Weekly Update

Interns' Corner

Sara Shields

This week has been good, as I’ve had much more work to do than I have previously. This week I’ve been cataloguing items from two different collections into the state’s online object database, Argus. It consists of assigning the object an object number, stating the source of the object, a brief description, condition report, location of the object, etc. It’s definitely been very useful information to learn.

The objects I’ve been cataloguing are COVID-19 related items from local businesses during the pandemic. Objects include things like masks, hand sanitizer, and signs. Once I finished up on cataloguing these items into Argus, I also wrote up the catalogue worksheets for another collection that has not yet been assigned an accession number in Argus. With these worksheets, it will be easy to put the objects into Argus once these been assigned an accession number because all of the information will be in one location.

I’m excited for this upcoming week because I will be going through local COVID-19 stories and determining key words for each story. It is important to document the state of our current world because in 100 years, people will be studying and reading about 2020 in their history books. Therefore, collecting stories, oral histories, and artifacts right now will help people in the future have a better understanding of what our lives were like this year.

 

Volunteer Update

Interns' Corner

Sara Shields

These past couple weeks have been kind of slow with AHM. As I said in my past blog posts, getting my account set up with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (CWOPA) has been a struggle. However, thankfully this week I have successfully been able to have access to my account! This week I went to the museum in order to set up my account, and then I completed multiple web training programs in order to get me prepared to use the state’s online system. Now that I have this account set up, I’ll finally be able to access Argus, which is the database where Pennsylvania Museums catalogue all of their artifacts. I’m very excited to finally be able to do this!

While at the museum this week, I also attended a staff meeting which was conducted over Zoom due to the current pandemic. These staff meetings involve discussing various ways the museum can still reach the public while the doors are closed because of COVID-19, such as online exhibits and lectures.

Overall, I am very excited to get the CWOPA account set up so that I can start working and learning more!

Fall Week 2

Interns' Corner

This week I have been inventory

Sara Shields

ing different documents, such as maps and pay rate booklets, from the Susquehanna Colliery Company. This has helped me understand the process of cataloguing new materials into collections. Doing this virtually is different than doing this in-person because rather than having all of the documents right in front of me, I have to look at photos. However, it has still definitely been interesting and enlightening.

This week I was also given new material to inventory that has to do with the local community and the COVID-19 pandemic. There are stories and artifacts from community members about their experiences with the pandemic and how it has affected them. This will potentially become part of an online exhibit for the Anthracite Heritage Museum, which I think is a great idea for museums to do in these unprecedented times.

Unfortunately, I still have not been granted access to the state’s database for collections and cataloguing, so I am unable to do everything that John and I hoped I would be doing by now. We hope that by next week I’ll be given my login information so we can get started on other projects.

Fall Week 1

Interns' Corner, Uncategorized

Sara Shields

This week I met with the curator at the Anthracite Heritage Museum. I was given a tour of the museum exhibits that are usually open to the public and then a tour of the archives and library as well. The exhibit was very interesting and offered a lot of information on the history of anthracite in this region. I am from the area, so I actually toured the museum and the coal mine when I was younger; however, it was even better now!

The most exciting thing for me this past week was seeing the archives and collections downstairs. I was shown lease agreements from the early 20th century, which looked a lot different than lease agreements you would see nowadays. They were about the size of a typical pamphlet you would pick up in the doctor’s office, and they included the name and address of the renter. Another interesting thing about these lease agreements is that often people would just get up and leave without giving notice to the owner of the property; as a result, the agreements included a cash amount that they still owed. On the ones that I saw, it was often an amount less than $100.

Due to COVID-19, volunteering at AHM will be different than usual. They are currently closed to the public, but the work does not stop! This week I helped edit an exhibit on beekeeping at Eckley Miner’s Village that will eventually be put online while the museum is still closed. One thing that I learned this week is that even though the doors of the museum may be closed, the work inside does not slow down. While I wish I was volunteering at the physical museum this semester, I am still very excited to be doing the work virtually. I look forward to the rest of the semester!

 

Internship wrap up

Interns' Corner

The last few weeks have been crazy with school and the internship. One would think because the internship was online already nothing would change but it did and it was a lot to deal with. I was given a few small projects, and one big one.

The biggest project I worked on was the most time consuming and was continuous through the whole semester starting when Maria Adebola went on maternity leave. For this project, I had to attend a seminar on how to use Social Studio. Everyday I had to log on to Social Studio and review all comments on the VHA Twitter and Facebook pages, and by review I mean read them all, select a category to tag them in, and either assign them to be replied to or close them out. I had to go on several times a day Monday through Friday and I realized that it consumed a big chunk of time. I discussed with Robin and Debi to go on three times a day while school was in session. When everyone went on quarantine the comments nearly doubled with everything that was happening, so I had to go on more and more to get it all done. They were more than understanding if  I couldn’t be on at a certain time but I always got all the comments done by the end of the day and made sure the ones that needed to commented back were assigned as soon as possible. 

