biography - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

Getting to Know Your CHC Staff: Part 9

Posted on November 5, 2019August 17, 2020 by Brittany F.

Welcome back to our ongoing series featuring the staff members who work here at the CHC! This post introduces our Archives Assistant, Brittany Fox.

Where did you grow up?

I’m a Massachusetts local, through and through. I’ve lived outside of Boston in the very small town of Hopedale for most of my life. Currently about 6,000 residents, it was originally established as a utopian commune.

Where did you go to school? What was your degree?

I got my Bachelor’s in History with a concentration in European history and two minors in English Literature and Film Studies from Salve Regina University, in Newport, R.I. After I graduated, I jumped into my current studies at Simmons University. By the Fall of 2020, I will graduate with two Master’s in History and Library Science with a concentration in archival studies from its SLIS program.

Ochre Court, Salve Regina’s first building

What are your interests or hobbies?

One of my biggest passions is advocating for environmental protection against climate change through my daily activities. I spent four years cleaning up Newport’s beaches as a member of Clean Ocean Access and my undergrad’s Protect Our Wildlife club. My concern also led me to become a vegetarian 4 years ago and I more recently became a vegan almost 2 years ago. I’m also very conscious about my energy and waste consumption– I do a lot of advocacy for proper recycling practices, the benefits of composting, and I often go home to assist my family’s bountiful garden. I bring environmental concerns into my professional roles as well. I follow ProjectARCC, a group of archivists dedicated to protecting collections from climate change, and I give support to many environmentalist efforts, both locally and nationally. Additionally, I’m dedicating my studies in history to becoming a scholar in environmental and ecological history.

The average bounty of my family’s garden on a summer day.

Name some fun facts about you.

I absolutely love to bake! I really love the challenge of making traditional recipes vegan and gluten free.

I have a very close-knit family. Back home, three generations live under one roof. Plus two dogs, Winnie and Daisy, and a cat, Ellie. It’s a full house!

Winnie, Ellie, and Daisy (a self-identifying lapdog)

I quilt and embroider in my down-time.
Once upon a time I was training to become a professional ballerina. And I could sit on my hair; it was that long!

When did you start working at the CHC?

I started as an intern at the CHC last spring as part of my SLIS studies. I had prior experience working at my undergrad’s archives for 4 years, an internship at the Naval War College in Newport, and a summer fellowship at the Newport Historical Society so I was already well-versed in the archival profession. But I fell in love with the CHC, its staff, and Cambridge and they were kind enough to keep me on as a part-time archivist assistant.

What do you like best about working at the CHC?

By far the best part of my job is working with my co-workers. We are truly a team. We both get the work done while having fun doing it. It is also really rewarding to reveal facts and stories about Cambridge that had been hidden until we delve into the topic. We encourage each other to pursue the rabbit holes we stumble upon and I love hearing what the others have found. Cambridge’s history is overflowing and I am so excited each morning to get to work knowing that I will learn something new.

Do you have other professional pursuits?

I am a member of the New England Archivists, the Society of American Archivists, and the Progressive Librarians Guild, three professional organizations that keep me in the thick of things. But I also engage in less formal pursuits– whenever I can, I volunteer at community archives and Digitization Days for repositories largely run by voluntary efforts.

“How Carter’s Ryto Cathedral Bottles can be Converted into Beautiful Electric Lamps” How-to Guide, undated. The leaflet gives detailed instructions on how to repurpose the Cathedral bottles into lamps.

Give us a glimpse into your daily work or a current project.

Currently, I am processing some really interesting collections. I just wrote a finding aid for the Carter Ink Company, now available online HERE (https://www.cambridgema.gov/~/media/Files/historicalcommission/pdf/findingaids/fa_carterink_newoct2019.pdf?la=en) . Processing a collection involves many components. I have to do background research on the history and creators of the records so that I can write a Bio Note. I also physically arrange the collection and gain intellectual control over the material. This includes performing any preservation needs and finding suitable housing. The next step is to reflect its organization in the Description of the finding aid so that the records are findable, and therefore usable. It’s a true balancing act– I have to honor the collections original order while considering how people will likely use the collection. I also make sure to take the time to consider all of the biases inherent in the collection as well as my own personal perspective. Archivists aim for complete transparency and ethical decision-making.

Photographs of local families mounted on card stock taken between 1919-1921.

What is your favorite photograph, artifact, or collection at CHC?

