National Museum of American History
http://americanhistory.si.edu/

Organization Overview:

The National Museum of American History dedicates its collections and scholarship to inspiring a broader understanding of our nation and its many peoples. We create learning opportunities, stimulate imaginations, and present challenging ideas about our country's past. The Museum's Archives Center houses a remarkable array of American history in documents, photographs, and other works. These include the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, advertising histories of major U.S. corporations, and the Duke Ellington Collection -- sheet music, correspondence, and photographs related to the life and career of the great composer and jazz musician. The museum is looking for as many as seven interns for projects this spring.

Projects:

1. Jerrold Goodman Golf Scorecard Scrapbooks (One Student)
Intern will re-house the scrapbooks and prepare a finding aid in the DACS format. Goodman donated three large scrapbooks containing over 2,000 golf scorecards from golf courses all over America. It also relates to marketing, business, and to sports and recreation.


2. George Sidney Collection, 1891-2000 (One Student)
Intern will assist the archivist in processing the large format photographs from the George Sidney Collection. Sidney was a Hollywood director at MGM during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Intern will arrange photographs according to motion picture and put Sidney's page proofs for his one-time proposed biography into numerical order.


3. Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, 1724-1977 (One Student)
The student will be responsible for organizing and describing materials found in the Warshaw Collection. This collection consists of advertising and business ephemera including printed advertisements, calendars, greeting cards, business cards, correspondence, images, pamphlets, posters, advertising cards, magazines, etc. It is divided into 471 subject categories and dates from 1766-1966 but the bulk of the collection is late 19th, early 20th century. One subject category from the collection will be physically arranged and rehoused. A finding aid including a container list will be developed for research use in our reference room. Training will be provided for the student to work on this project.

Participant Comments

"I arranged and created finding aids for small subject collections (.15 or .33 linear feet). I finished six collections. My supervisor was easy to approach and helpful and much of the material was interesting. My project itself was not influential. Seeing how the Smithsonian worked as an organization and how it made collections available was insightful. The organization was great in providing aid, being approachable, making us feel welcome, and trying to teach us as much as possible. My supervisor was very approachable and explained what she wanted clearly. I would work with her again."


4. Scurlock Photographic Studio Ledger Books, ca. 1905-1994 (One Student)
The Scurlock Photographic Studio of Washington, D.C., operated for almost the entire 20th century under the direction of Addison Scurlock and his son Robert. The collection includes two daybooks and about ten portrait ledgers record sittings from 1922 to 1965. These include negative numbers, sitters' names and addresses, date of sitting and order, compiled alphabetically for each year. Additional information about the collection is online. One student is needed to create a database in FileMaker Pro or Access and begin data entry from the record books as a pilot project. The results of this pilot will be a database that meets information needs of Archives Center staff and outside researchers and can be continued by volunteers and others who lack technical database skills.


5. Joseph Pedott Papers, ca. 1960-2005 (One Student)
Founder of Joseph Enterprises, Inc., manufacturers of the Chia Pet, the Clapper, and other novelties. The papers relate to products developed and marketed by Joseph Enterprises, Inc., including the Chia Pet and the Clapper. The collection includes letters, photographs, audiovisual materials, print advertising, articles, a tape recording and transcript of an interview of Pedott, and internal company papers. Student is needed to arrange and describe the papers which total approximately two cubic feet and write a finding aid in DACs format.

Participant Comments

"I processed papers: one document box and one oversize box, including company papers, advertising, packaging, etc. I learned how to create a finding aid using the DACS format. Got a brief introduction to describing audiovisual material, including Chia Pet and Clapper commercials.

"I liked that while the staff helped me, for the most part they let me make my own decisions and do what I thought was the best for the collection. My experience has increased my desire to work in the archival field. The mentoring by all the archivists was rewarding, very helpful, and understanding, and they allowed me to figure things out on my own. It was also very nice that the whole staff brought in food for us to have for lunch. I liked the opportunity to see an archive working on the inside and discuss the field with supervisors."


6. Ellington Oral History Project, 1989-1993 (One Student)
The Duke Ellington Oral History Project is a collection of 39 oral history interviews that were conducted and abstracted during the early 1990's. The collection, which has a preliminary finding aid, was created by the Archives Center to provide research background about the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The Duke Ellington Collection (#301) is extensive and is also located within the Archives Center. The intern will update the finding aid, container list, and information for the collection control file; organize the current hard copy abstracts to make them more easily accessible; scan the abstracts into electronic format; edit scans for patron use and transfer them to the Archives Center's permanent electronic library (P Drive).

Participant Comments

"I scanned abstracts of oral history interviews and then edited the content for errors in optical character recognition. I liked being in the organization and interacting with the staff.

"Hearing about the inner workings, politics, culture of the Smithsonian was invaluable. Also getting a sense for what the archivists there actually do day-to-day was great. I'm not sure exactly how the project itself will fit into my career plans, but certainly the experience of being in the institution made me want to work in a similar place. My supervisor was great -- really helpful, very clear about what she wanted, and how. I got to work with two people, so I got multiple perspectives on my project and lots of good input."


7. Claude Williams Papers, ca. 1920-2005 (One Student)
Williams was a jazz violinist based in Kansas City, though he was born and raised in Oklahoma. The papers, approximately four cubic feet, include a few letters, large numbers of photos, business records, especially relating to his tours, some recordings, and miscellaneous information. Intern will arrange the papers into series and rehouse into acid free folders. Intern will, if there is adequate time, prepare a finding aid in the DACS format. Papers are currently in approximate series order.

Participant Comments

"I went through five large boxes crammed full of papers and tried to put them in a reasonable order. I ended the week with 12 or 13 separate series for the collection. Also rehoused all the papers, photocopied newspapers, separated out photos, and worked a bit on the finding aid.

"I liked finishing. It was a good feeling. I didn't like photocopying the newspapers -- they were annoying. It was nice to have a smaller project that I was able to work on from beginning to end. I don't know how much I like processing, though. I think I'd want an archives job that mixes things up with both processing and reference.

"American History staffers were very warm and welcoming. I could have used a bit more direction at the beginning and a bit more feedback at the end of my project. I left wondering if I had actually helped them or not, because no one had really looked at my work to see how I'd done it.

"It was great being behind the scenes at the museum, especially since it's closed now. They gave us a nice tour. We also had a separate tour with NARA because of a contact I had through work, so that was another behind-the-scenes thing which was really interesting. I got to hold Spock's phaser, which was pretty freaking awesome."