Oh how fun it is to have friends come and visit!
One of my closest friends from my younger years came for two days to visit DC and me :), and to look at some grad school programs out here. She arrived on Sunday afternoon, just in time for some fantastic sunshine (sorry MN folks!) and lots of tour time. We visited almost all of the major monuments and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Even though I have only been in DC for about 7 weeks now, it was strange to be showing someone else my new city. No matter though, it was very nice to have her come and visit, and good practice for when others come to DC while I am here. Thanks Melissa!
Monday was actually a slower day at work. The snow of 2010 is finally behind us enough that things are getting back in order and I am now done with all of my training! My last one was on Monday morning, when I led a group of teachers in a professional development workshop on the Constitution lab and digital resources the Archives has. They were very impressed with the materials and how much was accessible to them! I also got the go-ahead to work on labs as an official Archivist Trainer independently, which completes my official assimilation into my internship. I have had many people in the Archives ask if I was going to become a teacher someday, and they seem to be shocked when I say "Not exactly...".
The rest of my afternoon was actually somewhat "teacher-ish" (if that's a word), as I worked in the ReSource Room with a bunch of little kids, and writing lesson plans. Interesting....
Tuesday I was at Archives II, working on some new, but really awesome projects. Unlike the Volunteer program at Archives I, the group out at College Park works a lot on preservation work, which I got to help with. I was working with World War I records, going through and making sure that these records were still in good enough condition that the public can access them. It is similar to my work with the Brazilian consulate records, only much more in depth. I came across some personal records from Fort Ripley, MN, which is so close to my hometown! These were men who who from my area fighting for their country, and here I was, making sure that their lives in the records would be preserved. The afternoon was even better, as I was sent on a mission to find a letter written by the US ambassador to Greece to the Secretary of State in 1868. Not only did I get to go into the microfilm room ( I know, very cool, but very nerdy), but I also got to go back into the stacks and pull the letter myself! It was so special to see the ACTUAL record, written in ink, upon the many pages of this man's journal.
Today our fieldtrip was to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, which I had gone to before, four years ago. After taking some classes in modern European history, especially my Hitler's Germany, I had a very different experience this time around. It was still very profound and deeply meaning to me, but in a much different sense than the first time I was there. I encourage all who come to Washington to visit this museum, it is an experience unlike any other institution.
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