Hi I'm Abby - the last of three Fortenbaugh Interns to post! I am a senior with a History major and Political Science and Anthropology minors and I hail from Kokomo, Indiana. I am so excited to be working in Special Collections - I love working with history first-hand! Here's a brief write-up of what I have completed so far in my time on the 4th Floor.

 I am currently processing an incredibly interesting individual collection, donated to Special Collections by Mr. Leo Jarboe of New Oxford, PA. So far, I have gone through all of the many miscellaneous papers, articles, images, and other items of Mr. Jarboe’s. I organized them into cohesive groups and filed them into boxes, series, and folders. Since then, I have almost fully written a finding aid to help future researchers understand the collection. Mr. Jarboe has lived a fascinating life – at 18 years old, he served as a gunner in World War II on the destroyer USS Callaghan.  While on the ship, his crew shot down a kamikaze plane. One member from the kamikaze plane survived the attack and its aftermath and the Callaghan rescued him. Fifty years later, that survivor, Kaoru Hasegawa, completed some research and was put into contact with Mr. Jarboe. Mr. Hasegawa then came to the United States and went to a Callaghan survivor’s reunion!

 In addition, my fellow intern Melanie completed an oral history project with Mr. Jarboe last year. Between his donated papers and the transcript of Melanie’s interview with him, I feel like I know Mr. Jarboe. It amazes me that someone we could pass on the street every day has such interesting stories to tell. 

The Collection at its beginning! 

Going through the many documents and organizing them into folders. 

                            

Hello!  My name is Melanie and I am a Fortenbaugh Intern in Special Collections.  This is my third week in Special Collections, and I have to say I am loving the experience!  I have been giving the task of cataloging the Potuchek Papers.  I personally find college history to be very interesting, so I am having a great time going through these papers and examining how past courses were taught.  There are also many materials having to do with college committees, and I am getting to see how these different organizations helped make Gettysburg College what it is today.

I will admit that as excited as I was to start working in Special Collections, I was also a bit intimidated.  This is my first time working with archives, and I was not totally sure what to expect.  However, since I have been working in Special Collections the staff has been very friendly, supportive, and encouraging.  They really pushed me to dive right into my work and see what I could do.  Even after just a couple of weeks I feel much more confident and excited about the work I am doing.

I feel extremely lucky to have been given such a unique opportunity.  The Special Collections staff has indicated that they have several projects lined up for me to work on over the semester, so I have a lot to look forward to!

My First Weeks!

Hello! My name is Megan Fowle, and I am the Fortenbaugh Intern for the Spring of 2015!

To begin, here is a little bit about me:  I am a senior history major with a minor in Educational Studies.  I am from Frederick, MD, home to Francis Scott Key and the site of the Monocacy Battlefield. Over this past summer, I interned at the Historical Society of Frederick County, which is where those fun little tidbits of Frederick’s history came from. My favorite book is probably Peter Pan, but even as I type that I am thinking of several other books that I could have written as my favorites.  It is just so hard to choose!

I am very excited to work in the Reference Department this semester! I have completed my first two weeks, which I spent training with different members of the Reference staff.  I really enjoyed being able to learn from each of them, to see what their strengths were and hearing their pieces of advice.  Now that my training is over, I get to start working the reference desk and handling questions on my own!  To be honest, that makes me a little nervous.  There are so many aspects of reference librarianship that I had not known about.  From databases to subject searches, there are so many tricks of the trade that I have learned about over the past two weeks which I am excited to explore further, and I am excited for the challenge!

All-in-all, it has been a wonderful start to this internship, and I am looking forward to diving deeper into the world of reference!

Coming soon... Fortenbaugh Interns for Spring 2015

We're happy to announce the newest Fortenbaugh interns for Spring 2015. Watch the blog in January 2015 for their first posts!

Reference & Instruction

Megan Fowle is a senior History major with a minor in Educational Studeies, who comes to us from Frederick, MD.  During summer 2014 she interned for the Historical Society of Frederick County Maryland. As part of her internship she aligned existing school group programs to the newly instated Common Core curriculum.  Megan is also the president of the student organization “Free the Slaves,” and she is working with Professor Hancock on organizing a conference on modern slavery and human trafficking, which will be held at Gettysburg College in spring 2015. She plans to attend a graduate program in information and library science following her graduation.

