The “Real World”

I don’t love using the term “the real world” to talk about work outside of academia, and even less so when discussing a subject like digital history. Many of the skills and techniques used in public history are directly transferrable from academic study, especially when considering that academic digital history work is often already designed with a generalist audience in mind. Still, it’s helpful here to distinguish between my course work and the projects I have undertaken on internships. In particular, this page highlights my work for the Baltimore Museum of Industry and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which you can learn more about below!

Gallery in the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Image courtesy of Marcin Wichary.

BMI Online Collections Database

In the summer of 2022, I interned at the Baltimore Museum of Industry (BMI) in the Collections and Archives Department. In this role, I processed, conserved, and stored 294 individual objects of the BMI’s collection, all of which I also catalogued in the museum’s online PastPerfect database. These catalog entries include detailed object descriptions, contextual research, and provenance summaries. The entire collection can be browsed at the above link.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs History Office

In the 2023-2024 academic year, I virtually interned at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs History Office, where, among other tasks, I wrote public history articles on U.S. veterans history. These included one article on the founding of the U.S. pension office and another on the activist work for citizenship by Native American veterans after World War I. These articles allowed me to hone my public history writing on a platform with regular editorial meetings and an established, large audience.

Front page of the 1845 Commissioner of Pensions Annual Report, the central source of my first contribution to the VA’s history articles. Image courtesy of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs History Office.

This experience doing longer-term work for established digital history projects improved my digital skillset, gave me exposure to historical projects with involved stakeholders, and confirmed my love of public-facing narrative history. With these years of experience in college, I am excited and prepared to continue my digital history work after graduation, wherever my career path takes me!