One of my favorite collections is actually one of the first collections I processed. Although a small collection, I love the Benedict Daniels Photograph collection. It contains scrapbook pages created by Miriam Benedict, a Cambridge nurse. The individuals in the collection are unidentified but they may be families or patients she helped during her time as a nurse in the early 1900s. The photos are really heartwarming, and I am enthralled by the mystery of the families’ identities. Maybe someday we will be able to learn their stories. Most of our records relate to the built environment so more personal collections like this one really stick out to me. Check out the collection’s photos on our Flickr page and the finding aid.

What do you like best about living or working in Cambridge?

As of right now I live in Boston proper– near the Fenway. However, it is my ultimate goal to move to Cambridge when I graduate. Fingers crossed!

Thank you, Brittany!

Getting to Know Your CHC Staff: Part 8

Posted on October 23, 2019May 13, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Welcome back to our ongoing series featuring the staff members who work here at the CHC! This post introduces our graduate research assistant, Grace Woodward. Grace comes to us from Northeastern, and is working on researching and documenting the history of enslaved and free Blacks in Cambridge during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland, a crunchy little city just northeast of Washington, DC.

Town rooster. Photo: https://mainstreettakoma.org/roscoe-the-rooster/

Fun fact about Takoma Park: We love our town rooster! Roscoe the Rooster lived in and wandered around the city for a decade from 1989-1999. He became a kind of mascot for the city and is now remembered fondly in the center of town.

Where did you go to school? What was your degree?

I recently received my undergraduate degree in History from Northeastern University. I also graduated with minors in Art History and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. In my senior year at Northeastern, I started my Master’s in Public History as I was finishing up my undergrad. If everything goes as planned, I’ll finish my Master’s in the spring of 2020!

What are your interests or hobbies?

I play Ultimate Frisbee in most of my spare time! Generally, if I’m not at a museum or doing nerdy history things, I can be found tossing a disc and running around with my team (the Northeastern Valkyries – check us out https://express.northeastern.edu/valksultimate/)!!

One of many photos where I look quite silly playing frisbee, I’m #22.

Name some fun facts about you.

I do a lot of biking and hiking, I think astrology is super interesting, and I love the Washington Mystics.

When did you start working at the CHC?

I started working at CHC in September 2019.

What do you like best about working at the CHC?

I’ve loved the opportunity to focus on and prioritize research at CHC. I’ve always loved doing research, but in a lot of my previous jobs I’ve gotten bogged down in what feels like everything but historical research. It’s been really interesting to wade in to and try to piece together early histories of black communities in Cambridge while I’ve been here. It’s been important and rewarding to learn more about Cambridge’s difficult histories.

Do you have other professional pursuits?

Right now, I am also working at Northern Light Productions, a production company in Allston that creates all kinds of cool interactives and films for various museums and historical sites. I am also a writing tutor at Northeastern, mainly working with multilingual learners!

Give us a glimpse into your daily work or a current project.

At CHC, I’m researching and documenting the history of enslaved and free Blacks in Cambridge during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I’m hoping to compile a narrative of this history that I can pair with a useful collection of various resources and documentation on the topic.

What do you like best about living or working in Cambridge?

I love my commute! That’s something not everyone can say, but I live in Roxbury Crossing and I love biking across the Mass Ave bridge on my way to and from Cambridge. Another Cambridge favorite of mine is Punjabi Dhaba in Inman Square, I think it’s the best Indian food in Boston and I can not get enough.

Okay, I must admit, this is not actually from my commute – it’s from a run much earlier in the morning – but it is a picture from the bridge I cross every day!

Thank you, Grace!

School Days: Emma Forbes Harris

Posted on August 15, 2019May 13, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Sharpen your pencils, sit up straight, it’s almost time to head back to class. We all remember the excitement, and sometimes a little dread, of returning to school in the fall. There have been so many great teachers in Cambridge but today’s post looks at a Cambridge teacher about whom we only recently learned. This teacher lived from 1830 to 1930 and taught in public and private schools for about forty of her ninety-nine years. Her name was Miss Emma Harris.

Emma Forbes Harris was born on December 16, 1830 in Milton, Mass. to Dr. Thaddeus William Harris and Catherine Holbrook Harris. She was the third of eleven children and the second oldest girl. The Harris family moved to Cambridge when Emma was two years old. Emma’s father took a position as the college librarian at Harvard. He also taught natural history to students that included Henry David Thoreau. The family settled at 8 Holyoke Place in a house built in 1844.

