Items

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  2022-03-18

  Explore the archive assignment for ASU HST580 interns week 1

  These are the assignment instructions given to the Spring 2022 graduate student interns at ASU. This assignment asked them to explore the archive and then submit something that reflects represents their geographic location.
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  2020-04-16

  Gagosian Furloughs Part-Time Staff and Interns as Covid-19 Impedes Business

  All galleries felt the immense economic pressure of shuttering their doors. There was uncertainty and furloughs or imminent possibility of losing ones job was a looming presence especially in the spring of 2020. Even international blue-chip galleries like Gagosian were financially struggling. Those that lost their jobs were 

The article discussed job loss - whose jobs - and what this means for the art world in the present and in the future. Other methods of main tenting financially during the pandemic included furloughs and salary cuts where the percentage was determined by how much someone made per year.
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  2021-04-25

  Julia Jensen Portfolio

  Going into this internship, I really didn’t know what to expect. Throughout undergrad, I worked full time jobs and did not have the time to take on any internships or research positions, so this was my first experience with it. I also was studying anthropology and was uncertain what path I wanted to take, making it hard to find internships that felt applicable to my future. Once I decided to study history with a goal of pursuing a public history career, this internship seemed like an incredible opportunity to learn more about the field and get a feel for what a possible future career could be. Thanks to the Public History Methodology course taught by Dr. Mark Tebeau, I did have a decent amount of knowledge of what public history consisted of, which made it clearer to me what I wanted to pursue and gave me an understanding on which I could build throughout this internship. Working with JOTPY provided hands-on experience in which I could apply this knowledge and learn the applicable skills necessary to practice public history. These skills included managing metadata, conducting and transcribing oral histories, marketing new collections, prioritizing the safety and privacy of contributors, learning to work with a team remotely, and acknowledging and confronting the silences present in the archive. As I continue to volunteer with JOTPY past the end of my internship, I hope to strengthen these skills, growing more comfortable with curating so that I may carry that with me once I move on from this archive. Given that this was my first experience like this, much of the work I did was initially out of my comfort zone. The scope of this archive was a bit intimidating, and I did not initially understand how important and impactful JOTPY is and will continue to be, even past the pandemic. As the weeks went on, I grew more comfortable curating, as well as interacting with the team over Slack and Zoom, which I hadn’t utilized very much before this internship. I was also unfamiliar with marketing something like a collection, so having the opportunity to do so pushed me past my comfort zone and taught me how to better write for a public audience in a way that is both succinct and engaging. I learned that I really enjoy this type of work, particularly when it came to creating a collection, as it gave me the opportunity to address a silence and advocate for an underappreciated group of people while pulling from personal experience and situations that I have observed. My goal in life is to help people, and this was a great opportunity to help in a more subtle, behind-the-scenes sort of way. Since I had already hoped to pursue a career in the field of public history, specifically working with museums, this internship did not necessarily change my approach; however, it did strengthen my desire to work in this field, and taught me the necessary skills to feel confident that this is the right path for me.
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  2021-04-25

  Padraic Cohen Internship Portfolio

  This is my portfolio for my internship experience with the JOTPY, thank you so much for this; I really enjoyed working with each and every one of you - thank you for everything.
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  2021-04-24

  JOTPY Internship Portfolio

  This is my portfolio from my experience of working as an intern with the Journal of the Plague Year Public Archive.
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  2020-12-08

  Final Paper for H396

  For the past five months, I have interned with A Journal of the Plague Year to help curate submissions from the year 2020. I have learned a lot about the collecting process and am excited to have been a part of such a great project!
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  09/18/2020

  Trisha Howes Oral History, 2020/09/18

  This is an interview with a Northeastern Student, Trisha Howes as part of our HIST 1215 class. Annie (Anna) Schaller interviews Trisha Howes and asks her about campus closing at Northeastern University. Howes also speaks about her job going to remote and what it was like to be a virtual intern.
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  2020-08-23