Special Collections

Abby Rolland is a senior History major with a double minor in Anthropology and Political Science.  She has already had a plethora of experience in archives, museums, and historical societies and knows that she wants to do something with history as a career.  She spent a semester in Bath, UK during which she interned at the Roman Baths.  She spent last summer as a Pohanka Intern at the Stratford Hall Plantation working with their curator and collections manager on cataloging and planning an exhibit.  She is active on campus as well as a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma, a past participant in the Garthwait Leadership Institute, and the Student Life and Athletics Editor of the Spectrum.

Melanie Fernandes is a junior History major with minors in Education and Theatre.  She is currently studying in Bath, UK and plans to pursue a graduate degree in Information and Library Sciences in preparation for a career in either librarianship or public history.  She loves historical research and connected with archives during a project for Historical Methods last year.  She is interested in exploring the field and narrowing her interests before applying to graduate school.  She is a Chief Co-Editor of the Gettysburg Historical Journal and spent last summer as a Pohanka Intern at the Boston African American National Historic Park.

The Semester is Over?!?!

Big News! My project for the semester is finally done!  After reading through a lot of information on the best tactics for promoting a Reference Desk we finally found. After tailoring to our needs and putting our own flair on it we then had to find the students to help us.  This is one of the variations of our end project!

Overall, I am very happy with the results.  The theory is that since these contain photos of peers it is more likely that it will draw the attention of students passing by and they will stop and actually read what the poster is saying.   There are five different versions of these; one was made for the student landing page and one is for the library banner and then there are three variations of a poster which are located in all of the academic buildings, First Year dorms and common spaces on campus. 

I am excited to see if it really will promote desk services (or if we are just busier than usual because of finals).  I will have to check in with the Reference Department next week as this coming Wednesday is my last Reference Desk shift.  BUT! Before I get too worked up about the end of the semester/finals/real world/etc there is still the Finals Study Break that everyone should be looking forward to because there are temporary tattoos, games and ice cream. I’m glad I get to help set up because that means first dibs! Haha. Happy Finals!!!!

Just keep plugging away

Hello Gettysburg!
I hope all is well, and that everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of the semester.  It is amazing how quickly the semester went, and also a little scary; I only have two more weeks to finish the project I am working on.

So here is a quick update:

So many resources, so little time

I am not the greatest technology user, but I am in the process of creating a page on the library's resource guide that will include resources, links to resources, and links to links to resources about pretty much anything anyone might ever want to know about the President's Own Marine Band.  It will include audio resources, as well as links to more audio resources.  It will include links to notable and informative websites that will show you super cool pictures of various aspects of the Marine Band, as well as its musicians and directors, past and present.  It will even include links to resources that the library has about the Marine Band, such as informative books that you can actually read.
Bottom line: its going to be awesome!

The date is set for me to complete the project by Friday May 2nd, at which time it will be made visible to the public.  I know you all can't wait, so in the mean time, if there's anything that you might want to know about the Marine Band, (such as: When was it founded?  Which president held a party for the band's 200th anniversary?  How many women are in the band?  Who are other important and influential directors of the band?  Where and when does the band play?  What is the significance of each uniform?  I could go on and on...) don't hesitate to send me an email asking me to include something that you find interesting.
There's only two more weeks left of classes, and then its finals week, so just keep plugging away and doing great work!

Say Cheese

        The last few weeks have been very busy; my project has finally gotten underway! It features several students, and it has been a lot of fun getting them together to take these photos that will be used to promote Reference Desk services. The philosophy is that other students will see these pictures and since it features people they know it will entice them to stop and read the posters or web banners. Hopefully these will be up and around the library the week before finals and students will utilize the Reference Desk more.

         Aside from this project, I have been working with others to set up the Stress Relief Table that will be around during finals week, as well as the Final Study Break, which is when we have an ice cream bar out as well as activities!  This year it will be on May 5, so it will be Cinco De Mayo themed. We have a lot of great activities planned.  It's been a really great experience to help with these projects that do help out students during such a stressful time of the year.

        Otherwise, my senior year is winding down and I only have 4 shifts left on the Reference Desk, which is crazy! I don't know how the semester went so fast; it's strange because things that never seemed all that special are now these moments that need to be cherished.  I can't even begin to describe how much I learned through this internship and how much of an effect it has had on me, so much so that I am going to be pursuing a career in this field after graduation.