In 1853, Emma Harris resigned from her position as a public-school teacher at the Webster Middle School. She purchased a one-story building, formerly a post office and dry goods store, and moved it from Norfolk Street to Cotton Street (now Hancock Street) and converted it to a school. The building, which measured 20’ wide by 32’ long, was sited on a lot of land opposite Chatham Street that Harris leased from J. Warren Merrill of Harvard Street. Her school opened in 1854 for boys and girls up to fourteen years of age. Miss Harris operated her school in this location for over thirty years. In 1886 she began construction on a new larger school at 3 Acacia Street. The first school house was then moved to 277 Broadway and used by E. C. Heubel as a boot and shoe store. It was demolished in 1949.

Harris_CottonStreetSchool_1857advert — Advertisement for the Cotton Street School, a private school run by Miss Emma Harris of Cambridge. Cambridge Chronicle, 22 August 1857.

Harris_schoolhouse on Hancock circled_1873 — Emma Harris purchased a one story building and moved it from Central Square to Cotton Street, near Harvard Street. Cotton Street was located between Harvard Street and Broadway and was renamed in 1865 to be an extension of Hancock Street. Hopkins Atlas of Cambridge, 1873.

Harris_schoolhouse_CTribune01281888JPG — This article details the life of a building that started as a post office, then was moved for Miss Harris’ school, then moved again to become a shoe store. Cambridge Tribune 28 January 1888,

The new school building on Acacia near the corner of Ash was 2½ stories high and built in the Queen Anne style with an asymmetrical gable roof, corner porch, and decorative shingles. It was designed by her younger brother, Edward Doubleday Harris and constructed by local builder F. B. Furbish. The new school opened in September of 1887. Both boys and girls were accepted for enrollment. Miss Harris’s mother Catherine died in the spring of 1888. This change in her family circumstances may have led to her decision to retire. But the fall of 1888 was the last year that she advertised for new students to enroll in her school.

Harris_house circled at 3 Acacia_1894 — Miss Harris’ new school was built in 1886 on Acacia Street near the corner of Ash Street in the Half Crown neighborhood. This two story building was converted in 1890 to a dwelling. Bromley Atlas of Cambridge, 1894.

Acacia St 3 google street view — This house at 3 Acacia Street was built first as a school in 1886 then adapted for the residence of Charles Harris and family in 1890. Google Street View image, June 2018.

In 1890 she pulled a building permit to convert the school to a residence. This may have involved a small addition at the rear of the building. The house was occupied by younger brother Charles Harris and his wife Elizabeth Hovey Harris and their children. The house still stands on Acacia Street, with sunroom and tower additions that were constructed in 1994. Miss Harris resided in the family homestead at Holyoke Place until 1929 when it was purchased by Harvard and demolished for the construction of Lowell House. At that time she went to live with her sister Elizabeth Harris at 68 Sparks Street. Miss Emma Harris died in June 1930 and is buried in the Cambridge Cemetery. Miss Harris touched many lives and imparted knowledge to countless school children.

Harris_obit_CTribune06211930 — Obituary of Emma Forbes Harris, who died in 1930 in her hundredth year. Cambridge Tribune 21 June 1930.

Thank you to all the teachers who are heading back to school to prepare for the children that will be learning from them this year! Who was your favorite teacher?

Guest Post from our summer Mayor’s Youth

Posted on August 14, 2019May 13, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Today we have a special guest post from our summer Mayor’s Youth, Janelle Townes. Janelle is a student at Cambridge Rindge & Latin. Find out more about the Mayor’s Youth program (MYSEP) here.

Hi, my name is Janelle Townes and I am working at the Cambridge Historical Commission for part of the summer. I have lived in Cambridge my whole life and my family has owned/lived in the same house since the late 1940s. I have 2 pets, a(n) 11-year-old cat named Midnight and a 5-year-old dog named Nugget.

MIDNIGHT

SLEEPY NUGGET

One of my favorite parts of working at CHC is no day is the same as the other. For example, someone could come in asking about the history of their home or they could be bringing in unidentified china that they dug up in their backyard. I had a slight interest in history before working here, but after a few days it spiked.

One of my favorite projects this summer was typing up all the names, term dates, and other information of the Cambridge city councilors from 1915-2016. I enjoyed the project because I was able to see which year the first women were on the city council and the year when the first women of color were on the city council. One of my favorite collections here is the Historical Objects Collection. The objects are one of my favorite collections because I enjoy looking at old everyday objects. I think it’s cool to take a peek into the past.

