So I would place the information into the computer by first
taking the object and classifying it (ex: “Dubuque 360” would be under “publications-
Dubuque”) and then I would enter the publication date into the computer and file it into their
respective bins.
Lastly, before I left I created an excel document to keep track of my time and what I am
accomplishing as a way to hold myself accountable and as a personal safeguard.
The first day overall was good. I was handed a great deal of responsibility. I
learned about entering in data and the simple yet important process that it requires. This data
archiving serves many practical prepossess: it could be used to organize personal financial
documents (I have promised my mother I would to this for her) as well as organizing business
and corporate documents. Archiving is definitely important to not only the world of historians
but to the world of the corporate tycoon and household as well.
2.2.2009
Today I did not learn anything to new. I continued to catalogue information into the
computer and file into the archive. This took a little while and after finishing I went back to have
shelved old Lorians back in the archive. This was not a very difficult task as it only required
reading the spine and placing the Lorains in numerical order but it did reinforce the importance
of organization at an archive. Furthermore, I indexed a few of the overflowing amount of
obituary cards.
Indexing obituary cards is an art of its own. You need great patience and absolutely the
highest amount of concentration while somehow being stimulated enough to not be bored with
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the task. I venture to say that people who do this and enjoy it are not human. Lucky for myself
there are two of these gifted people who volunteer (don’t understand why) their time to file
obituary cards, they come in for about two hours a week and process a few dozen cards while
chatting. However, today I was blessed and had the opportunity to engage myself in this task,
needless to say I felt that I was being punished - indexing or filing obituaries again is not fun.
My suggestion to God is that he should let people die in alphabetical order – obituary cards are
always out of order. It is somewhat interesting however though when working with obituaries
because you can see the ethnic makeup of the town. I can definitely contest that Dubuque still
has a large Irish and German influence based on the large amount of Irish and German sounding
names and large families in the area. I worked on these dead people for about an hour.
The main lesion that I carried out of today after reflecting on it, is that
organization is important. Not only is organization important, but organizing the organization is
important – meaning that finding aids or tools to help people locate archival information (text)
cannot be stressed enough. This is true in every aspect of archiving. The newspapers had to be
numerically placed back. The dead had to be placed in their respective places and incoming
documents to the archive, seemingly unimportant now, all need to be filed thoroughly and
thoughtfully. That is a part of what I think a responsibility of an archivist is, they have the moral
and ethical responsibility to preserve the past. If this preservation is broken, their role as an
archivist will hold no merit and they are undeserving of their altruistic title as such.
Lastly, I emailed Fay about what when our portfolio meeting will be. She later
responded saying that it would be a week or two.
2.4.2009
21
Today was a test of wits. Mike and Tarry were out. So I used the time to file obituaries.
Again, I hate filing obituaries. I did this task for a few hours until Mike came back.
When Mike came he asked me to look up "Bill Thinnes” in the Puregold for the
Hall of Fame award. Thinnes ran track and graduated in 1952. I ended up not finding anything
significant that this person did at Loras. Especially sports related, my conclusion of him being
not significant comes from the lack of Lorian articles where he is mentioned. Logically, the more
Lorian articles about an athlete the better or at least the more newsworthy he or she would be.
This man had two articles – one was a byline in a photo that was taken of him and the other
was just a mention that he was on the team.
Personally, I am a bit indifferent to most sports. I ran cross-country in high school and I
do enjoy watching hockey. However, most other sports I do not care for. Also, I think as an
institution of higher learning we need to create a Hall of Academics or something to promote
intelligent people. But I don’t expect the school changing its focus of watered down admission
standards, sports concentrating and constant fundraising foci to change.
I learned that money is important to archives and that the archive is a service.
Thinnes is a smart man, he was in several honor societies and did well academically. However,
his athletic skill was minimal and he was discredited for that. Why couldn’t they have kept
Thinnes at least as an honorable mention for his balance of academics and sports?
2.9.09
Today was fairly similar to the previous days- I filed obituaries for a short time. I did
however; get to do brief geology research. This search was slightly in-depth, I was looking for
22
biographical information for a persons, Great-Great Aunt who went to a high school in
Dubuque. So I looked at the approximant years that the person in question would have been
attending high school. This proved to provide little information; there was only a photo along
with her name. I then attempted to find the dead relative in the obituary index – this came up
with nothing.
I did get to talk to Mike about his experience with history and archiving. He has been at
Loras for 25 years at the archivist. He actually received his Masters of History at Loras back
when we had a Masters program. Before Loras he was an archivist at a few other places. He
actually started off his carrier being a history teacher. I found that to be very interesting as
teaching was something that I was slightly interested in. However, a class of third graders were
coming and he asked me to organize the area for them, meaning to get several of the research
boxes from the back. Shortly after this experience I had to get going to my 2:00 class. Nothing
exciting or exceptional occurred.
2.11.09
Today I began the task of creating an Art Inventory for the Dubuque Center of History.
