The penultimate week of my internship with the Bassett Historical Center glimpsed another moment of reflection for me. This time, I took note of my improvement in speed and accuracy.
I made considerable progress at Oakwood Cemetery, for example. My first search for graves to document took 3 hours to find only 15 plots. Wednesday, I located 43 in half the time! Similarly, as I began compiling short biographies of the cemetery’s noteworthy inhabitants, I found diving through obituaries an easier task than expected. All in all, Oakwood Cemetery and the Bassett Historical Center are more than satisfied with my progress so far.
I am also pleased with the progress I have made transcribing World War One letters I have been working on. While I hope to finish this task by the end of my internship next week, I have made arrangements to continue as a volunteer with the Bassett Historical Center should I need the extra time to finish.
Due to the time crunch at the end of the internship, I have decided not to read Thomas S. Kidd’s biography of Patrick Henry, a book which I have long desired to finish. Henry lent his name to my county, where he and his family lived for a while on their plantation (Leatherwood) during the American Revolution. While it would be interesting to view another crucial piece of my hometown’s history, I simply cannot find the time to read this well-reviewed novel. I have hope to amend this in the near future.
My final week will consist of my last few documentations for Oakwood Cemetery and the planned final transcription of the World War One letters. I could not have asked for a better internship than right here at home with the Bassett Historical Center!