Object images photographed by John Dalterio

One of my biggest interests is traveling. It’s so much fun! And my favorite place to go is Cancun, Mexico which I go to every other year.

Thanks, Janelle!

Getting to Know Your CHC Staff: Part 7

Posted on June 11, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Welcome back to our ongoing series featuring the staff and volunteer who work here at the CHC! This post introduces our photography consultant/photograph archives assistant, John Dalterio.

My name is Louis Dalterio, but everyone calls me by my middle name, John. I grew up in between Massachusetts and Connecticut with my mother, who was raising me on her own at the time. I was trained as an electrician in trade school, but upon graduating I discovered that I found no passion in that line of work. Instead, I wanted to be a film director.

All throughout high school I made skateboarding videos with my friends and consumed every film that the local Blockbuster sold as it went out of business. When I turned twenty I decided to attend community college to study film-making. A few months after enrolling, I attempted to make my first film with some Kickstarter funding and a small cast and crew from my local area. We discovered then that a Hollywood vision without Hollywood’s resources was nearly impossible to produce. After much deliberation, I decided to take the pragmatic route and shift my focus to a more simple and solitary art practice – photography.

In the Spring of 2012 I transferred to the Art Institute of Boston to fully pursue my interest in photography. The cityscape, chaotic and congested, could not be more different from the environment of my backwoods New England upbringing. For all its chaos, though, the city was rife with subject matter for the camera lens. Immediately I began wandering through side streets and back allies, searching for great moments to capture or interesting people to meet and make portraits of. After a few years of doing this while earning my bachelor’s degree, I had produced three photo series and two photobooks, which I am still fond of today: “Almagest,” and “Nayara.” Flipping through the pages of the image laden books, I recalled the excitement I felt when I first watched the dailies from the failed indie film. For a time, making and consuming photobooks became not only my hobby, but my sole obsession.

After the completion of my first photobook, I began working for the Cambridge Historical Commission as a photo restoration specialist. I was brought in to restore over 1,000 historical images that were to be used in the book, “Building Old Cambridge,” which was published by the MIT Press in 2016. The process of preparing the images took nearly a year and a half, which was a time of great perseverance and learning for me as I strived to produce high quality images on tight deadlines while balancing my school work. At the end of the book’s preparation process I left the commission to complete my bachelor’s degree at Lesley University, which had absorbed the Art Institute of Boston in the time since I had first enrolled. The move from Kenmore Square to Porter Square in Cambridge turned out to be a much-needed break from the hustle and bustle of Downtown Boston, allowing me to think more clearly and focus on the thing that I cared about most, my art.

As I neared the completion of my bachelor’s degree, I applied for and won an artist residency in Sweden, which was a magical experience that eventually led me to enroll in Lesley’s Master’s in Photography and Integrated Media program. This path would lead me away from photography for two years to focus on interactive installation art. Now, however, approximately one year after graduating from the master’s program, I find myself coming back to photography, and, thankfully, back to the Cambridge Historical Commission. This time, however, I am making the photos instead of restoring them.

ampmeter

Gilt Edge_Merged_1 copy

Mornings at the Historical Commission are very special to me. As a slow riser, I am grateful for the ability to settle in with my coffee and pastry from the shop across the street and watch the light as it pours in through the windows, pouring over the loose documents that were left out from the previous day’s studies, the various busts of noble figures that sit atop the surrounding filing cabinets and shelving units, and, eventually, the historical objects that I place in its path. I am fond of the Historical Objects Collection at the CHC, with my favorite part not being a single object, but the subtle character that each object contains, and the stories they tell when illuminated.

rubbershoes

In my time outside of the commission, I am a(n) freelance video producer, digital media specialist, art teacher, and artist. On a more personal level, I am a dog father to this sweet lady named Layla:

And step-dog father to this special lady named Lulu:

lulu

Thank you, John!

The Asa Porter Morse House

Posted on March 7, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

In relation to yesterday’s #ModernMonday posting on Woodrow Wilson Court (click here for that Instagram post), today we are highlighting the former Asa Morse Estate at 81 Magazine Street. Asa Porter Morse (1818-1906), the son of Daniel and Sarah Morse (first cousins), moved to Boston in 1840 and began business life as a bookkeeper in the house of Hayward & Morse, who were involved with West India trade. After accumulating enough capital to start a business for himself, Morse continued working in commerce and trade and moved to Cambridge in 1845. He served as a member of the Cambridge School Board, as an alderman, and as a state senator in 1879-1880.

instapost2

Morse became involved with developing sections of Cambridgeport near his home. In 1861, he built a large Italianate-style mansion with a central tower on Magazine Street, which was lined with large homes and churches frequented by some of the city’s elite.