This inventory is art that was mostly donated from various people and is hung or stored in the
library. I created a format for which I was to record the information from the various pieces of
art. Then I give the artworks numbers and began measuring and writing down their
descriptions. There were over 100 pieces of artwork that had to be catalogued. After getting
myself used to a pattern with my cataloging style I got done about 30 pieces of art.
The one thing about local Dubuque art is that it all looks the same and after
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looking at them for a period of five hours I definitely found this to be boredom. However, I
know and understand the importance of inventories in archives. Furthermore, this art inventory
project has allowed me to create an inventory from scratch that is “archivist approved” and has
given myself more confidence in my work.
2.16.09, 2.23.09, 3.1.09, 3.6.09
During these four days very little growth occurred. I was working on the extensive art
inventory for all of these days. I was not very motivated to work to get the project done after
the second day (2.23.09).
There were some exceptions, on 2.16.09 I looked into a genealogy request for records
pertaining to “John P Broz” who attended Loras College between 1884-1891, but like some
requests after looking the several times over nothing could be found.
Another important gap in this art inventory was on 3.6.09 when Mike and I
talked about personal goals and interests with the internship. I explained to him how I have
been looking at several archivist association websites and he told me of some of his
professional organizations that he is in. We also talked about graduate programs in archiving
and the possible benefits of being a student member in several of these organizations. Also at
this time I told him that I was interested in indexing the Lorian newspaper.
I ran into a problem however on that same day
with the art inventory that is important to mention. I figured out that there were several
duplicated photographs in the catalogue that I assigned numbers to. So to fix the problem I had
to go through every piece in the inventory. The end result was that the inventory was fine
24
however that there were several paintings missing from their locations.
After finishing this seemingly endless
project I was very happy. Then Mike told me that there was more pieces of art that needed to
be added, however that I could work on it at a later date. I think the archive would work more
efficiently if they set aside an hour or two in the mornings just as catalogue and inventory
upkeep. This would include: obituaries, inventories and general organization. Furthermore, this
would cut down on boredom keeping productivity high and the backlog down to a minimal
amount.
3.9.09
Today I preformed three major tasks. The first task was another genealogy assignment.
This was similar to previous genealogy – “John Fawcett", was a person born in England in1826
who died in a mining accident in Dubuque. However, after searching the obituary index Fawcett
couldn’t be found. This was a disappointment because the all knowing obit index did not have
what I wanted. The second major task of the day was looking at guidelines for the internship in
preparation for the meeting with Fay. We agreed on several objectives: 1) to become
knowledgeable with archive administration, 2)to start a newspaper index for the Lorian. These
goals will help me understand more the workings of an archive along with deciding if this
carrier path suits me well. Furthermore, my creating a working newspaper index of the Lorian,
which has never been done I would be starting something original and providing valuable
information and a tool for further research.
I did learn something new though. I was given an assignment to find photographs of the
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older mayors of Dubuque. So after finding photographs I had to scan them and manipulate the
image so that it could be looked at easier and blown up to be put into City Hall.
3.13.09
Friday was very simple. I finished my task of locating old photographs of previous
Dubuque mayors. I was disappointed that I could only locate a handful of them. I have noticed
disappointment lastly in my researching and it has caused me to think about the “all
knowingness” of an archive. This is a very troubling realization, that archives do not carry
usually the exact information that you’re looking for because that means that theoretically
there are documents and artifacts that go along with what you are finding out that can
collaborate or refute the hypothesis of your inquiry. Thus, archives are not the all knowing
buildings that many people think they are.
Another thing that happened while I was working was that I had my middle of semester
review. The review went over well and my enjoyment for the internship and history was well
received. My supervisor said that the only thing that I need to work on a lot of is concentrating
with the task at hand. I think I can overcome this deficiency while I am at working. This was the
only serious constructive criticism that was given and I am glad I was told what I was doing.
Sometimes I find myself getting sidetracked or Obsessive Compulsive and it is good to know
that this is noticeable and that it effects the work environment.
3.19.09
I decided to spend some time looking at various archival associations and websites that
may be useful in the future. Some of the better websites that I found:
26
CoSA – Council of State Archivists
o http://www.statearchivists.org/connections/archivalassns.htm
o Good website, has a large list of resources and other archive
associations
SAA – Society of American Archivists
o http://www.archivists.org/
o Very well organized, List employment, lots of extra resources
Academy of Certified Archivists
o http://www.certifiedarchivists.org/
o A archivist “guild” were you must meet qualifications
o Membership benefits – networking, prestigious, resume builder
Midwest Archives Conference
o http://www.midwestarchives.org/
o A good regional group
o Smaller easier connections, not as many large archives to compete
Furthermore there are many state archivist groups such as:
o Iowa Library Association:
http://www.iowalibraryassociation.org/index.cfm
3.23.09
I started the newspaper index today. I looked and took notes from various scholarly
websites about newspaper indexing and read a technical leaflet. The information was good.