  Cody Brown Portfolio

  When I first began the Journal of the Plague Year internship, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. I wanted to be part of something impactful and important during the pandemic and was hoping to learn some new skills that could be applied in furthering my academic studies or in future job pursuits. What I discovered as the internship went on is that I was going to get to do all of that and so much more. What I thought was going to be a “standard” internship was instead a fast-paced, jump in with both feet without looking, rollercoaster ride. I had no previous experience doing public history work beyond conducting an oral history interview with my great-grandmother for an “Aging in Rural America” course during my undergraduate studies. What I discovered was the entire behind the scenes effort that makes these pieces of information readily accessible to the public. As the internship progressed, not only was I adjusting to constantly changing best practice regarding curation, but I was also learning new skills that I would have likely not learned anywhere else in my academic career. What started, in my mind, as a simple internship turned into one of the greatest learning experiences of my academic career, to date. Never had I imagined that I would learn, let alone use, some of the skills that were cultivated during this internship. While I am not a fan of the redaction portion of public history, likely because I don’t feel very adept at it, many of the other skills introduced and learned during this internship appealed to me greatly. During the blog post writing assignment, I discovered the challenge of attempting to write an attention-grabbing piece that was interesting to read to a general audience yet informational enough to convey the necessary information while maintaining a condensed length so as not to lose a reader’s interest. This was extremely challenging for me as I tend to be long-winded and include to much “fluff” in much of my writing. I, however, found the challenge enjoying and plan to continue to hone my blogging skills; maybe even someday start my own history related blog. One of the most enjoyable skills that I learned was the entire range of conducting and polishing an oral history. The development of questions, the interview itself, the transcription (the first few attempts were very rough), and even the cataloging and archiving of the history were a joy once I understood and was comfortable with the process. Finding new tools to use as part of the oral history portion of the internship such as otter.ai was also an extremely rewarding aspect of the process. This skill will likely prove itself especially useful in my further academic and professional pursuits. Finally, the experience of interaction between the interns was unique in my experiences working with others. Never have I participated in an entirely digital project or team experience before the JOTPY internship. The experience was unique and very rewarding, and the interaction between the interns was exceptional. Not only did we conduct weekly meetings regarding the archive and internship and work remotely within groups using digital tools within the internship group, but we connected, interacted, and worked with other groups and individuals associated with the archive using the same tools (Zoom, Slack, etc.) I have had some of my fellow interns in other classes during my program, but being able to actively see, speak, and work with my colleagues was a wonderful experience and I was lucky to be part of such a great group of historians.
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  2020-08-22

  Shanna Gagnon Internship Portfolio

  I first heard about the A Journal of the Plague Year: An Archive of COVID-19 (JOTPY) internship opportunity through Arizona State University's History Master's Student's Facebook page. I decided to pursue my M.A. in history degree for a variety of reasons: I love learning, I love history, and I hoped to gain exposure to potential career opportunities. I chose to attend ASU because it was clear to me that the faculty prioritize community. When I saw Dr. Kole's Facebook post, I was instantly captivated. It was precisely the type of experience I was looking for without even knowing it. And it was an opportunity to work in real-time with ASU faculty and with other M.A. students, which created additional avenues to build community. I contacted my faculty advisor and decided to drop my upcoming courses to open up my schedule for this once in a lifetime experience. Before JOTPY, I had very little knowledge of public history. As a high school educator, I have always believed in the importance and power of public history. Outside of teaching, however, I had no experience working in public history. My experience with JOTPY taught me that public history requires professionals to simultaneously use high-level critical thinking skills (i.e., how can we fill silences within the archive) and pay attention to details and minutiae (i.e., make sure that curator’s folksonomy terms are lowercase). One's ability to think "big picture" while not losing sight of the building blocks is crucial to the success of projects such as JOTPY. I have developed the ability to easily transition my thinking depending on the type of archival work that I am engaged in. Additionally, I have developed my ability to write in various modalities (i.e., blog posts, collection plans, press releases). I have fine-tuned working remotely, sharpened my problem-solving skills through innovative thinking, and learned a variety of new software – from Omeka to Slack to otter.ai. I have also developed an understanding of ethics and best practices in public history. Although I am not sure in what capacity, I would like to continue to work within the field of public history. As expected, the JOTPY internship was indeed a once in a lifetime experience. It felt good to do something for the very first time again. I felt challenged by the different types of writing we were asked to produce. Having never written a collection plan, a press release, or a blog post, each of those assignments pushed me outside of my comfort zone. As a result, I learned that I indeed do still love learning new things. Perhaps the most fulfilling aspect of this experience for me was working within my internship cohort. Our team's ability to directly communicate with each other, to offer constructive feedback, to step in to help others when needed, and to adapt to ever-constant changes characteristic of working in a rapid response live archive, was simply incredible. I also really enjoyed engaging with ASU faculty. Dr. Kole was an incredible leader whose guidance and support truly brought out the best in every single intern. She cultivated our strengths and presented opportunities for us to further develop our interests and passions while supporting the overall mission and work of JOTPY. I am not sure where I am headed next. However, I do know that by leaning into unique opportunities is something that I enjoy. I plan to continue to look for various ways to further develop myself academically, professionally, and personally. I developed the San Francisco Bay Area Collection as a way to ensure the diversity of the region was captured within the archive. One of the Collection's strengths is its ability to intersect with other major collections within JOTPY. While I do not have an official role within JOPTY, I plan to further develop the San Francisco Bay Area Collection through the curriculum I develop for my own students.
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  2020-08-19

