This post was written by Zachary Greenfield, undergrad in history at George Mason University. He has been a summer processing intern at our Special Collections Research Center since May 2017.
My internship with Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) has been incredibly enjoyable! I have gotten to handle a broad range of materials and collections. I mostly worked on processing various collections. While I only finished three complete collections, I was able to see the various states that they arrive in (for better or worse) and see just how much work goes into each collection. Everything from sorting to labelling and creating inventories as well as creating the finding aid I handled. Of course not every part of processing is enjoyable, newspaper clippings are not fun to work with as I learned and everyone agreed. The first collection I worked on was the Vincent F. Callahan collection, who I learned was a local politician. This was a collection of newspaper clippings about Callahan and his work that came to SCRC mostly unsorted. I spent much of my time organizing the collection into groups based on the publications before foldering them by date and newspaper. This took a surprising amount of time given the apparent size of the collection. After I finished the Callahan collection I also worked on the Hugh Sockett Institution for Educational Transformation (IET) Records. This was primarily composed of the papers and records for IET during Sockett’s tenure at the Institution. This was considerably better organized than the Callahan collection and was able to be completed much faster. My final collection during my internship was the Paul Ceruzzi Papers, which was primarily research for his book, “Internet Alley: High Technology in Tysons Corner, 1945-2005” and is full of interesting research into the history of the local Fairfax area and the development of technology and the Internet in the Cold War period and beyond. Previously, I did not distinguish much between archives and museums, but after doing this internship I can better appreciate both the similarities and the differences between the two institutions. In addition to my processing duties I also helped with rewriting the finding aids for previously processed collections. Overall I enjoyed my time at the George Mason University SCRC, and if given the opportunity I would continue working here more regularly.
Documents arranged into acid-free folders.
This internship complements my academic interests because I have always been interested in the writings and documents of people in our past. Both the everyday commoners and the people who are talked about in major history books. Seeing these collections is both like getting to see the creation of history and getting to see the process behind how history is researched and talked about. My academic interests are mostly historical but also range into the sciences, particularly space, biology, and early technology. As a side effect of my internship, particularly when working with the collection donated by Ceruzzi, I have been able to learn more about the Space Race and the feats associated with that. My historical interests are centered around the Viking Age and pre-Columbian Native Americans and Mesoamericans, but I am interested in all things history related. I have always loved visiting museums and recently become interested in working in either a museum or an archive. While I do not yet have a solid goal in mind, my next step after George Mason will be a Master’s degree and a journey into either the world of archives or the world of museums. Prior to doing this internship, I had some exposure to the SCRC from some of my classes that have held workshops there and through my own visits as a researcher. Of course, the convenient location at my university made SCRC seem like an excellent place to intern and I was interested in pursuing the internship because of the experience and guidance it could provide for my future.
