On Monday of last week, I hit the ground running as I began my six-week half-virtual, half-in person internship with the local Bassett Historical Center.
Interning with the Center comes with several unique advantages to someone wanting to become a public historian. As a group loosely connected to the vast Blue Ridge Public Library system, the Center offers an array of various research and investigative databases for historians to utilize. One famous user of the Center’s vast archival catalog, journalist Beth Macy, should be well-known to Roanoke College students. Having presented a lecture on campus last year concerning her new book Dopesick, Macy primarily researched and wrote her earlier book Factory Man using genealogical information retrieved with the help of Bassett’s friendly and dedicated core staff.
Another advantage of interning with the Bassett Historical Center is the opportunity to go in-depth with projects started by or limited to volunteer participation. The Center recruits many volunteers to help donate, recruit, or sometimes research items placed into its collections. I volunteered some last summer, occasionally getting the opportunity to assist with building an exhibit. Becoming an intern allows me the opportunity to join the core staff of the Center to watch how exhibits, databases, and archive preservation techniques are actually carried out beyond just the final display.
My first week showed me the first glimpse of my new internship’s advantages. My first assignment was to (minding social distancing rules) retrieve from the Center a laptop and copied versions of 45 personal letters between a World War One soldier and his wife between 1917 and 1918. While I am familiar with the exhibit these letters came from, I was informed that the transcribing of these letters for the first time would be of great benefit to the Center and the community as a whole. That has been my primary assignment, and I have been able to transcribe 11 as of the time this blog has been published.
My second assignment has come at the insistence of my internship advisor, Center director Fran Snead, as well as my close family. I am to read Factory Man, Macy’s book concerning the history, life, and times of the Bassett family, whose heirs control the powerful Bassett Furniture Factory once dominant in the town. As both a resource thoroughly enjoyed by town residents (my family included) and the Center’s staff, the book certainly gives a glimpse behind the intricate details used to inform this writer’s narrative and historical grounding. I have read around 180 pages as of the time this blog has been published.
My third assignment, set to begin next week, will involve my assistance at the oldest cemetery in town. Oakwood Cemetary, located in the heart of Bassett’s neighboring town Martinsville, has requested assistance from the Center to help document historically significant graves on its grounds. Acting as an intern on behalf of the Center, I will be meeting with local contact Lucy Davis to learn the specifics of this job on Tuesday of next week, June 23rd.
Overall, my internship looks to give a promising peek into the unique and often intricate world of the historian’s tradecraft. To assist in and sometimes facilitate the exhibit building process will be unlike any hands-on experience I have ever had. I have little doubt, however, that my internship will culminate in my better understanding of the job of a historian.
Pictured: Some of the copies of the letters that I will be transcribing.
Pictured: Still life of my ‘work station’, AKA my dining room table.