  Portfolio of a JOPL Intern, Summer 2020, Lyn Ribisi

  This is my portfolio for my 15 weeks as an intern working with The Journal of the Plague Year. I was anxious to learn the skills involved in gathering, creating, and archiving materials to preserve history in our lifetime. The pandemic of COVID-19 is a once in a century occurrence, and I felt it was very important to preserve our thoughts, emotions, photographs, jokes, and events that are shaping our lives now. Generally, I’ve been fascinated by archives and the potential they hold for telling our stories. I’ve also been frustrated by the lack of accessibility they all present. I’m hoping that the digital archive techniques we have employed will ease that problem. We’ve had the freedom to use tags (or, in archive-speak, folksonomy) to make the content searchable and accessible to all who come after us. In addition to archive work, my branch of historical interest is in the everyday lives of people. This digital repository satisfies both passions. Lastly, working on preserving the events of this pandemic has helped me find my way during this difficult time. I feel that I've been able to contribute--at least a little bit--and thus been able to be causative over some little part of this global nightmare. I am earning my Master’s degree in order to teach at the college where I work now. I’ve been functioning as a TA for the last several years as well as working as a classified staff member. I should graduate in May 2021, and become an adjunct. However, with all learning remote and the campus closed, hiring may be delayed. My mission is to inspire a love of history and the ability to think critically about the past and present. Too often history is still being taught as a memorization exercise of dates, names, and events. I will teach against that model and hopefully inspire a love of the past and its lessons and stories in my students. I want to thank all of our staff at ASU for delivering a professional learning experience—I was very lucky to have had the opportunity to be a part of it.
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  2020-08-19

  Clinton P. Roberts Internship Portfolio

  The Journal of the Plague Year will become a lasting memory and not just because it is preserved inside of an archive. One of the most memorable aspects will be the way our internship class grew to become a team. As we all look back to our first weeks, little did we know the scope of pedagogy we would need to experience before arriving upon these final days. Dr. Kole gave us the support we needed, but wasn’t afraid to introduce us to the “rapid” nature of a rapid response archive. The conversations of “wearing hats” became common terminology to describe all of the evolving jobs this internship would entail. Some days we were scholars thinking deeply about the concerns of silences. Other days we felt more like roving reporters gathering stories as they were developing. Our “marketing hats” were often in use as we promoted our Calls for Submissions. Undoubtedly, there were days we were required to stack our hats four high. As fledgling public historians, we accomplished all of these things and we did it together as a team. The word “team” seems the most obvious description, but for our group the most fitting term is “family.” This moment has already come and gone, yet it’s preserved for those that look toward it. I felt the need to devote my individual time to preserving those things that were at propinquity. That being said, the “Rural Voices” collection is something near and dear to me. Near because I live in the community that inspired this collection. Dear because it’s so much more; it’s home. I created it because of this familiarity, a familiarity that was disrupted by COVID-19 and I experienced firsthand. Moving forward, future interns will have the opportunity to continue what I have started. This collection was never meant to have only one voice and is only a reflection of its first voice. Every rural community has a wealth of history occurring and with each passing moment those voices fade. The “Rural Voices” collection was, and should always remain, a direct response to that silence.
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  2020-08-17

  Keena Portfolio

  I joined the Journal of the Plague Year Covid-19 archive before the internship experience began. I contacted Dr. Tebeau and asked how I could contribute to the archive to develop a K-12 teaching experience. I quite literally hit the ground running. I had imagined slowly starting the work; however, I quickly realized it was like drinking from a firehose, and I loved it. Before this experience, I hadn't had much interaction with rapid response archives. They were a new concept to me, and the internship is where I learned what they were and how they functioned. As a student sitting in a history class, I think it's easy to see history as systematic and well planned because, by the time we are reviewing it, there has been some organization. Being part of the rapid response archive shows the exceptional amount of work it takes to archive history. While there is never a good time for a global pandemic to strike, this pandemic started during a beautiful place in my graduate studies. I had taken two of my core courses and a methods class. So, I felt prepared when discussing silences in the archive, biases, and other responsibilities held by the archive. This internship was a great way to use what I had learned over the last nine months and apply it rather than waiting until I had graduated to apply these skills. This application of expertise is something that doesn't usually occur during courses of study. I have also found that the internship has helped me shape my virtual class schedule as we head into the fall. While my district presented me with a virtual bell schedule to follow, it seemed like a lot to wrap my mind around, but I applied Dr. Kole's model for the internship to my class, sent it off to my instructional coach, and she loves it! While it's not directly related to the archive, the online pedagogy has been helpful. My favorite thing about working with the archive was curating. I just loved seeing all of the items come through and reading the stories attached to them. Beyond that, I feel like I have a great base of people I can now lean on through the rest of my time at ASU. I now have teacher friends in California with whom I am now sharing distance learning ideas. I hope these are the things that stand out when people think back to the Covid-19 pandemic. While it seems to be tearing through our country and pulling us apart, there's been a lot of good to come. I'm eternally grateful to have been presented with this opportunity, and I cannot wait to see how large this archive grows.
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  2020-05-22

  Bea Dougherty Family College, HIST 115

  [Curator's note] Journal entries submitted as part of a class for Dougherty Family College.
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  2020-03-29

  Internship Meme

  A meme about internships during COVID.