Magazine St 81_Asa Morse House_0001

Asa and his wife Dorcas Louisa Short (1822-1864) lived at home with their three children. Upon Asa’s death in 1906, the house passed to his daughters Velma and Mary, who lived at home. Velma, the last living Morse, died in 1934 and the direct Morse line ended.

Magazine St 81_Entrance hall and front door

The 17-room mansion on Magazine Street, with its massive rooms, frescoed ceilings, crystal chandeliers, oak furnishings and paneling sat empty. In 1935, the Cambridge Chronicle reported that neighborhood boys were breaking in and removing items from the water heater to the slate roof. Outside, the garden with its once prim walks and flower beds became an overgrown tangle of vegetation, obscuring the once proud estate. The house was razed in 1940 and the lot was redeveloped into Woodrow Wilson Court years later.

Photographs taken of the interior by Charles Darling in the 1930s show the interior before it succumbed to vandals and the elements. The images were digitized by Historic New England.

Magazine St 81_Bedroom Magazine St 81_Bedroom2 Magazine St 81_Livingroom2

A major event in Morse’s life – and one that has often been omitted from his biographies – is his relationship with Anna Van Houten, a woman around 30 years old, who arrived in Boston from Spokane, Washington. Her life story is unclear, but it seems she grew up in South Carolina and San Francisco, and was married to a Mr. Van Houten, whom she divorced in 1889.

Van Houten and Morse met, and after a brief courtship, Morse proposed to Van Houten in 1891, buying her a $500 engagement ring and wedding dress. In 1892, however, Morse suddenly ended their engagement, claiming that Van Houten had concealed her earlier divorce. Van Houten sued Morse for $60,000 in damages for “breach of promise.” In 1893 she won her case and was awarded $40,000.

globe1 — Headline from the Boston Daily Globe, October 5, 1893

Later that year, however, Morse appealed, citing other reasons for breaking off the engagement. According to Morse, Van Houten had hidden her African-American ancestry from him. Van Houten denied this and presented photographs of her family in court to prove her white ancestry. Morse’s attorney contended that evidence showed that both Van Houten’s parents were black and that Van Houten was at least one-eighth black, and therefore that she had deceived Morse in the presentation of her lineage.

bostonglobe — Boston Daily Globe, November 19, 1893

The appeal was heavily reported and sensationalized in newspapers, and November 1894, the original verdict was overruled by the court. Van Houten returned to Spokane, and Morse died in 1906. The overruling would have a wide-ranging effect on future cases, however, in particular Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)*.

As this blog post only briefly covers this story, feel free to make a research appointment with us to find out more information on the trial.

*Miletsky, Zebulon V., “City of amalgamation: race, marriage, class and color in Boston, 1890-1930/” (2008). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 – February 2014. 931. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/931. 171-172.

Getting to Know Your CHC Staff: Part 4

Posted on August 21, 2018May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Welcome back to our ongoing series featuring the staff members who do wonderful work here at the CHC! This post introduces our Archivist, Emily Gonzalez.

Emily showing one of her favorite items from our collections – Motor Boot Spats once made by the Cambridge Rubber Company

Where did you grow up?

My family moved quite a bit, but I mainly grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. The East Coast feels like my home now, but I’ll always be a Midwestern gal.

emg-statefair — You haven’t lived until you’ve gone to the MN State Fair

Where did you go to school? What was your degree?

For undergrad I attended Lawrence University, a small school in Appleton, Wisconsin, and earned my BA in English Lit and Spanish. I did my graduate studies in Library Science and History at Simmons College here in Boston.

What are your interests or hobbies?

I love movies and documentaries, both old and new. I love visiting museums and historic sites, traveling, and trying out new restaurants. I just signed up to volunteer with Broken Tail Rescue, a local animal rescue organization, and I am super excited. About once a season I’ll force myself to run a road race (usually a 5k).

emg-grandpa — I love old photographs. This one is of my grandpa Les and his siblings on a farm in South Dakota.

emg-crossstitch — I also like cross-stitch, particularly the subversive kind. Image credit: http://www.subversivecrossstitch.com/

Name some fun facts about you.

I’m first-generation Cuban American, but I didn’t become fluent in Spanish until I was in college.
The summer after college I worked at a fast food kiosk inside of a zoo in St. Paul. It was called “Zooper Food.”

emg-zooper — Thanks for the free corndogs, Zooper. Image courtesy of Google.

