– by Morgan Rafel, Archives intern
My favorite part of Kent State’s Masters of Library and Information Sciences program is that the final semester before graduation consists of a culminating experience. We could choose between a thesis, a research paper or project, or an internship. Seeing as I had little to no archival experience when I started the program, I knew I would have to find an internship. I knew I wanted to be in a museum setting, so I began applying mainly in the DC/Maryland area, but had no luck. I had reached out to Chrissie Perella, the Archivist at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (CPP)’s Historical Medical Library, about their archival internship about a year beforehand, so I decided to reach out again and see where it would go…
Fast forward a few months and I began my internship at the Historical Medical Library in January 2020. During this time I have, so far, had the opportunity to process three different collections; two Presidential Papers collections and the Babies’ Hospital of Philadelphia collection…well, half of it, but more on that later.