Civil War Project

So it has been over a week since I last blogged on my internship, but it has been more on the low key basis than previous weeks. My newest project is designing a binder that will contain all the documents that will be on display for the newest exhibit, Discovering the Civil War, opening in April. This massive project includes finding the right citation and background information on the document, and then pairing it with the educational resources that we have available that would be connected to that document. I think it's safe to say that this project will take up a lot of the remainder of time that I am here, as there are a few hundred documents to go through!

Like I said in my previous posting, the tourist pace has picked up significantly in the past two weeks. With more people comes more time spent giving tours and being in the Resource Room. By the end of today, I am averaging about 3 tours a week, which is much higher than it was in January! It's not a bad thing to do though, and now that I know my way around more and just know more information about the Archives in general, I am really enjoying sharing all my knowledge with those who come to visit.

The lab schedule, which was completely mixed up last month because of the blizzard, is also starting to fill up. As I continue to do these though, I am getting better at training all the little Archivists, and have even figured out how to put a little spin on the job for them!

This week at Archives II in College Park, I helped with the Volunteer Association meeting for the month. We had a really informative discussion about using DNA in genealogical research, which has only recently been a hot topic. I also helped out with more preservation management of WWI records, which is another one of my ongoing projects.

Well last weekend was sunny, and warm, and filled with lots of activities with Ryan being here. This weekend though looks to be cold and rainy and a little bit more laid back. This is not a bad thing though, as long as you have things to keep you occupied!