My fiancé and I have a tuxedo cat named June. She rules the household.

When did you start working at the CHC?

November 2015.

What do you like best about working at the CHC?

No one day is like the other. There are always new research requests, collections to process, reorganize or digitize, and cool archival discoveries. I also love learning about the ins and outs of historic preservation through my colleagues.

Do you have other professional pursuits?

I’m an active member of the Society of American Archivists and New England Archivists, and I’m on the Collections Committee at the Cambridge Historical Society.

Give us a glimpse into your daily work or a current project.

A “typical” day could involve answering a research request, checking in with volunteers on their latest projects, discussing ongoing projects with my colleagues Meta and Emily, writing up text for promotional materials, emailing with other city departments or organizations about outreach activities, chatting about next year’s Cambridge Open Archives event, or meeting about the next steps in our big digitization project (“C-DASH”).

Because I manage our archives operation here, I don’t really do a lot of collections processing, so it’s nice when I do get to scan some historic photographs or reorganize a collection. I’m lucky in that I have such amazing archives assistants and colleagues, and that the CHC had library science interns and archives volunteers working on our collections for so long before I came here.

What is your favorite photograph, artifact, or collection at CHC?

I love the old restaurant menus in the Cambridge Ephemera Collection. The Wursthaus menu from August 6, 1962, is probably my favorite. Look at the “Businessmen’s Luncheon” – what a deal! [Note: The Wursthaus was a restaurant located at 4 Boylston Street, now JFK, in Harvard Square]

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

(Cambridge Ephemera Collection, CHC002).

I also love images that capture great facial expressions, like this one from our Cambridge Recreation Department Collection (CHC011).

emg-recdept What do you like best about living or working in Cambridge?

The quirky, intelligent community and how much love they have for the City’s history.

emg-cambstreet

The Archivists’ Corner: Getting to know your CHC archives staff, Part 2

Posted on May 25, 2017October 24, 2017 by Meta Partenheimer

This month, we are highlighting our fabulous archives staff here at the CHC. Our part-time archives assistants, interns and volunteers do it all — from processing collections and writing finding aids, to cataloging the research library, taking care of fragile objects and collections materials, and promoting it all on social media.

Our second staff post features Meta Partenheimer, Digitization Assistant.

Hi, my name is Meta, and I work at the Cambridge Historical Commission as a Digitization Assistant. Before beginning my work, I started at the CHC through an internship while taking a course at Simmons, and came back to volunteer over the winter break.

books-1 — A quick snapshot of the stacks I took last fall during a tour at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

I grew up in a small town in east-central Illinois, and attended college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While attaining my undergraduate degree in art history, I recognized that I loved spending time browsing the stacks and researching, and wanted to facilitate that experience for others.

After school, I moved to Oklahoma City where I worked for The American Pigeon Museum & Library, and the Oklahoma Historical Society. Working at these institutions helped me realize I wanted to become an archivist, and I decided to apply to the Master of Library and Information Science program at Simmons. Currently, I am halfway through my work towards an MLIS with an archives concentration. In addition to working at the CHC, I also intern at the John F. Kennedy Library.

pidge — A collection of racing homer photographs from The American Pigeon Museum.

My dream job would be professional beer tester—but I think more realistically I would love to work as an archivist with the Archives of American Art in Washington, DC. When I’m not archiving or catching up on homework, you can probably find me listening to a true-crime podcast, going to the gym, or catching up on my favorite British drama shows.

Fun facts about me:

My first paying job was detasseling corn the summer before I turned thirteen.
I have a cat named Winslow

winslow — Winslow at Christmastime on the farm in Illinois.

I am an avid fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder

bball — My first OKC Thunder game vs. the Milwaukee Bucks.

One of the strangest things I’ve discovered during my archival career was with the Manuscripts department at OHS. One summer, we were charged with collecting and preserving items from the State Capitol Publishing Museum, which had been closed for a number of years. While recovering a drawer of documents, I came across a small mummified mouse which my colleagues and I dubbed “Frontier Mouse.”

mouse — Each drawer on this wall held a blank book of forms for orders, permits, and other paperwork. I found “Frontier Mouse” in the top row.

So far, my favorite archival find at the CHC is a collection of cyanotypes that were taken during the construction of the subway system in Boston, Cambridge, and surrounding areas.

Currently, I am working on digitizing our architectural survey files, processing collections, and creating posts on CHC social media.