Semester Project

So, when the JFK Presidential Library turned me down for a student position in the Hemingway Archives, I was initially pretty bummed. But I consoled myself with the thought that my required LIS440 internship this semester would just have to be somewhere impressive so I could beef up my resume. But that didn't happen either. As it turns out, there was a project waiting for me that I never would have expected. And just as I had to be rejected by Harvard to spend the summer doing historical ministry at Park Street Church, I had to be turned down by JFK before I could get my dream project.

I'm actually going to be back at the Congregational Library, where I had my first experience doing real archival arrangement and description during my internship last fall. This time the project is quite a bit bigger. Of all the 440 internships available this semester, it is by far the most exciting. Check out the official description:

The intern will assist in researching, developing, and creating exhibits documenting the history of The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (A.B.C.F.M.). The American Board was the first American Protestant foreign missionary society and will be celebrating its two-hundredth anniversary in 2010. The intern will be responsible for selecting materials, creating labels, installing exhibits, creating publicity materials, and scanning materials for on-line exhibit use on the web site. The intern may write for the blog or the e-newsletter and may lead a discussion on the exhibits at a Brown Bag lunch event.

How cool is that?

As soon as I read the description I contacted my previous supervisor to ask about the project, and the short version of the story is that they are glad to have me back. I'll be starting my research on Monday.

In my research to be a PSC tour guide I read a bit about the ABCFM, as Park Street was one of the churches involved in commissioning the first group of missionaries the group sent out, including Adoniram Judson. Yes, that Judson. The man the best Christian summer camp in the world, where I spent the best weeks of my summers growing up, is named after.

So my job will be to put together both online and physical exhibits that showcase the various missions the ABCFM has supported through the years, beginning with Judson and moving forward through the present. I think that actually sounds far more interesting than sorting through Hemingway's old receipts.

On the practical side of things, this project actually will look amazing on my resume in spite of being at a smaller institution. My project will have a real finished product to show, and is completely different from what I did last year.

And I feel that this is the sort of work I am supposed to be doing. The more time I spend in the archives/library world, the more I think I want to work for a religious institution. It's always been in the back of my mind as a sort of "oh, it would be nice to work for a Christian school/organization someday." But now the thought has made its way to the front of my mind. I still don't know where I'll be going after I graduate next May (side note: I already had to turn in my petition to graduate; it feels far too soon to be doing that! Didn't I just get here?), but the opportunities I have been led to so far definitely have a religious trend. It just makes me wonder what opportunity God will open up for me next.

-Kim