Course: HIST 635 – Internship in Archives
Internship: Art, Culture and Technology Archives and Special Collections at MIT
Week 4 (still) Time: Mon. 7/12, Wed. 7/14, Thu. 7/15 – 12 hours
Total Time: 38 hours
Thursday was the big day, the big trip into Boston that will eventually become commonplace for me in my experience as a grad student. It’s been a bit of a luxury for me, being able to do all of my work at home and not have to debate about which way is the best way for me to go into the city. On Thursday I chose to try out commuting by train, as opposed to driving up to MIT. It was easy enough! I just take the Providence/Stoughton line up to South Station and then take the Red Line north-ish. It’s the same thing I’ll be doing for UMB, except I’ll be taking the Red Line south-ish. It takes about an hour and ten or twenty minutes to get to either school by public transportation. On Thursday, I only had my phone with me, but theoretically I’ll be bringing my computer and possibly my Switch, so I could get work done on the train or take a break and play a video game. Also, podcasts! I’m hoping I won’t get too bored, but it’s much better to zone out on a train than while driving.
Going in to MIT was a wonderful experience. I found the Wiesner Building quickly and easily (after going the wrong direction in search of Dunkin’ Donuts). I met up with Thera and she showed me around her office and the ACT Archive storage/reading room. It’s in a space specifically made for meetings, not storing materials. Still, it looks neat and mostly organized. Thera has been doing a lot of work cleaning it up, so it’s come a long way from the way she found it!
Kari came in about thirty minutes later and we all sat in the reading room to talk. It was an excellent discussion! I learned the difference between institutional records and special collections (essentially what materials belong to the institution and what materials belong to the creator). I heard stories from both Kari and Thera about previous experiences working in archives. We explored some of the content of the collection and Kari explained to us which stuff does or doesn’t need to be kept. They’re going to do an overhaul of the collection and move most it over to the university’s archives! What a relief, I think, for Thera, that these documents and objects will have a proper home with proper care and resources! Most of the materials she’s been taking care of count as records made under the auspices of work at MIT and will be able to go over to Kari (even the Experimental Music Studio recordings). Kari and Thera will work together to create a plan for the movement of materials, and I’m hoping that I can help with that as part of my internship, or perhaps write a draft of a plan for my final project. As an aside, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that a movement of Thera’s collection won’t mean a loss of work for her.
In terms of the actual EMS recordings, digitization has stalled at the moment. Apparently they’re in worse condition than previously thought, and so the CLIR grant won’t cover the whole project. Kari suggested that they do an as-needed digitization, like if a visitor comes in and asks for a specific tape, then we would digitize it. Thera is a little worried about that because the tapes are in such a condition that they might NEED to be cleaned up and digitized now, before they get any worse. I’m hoping to be around when they figure out a good solution, but that might take a while!
Next, I’m going to be working on an exhibit for the ACT Virtual Museum. The fifth week of my internship will mostly be rooting around in the ACT Dropbox and forming a plan for what my exhibit will look like. I’m a bit nervous because art language is so specific and I’m not confident I can fake it! I’ll just try to be as genuine as possible and see what happens.
Kayla Allen 