Hey y'all,

I started my internship on Tuesday of this week and, well, it hasn't exactly been what I had expected.

I've done some work in the past in archives, but always from the perspective of the researcher. Doing that is a totally different experience, though.

Before, I was accessing the material with the specific purpose of answering my research question. Now, though, I have to read everything, which means that I can skim a lot less.

Or, I'm told, I can skim more - I am, after all, only supposed to categorize the files in to vague-but-accurate categories. But! Some of this material is so interesting!

So: I'm working at the moment with the archives donated by the Congregation of the St. Joseph (heretofore referred to as CSJ). There's only three boxes; it's kind of a smaller project to start on, which is nice. The reason why we have their files, despite the fact that they're based out of New Orleans, is because we have been donated the files of Sr. Helen Prejean, a prominent anti-death penalty activist and victims-rights activist. You may have heard of her: Susan Sarandon portrayed her in an adaptation of her best-selling memoir, Dead Man Walking. And Sr. Helen's congregation is CSJ.

All or most of the files that we've been given portray directly (or indirectly, I suppose) to the work of Sr. Helen. That means lots of correspondence between the congregation and Sr. Helen, when she's on the road, and also includes things like contract negotiations (for books, movies, TV films, etc) and lots of newspaper clippings about Sr. Helen's ministry.

This is what my work has looked like:

And also, check it out! The key to the city of Cincinnati!

It's been good - it's been surprisingly tiring, though. It's very immersive work, which means that I open a folder and then look up three folders later and it's been two hours and I'm exhausted. I'm glad I'm only doing five hours a day - It's tiring work! I wasn't expecting that, especially because I've always been a fairly competent reader.

One note: I have been trying to figure out the legal intricacies of posting personal information from the archives. It is a matter of public record, yes, but I want to make sure that all's squared away. Also, pictures! Depaul has some rules regarding who can take pictures and publish them. (I figure these are okay. Please don't sue me.)

Thanks for reading! See you next week!