Rickey Santee '07
Archives of the Moravian Church, Northern Province
Bethlehem, PA
Over winter break I decided to gain some practical experience in a historical field and interned at the Archives of the Moravian Church in Bethlehem, PA. For four weeks I performed many of the tasks that an archivist does every day: from cataloging books, to printing out microfilm for researchers, to cleaning and preserving historical documents. The archive was cataloging its Female Seminary collection during my internship, and I helped do everything from label folders to clean letters that were over 200 years old. As one of the premier schools for girls in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Moravian’s Female Seminary is an important part of the educational history of the United States and this collection needed preservation.
One of my best days at the archives was when an archivist found documents that had been missing for a number of years. I helped the archivists sort through the box that contained letters from Thomas Jefferson, while he was President, and First Lady Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, among others. To hold letters written by such important figures in American history was a feeling I won’t soon forget.
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Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA 17013
Carlisle, PA 17013