Chester County Historical Society Library Reflection - Internship in History - August 5, 2017

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Dozel

Chester County Historical Society Library Reflection describes a HIS 450 internship experience focused on special library and archival work. It explains how volunteering evolved into a structured internship centered on archives, record keeping, reference services, and researcher support for genealogy and property research. Key responsibilities include creating finding aids compliant with DACS, processing and inventorying manuscript collections, arranging materials using established classification systems, and uploading cataloging outputs to the CCHS website while producing print versions. The reflection highlights project-specific challenges and the value of metadata for access.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLetters

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

Chester County Historical Society Library Reflection

Internship purpose and motivations

Archival skills and researcher support

Major projects and cataloging tasks

Collection processing, inventory, and DACS finding aids

Website documentation and final portfolio

Seth Wheeler Professor Smucker HIS 450-Internship in History August 5, 2017 Chester County Historical Society Library Reflection I found that my time at the Chester County Historical Society provided an enlightening learning experience of a special library setting and the Chester County community. In addition, I felt the work I performed had value in preserving the history of Chester County. From my years of experience in college, I noticed that only so much can be learned in the classroom and I knew I needed more exposure to the kinds of preservation work that professionals undertake in historyrelated fields. Thus, I began volunteering at the Chester County Historical Society (CCHS) in advance to experience this conservation work myself. From this volunteer experience at Chester County Historical Society, I became fascinated with the functions of record keeping and reference at the library. Thus, I pursued an internship to learn more about special libraries, archives, and the historical societies themselves. Working in the archives gave me a great set of skills to use in the near future once I leave school. I learned about creating finding aids and formatting them according to Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS). Additionally, I learned about processing manuscript collections, taking inventory, and archival theories and practice. I did not just learn about the history of Chester County, but how it was collected and what that memory means to both residents and researchers. Every day I when I was present, researchers came to the library interested in doing genealogy or property research. Thus, I realized how important historical societies are to our visitors. From May 15th to August 5th, I worked on a few major projects. Sometimes I helped with email research inquiries, the reference desk to assist researchers in their request for information on their topic, or shelving materials away using the Library of Congress classification system. In addition, I became acquainted with the literature surrounding archival practice and theory that include Dennis Meissner and Mark Greene ‘s More Product, Less Process, T.R. Schellenhurg’s Archival Principles of Arrangement, and Terry Cook’s What is Past is Prologue. However, I mostly focused on cataloguing three manuscript collections: The Greeting Cards Collection, The Arthur E. James Collection, and The Henry Pleasants Jr. Collection. Collection development consisted of processing, inventorying, and writing finding aids. Processing involved a series of steps that follow first by finding out and understanding the contents ofthe collection, coming up with a plan for its organization, and following that plan to its completion. The next stage of involved in inventorying the manuscript collection and writing the finding aid. The finding aid had to follow the DACS and provide a detailed record of the manuscripts that describe its history, scope of materials, arrangement, and the collection’s entire content. Finally, I uploaded the finding aids onto the CCHS website and created a print version for the library. Effectively, I created metadata by providing a crucial resource and information for researchers in their pursuits and easier access to those manuscripts. By doing this, I gained a major understanding of the day-to-day work archivists and historians undertake to preserve records of the past and how they will be used in a library setting. With these three projects, I discovered that each project had different demands and requirements. The Greeting Cards Collection had a preexisting organization structure, the Arthur E. James Collection unexpectedly grew substantially over time due to the unforeseen discovery of new records, and the Henry Pleasant Jr. Collection came from several different places in the archives that demonstrated conflicts of origin. In all of these projects, I confronted these challenges and came up with viable organizational systems, along with a

FAQs

What skills and practices did the internship develop?

The internship built skills in creating DACS-compliant finding aids, processing manuscript collections, taking inventories, and applying archival theories and arrangement practices.

How did the intern support library users during the internship?

Researchers visited for genealogy and property research, and the intern assisted through email inquiries, reference desk support, and shelving materials using Library of Congress classification.

Which manuscript collections were processed during the internship?

The intern primarily focused on cataloging three collections: The Greeting Cards Collection, The Arthur E. James Collection, and The Henry Pleasants Jr. Collection.

How were the finding aids and outputs delivered to the library?

Finding aids were written according to DACS and then uploaded to the CCHS website, with a corresponding print version created for library use. A WordPress site was also used to document and showcase the work.

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Dozel