This past spring semester (2019), APH student Megan Downey interned with Towson University Special Collections and University Archives in Towson, Maryland. Below you’ll find Megan ’s blog post about his experience.
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For the Spring 2019 semester, I was an intern at the Towson University Special Collections and University Archives in Towson, Maryland. I had not had any archival experience prior to this internship, and it was an excellent placement to learn the basics of processing an archival collection.
Towson University opened its doors in 1866 as the Maryland State Normal School and moved to its current location in 1915. After several changes in name and mission, the school became Towson University in 1997.
My project for the semester was to process the collection from the Center for Student Diversity. The Center for Student Diversity was created in 1969 as the Office of Minority Affairs. The Center for Student Diversity is an umbrella office for several other groups. The collection I processed was from the African American Cultural Center, which is one of those organizations.
The collection came to the Special Collections and University Archives in an assortment of binders with the materials in plastic sleeves. The materials include event flyers, correspondence, and community arts information, and newsletters. In addition, there was a records carton box which contained an assortment of audiovisual materials. Some challenges I faced through my project included the major learning curve that comes with learning any new thing. For instance, creating my finding aid was my first time using Archive Space and that was quite a challenge at first.
There is a great sense of accomplishment that comes with processing an archival collection. It is a very important chance to use the skills learned in the program in a practical way. Being an archivist can encompass many different things from processing to outreach and the internship is an opportunity to examine these various facets and discover where you would like your career to go.
“Before” (Photograph courtesy Megan Downey)
“After” (Photograph courtesy Megan Downey)