While learning in school can be an enlightening experience, no amount of reading and discussion can replace actual experience gained while working in a desired field.  While visiting LaBudde Special Collections (part of the Miller-Nichols Library at the University of Missouri, Kansas City) for a repository site visit assignment, I was able to speak with Mr. Stuart Hinds, Director of Special Collections.  Through our casual conversation about the collection there, we began to discover ways that we could help each other out and thus, my practicum was born.

Due to my knowledge of printmaking and fine art, I was initially assigned a large set of random prints.  The Graphics Collection contained hundreds of engravings and etchings, photographs, drawings and paintings, lithographs, woodcuts, and more ranging from the 1700s-1900s.  The collection finding aid was in need of some fine-tuning, and the pieces needed to be researched more thoroughly for collection assessment.  While that was tedious work at times, it ended quickly.  I was able to process a collection of documents from a non-profit organization, curate an exhibition of tintypes and photographs, process a periodicals collection, assist in patron requests, and retrieve items from the general collection for acquisition.

PO7 – Archival Practicum Experiences