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Working with TQHP over the past few semesters has cemented my plans for my future academic/career paths. It also has helped me appreciate the skills I've picked up during the course of both of my majors. I work mainly with individuals in the Women and Gender Studies and Queer Studies departments, so I believe that my differing academic background helps me bring new skills and ideas to the table. I also will forever appreciate all of the research work I was assigned in my classes, as it prepared me for the bulk of my work at TQHP.
During my internship, I became more skilled in the more technical parts of the job, organizing files, scanning documents, writing photo descriptions, etc. It is easy to KNOW what goes on in archival work, but this internship gave me the hands on experience with those foundational tasks that I would use everyday in career in archiving.
This internship has taught me patience, I often find myself wanting to get every task done as soon as possible, even if its unnecessary. But my tasks during this experience have forced me to slow down and be more careful and methodical with my work, I cannot force the scanner to scan quicker, and I cannot search through a database faster than the speed that I read at. With my career of choice, attention to detail is very important, and having that attention is much easier when you really take your time with each and every task.
When I started my internship, I was basically able to jump right in and do my work. My education in the humanities has already given me the crucial skills of research and writing, which were the main skills I needed. This helped me avoid any amount of training and allowed me to contribute to the project almost instantly. For a specific example. with the damage done to the documents from Tom Flournoy, we aren't sure if they will physically survive, so I used my skills in descriptive writing to describe them as best as possible, in case the original photos are lost.
From what I have picked up, being a professional in this field is more about your attitude and mindset than anything physical. You have to always keep in mind that the documents and photos you deal with are not just items, they often carry the weight of a person's life and ideas with them. In many cases, it is an honor to be trusted with these documents and given the job of preserving them. You also have to be able to quickly adapt and change plans, whether that is because you have to give certain items back, or because the tools you need to do your job are unavailable.
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