Hello everyone! I hope y'all had a fantastic Thanksgiving break! This week marks the History Department Presentation on all the work I have done this semester. Normally, it would also signify the end of my internship with Sarah and Greenwood Cemetery, but I will be staying on next semester to further my skills and this project.
For the History Presentation this Friday, Sarah and I are presenting seven slides with roughly nine minutes of talking, and three-to-four minutes for any questions. We are presenting our overall project on Greenwood Cemetery and how our skills have developed since. This internship has been an incredibly fascinating experience, and I have learned much over the semester.
Our main task this semester has been creating entries for the tour to be hosted on Clio, a web based digital history platform created for heritage tourism. These entries all contain the same components: an intro, backstory, images, citations, and links to learn more. A primary challenge for me has been to ensure that these entries are all written at an 8th-grade level for a public audience while keeping in mind the delicate balance of factual history, community engagement, and appropriate memorization which has been particularly tricky for certain topics. These entries that we've written are uploaded into Clio and assembled into an extended proof of concept walking tour, using GPS coordinates. You can see a screenshot of one of the entries here. The great thing about Clio, other than being free, is that it is generally very easy to use and has features like text-to-audio to ensure that it’s highly accessible.
Over the course of the semester, there were a few setbacks. This internship was my first time working from various sources, such as censuses, newspapers, websites, and certificates. I had trouble deciphering information and presenting it properly. With help from Sarah, I overcame this obstacle through exposure. For some of the papers, such as Charles Lord, there is quite a bit of information missing about his childhood, which was a struggle in forming a chronological essay. I overcame this challenge by instead expanding on information I did have, such as William Reynolds’ unit, where I talk about their endeavors during the Civil War.
Some skills I have developed over the semester include analyzing source motivation and Public History Story-Telling. Learning how to walk the delicate balance of factual history, community engagement, and appropriate memorialization has been tricky for certain topics.I plan to become a teacher or pursue a career as a public historian, so this skill will be essential in my future lesson plans or careers.
By far the most rewarding aspect of my time as an intern has been the chance to do research as a neophyte historian and receive assistance and criticism from actual historians. My time as an intern has also opened my eyes to how rewarding the job of a public historian is and has swayed my aspirations post-graduation greatly. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had and I hope that others can experience the joy of interning and making a product that will help the general public!
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