Each summer, Puget Sound students participate in internships in a huge variety of industries and functions. This year, Ada Brown worked in the Northwest Room Archives at the Tacoma Public Library. Read an excerpt of her reflections below, and check out the full spotlight on the Tacoma Public Libraries website!
My name is Ada, and I am a student at the University of Puget Sound, going into my Junior year. I am studying Politics and Government and Studio Art, and was interested in working with the Northwest Room archives in order to grow my personal knowledge of Tacoma and experience work in a governmental institution. With a fellowship grant from my school, I have been able to work with the Northwest room’s files and photograph collections. Through this 10-week internship I have had the opportunity to explore collections in an assortment of exciting ways; I have worked on projects like researching photo collections and writing archival descriptions to digitizing 70-year-old theater company receipts. I have found entertaining stories, interesting photographs, and areas of intrigue that I am excited to share!
Throughout the course of these 10 weeks, I have uploaded and edited over 300 photographs in ORCA, the digital archive. I have explored the Northwest Room and gained knowledge of buildings that went up in flames a century ago. I am able to walk downtown and know what buildings and people existed on these streets before me. This amazing opportunity with the Tacoma Public Library has taught me so much about local history, the amazing resources the library has to offer and the joy of making knowledge open to the public.
This internship is a part of the Summer Fellowship Internship Program (SFI), offered through the Office of Experiential Learning. Curious what other students did this summer? Mark your calendar for the Summer Internship Symposium on Thursday, Sept. 19 from 4–5 p.m in Upper Marshall Hall!