Overall this internship was a wonderful experience and I am so thankful I was given the opportunity to work with the VHA team. I am excited that they offered me a volunteer position with more access to their systems until I finish school. I am excited to hopefully continue my role with in the organization and hope that it leads to a full time employment opportunity once I am finished with school. 

Week 13

Interns' Corner,

For the thirteenth and final week of my internship, I finally managed to finish the names from the list sent to me. During this week I covered the years from 1869 to 1872. I thought that 1872 was important because this was the year before he died. My assumption is that Maxwell died really early in 1873, so that would explains its exclusion from the list. There really was not much to discuss from any of the findings. No new names or names of stores. Maxwell died in 1873, so it is likely he was not working as hard for the last five years of his life. That said I have no clear idea when he retired since there were very little names on the list during the 1870s. It was fitting that I managed to complete it in my final week. After I finished the list I told both Amanda and Dr. Black that I was finished. I sent the list to Amanda and then had to work on a reflection paper for Dr. Black. It only had to be one page long so it did not take too much time for me to complete. I also made sure to send out a thank you email to Amanda for allowing me to have an internship and to work away from Luzerne County. I loved looking through documents that were well over a hundred years old and trying to piece out information about a man who has been dead. Despite the setbacks from the pandemic, I still enjoyed my internship at the Luzerne County Historical Society. I would also like to thank Dr. Black again for helping me get this internship in the first place and further assisting me. As well as, Mr. Donahue too for telling me what to do for my internship when I knew it was time to start.

Week 12

Interns' Corner,

For week 12, I typed up the names from 1860-1868. As mentioned in last week’s post, I was rather miffed that I could not look through the files during the Civil War. I have no way of knowing what Maxwell did during the Civil War, but it seems that he might have been rather busy. Not busy in the sense of fighting since this is also close to the end of his life, but more in terms of work. The files from 1860-1865 have a lot more names on them. I have no idea if these are from the family members of those killed during the war trying to ask for insurance, as well as his friends discussing the war. As well as the political occurrences like the Emancipation Proclamation. I am a little upset that I may never be able to look through any of these documents, but I am at peace with this. The years after the war had less content in comparison. Granted that’s not to say that there were very few, 1868 had a pretty large sample. 1868 might have been the last time Maxwell ever worked full time since the following years have even fewer names. Then again it could be since it was three years after the war ended, so perhaps business started to pick up again considering the fewer amount of content implied on the document. There were no notable new names that I could see, just the same coal and mining companies as before. Not to mention, the same banks and insurance companies as before. I figured that the insurance companies would have a couple of documents during each year of the Civil War addressed to Maxwell. At the time of this writing, I have finished the entire list and the following week’s post will be about my reflection paper.

Week 11

Interns' Corner

During the eleventh week of my internship, I completed 1852 and stopped after completing 1859. One of the names that appeared frequently was St. Stephens Church. This got my attention because I remembered how the historical society was only next door to a church, so I did a quick google search and found out that they were the same. I am unsure if Maxwell was in frequent correspondence with the church was more for business and/or his own personal beliefs. Although I did find out that Maxwell was a lifetime member of a group called the American Christian Union, so it is likely he was rather religious. That said it was interesting and it reminded me of Wilkes-Barre. Another unfortunate problem from the pandemic was that after learning that the historical society opened in 1858 I could not look through any articles that discuss this. I could not find the name of Nathan Dennison, one of the founders, in the 1858 section. Another topic that I found interesting was that in 1857, Maxwell had been in correspondence with a group known as the Scranton Republicans. At first, I thought it meant that Maxwell might have been a Republican. However, after doing some research, I learned that it had nothing to do with the GOP, but was actually a newspaper. I have been unable to find any information regarding what party the paper generally supported during its publication, but I have found another important piece of information. During the late 1850s, the town of Scranton was growing into a full-blown industrial city. Due to this, I have learned the Republican was most likely a newspaper that revolved around businesses, not unlike Business Insider today. On a more personal note, I am rather disappointed that I will be unable to read the documents because of the buildup to the American Civil War. Something that will also play a part in next week’s journal.

Week 10

Interns' Corner

For the tenth week of my internship, I continued to copy names down from the list onto the word document created by myself. Last week, I managed to complete 1846 and stopped towards the end of 1852. Throughout the list were insurance companies with the most common of these being the Franklin Fire Insurance Company. I have noticed it throughout week 10 and the preceding weeks, my assumption as to why it is so common would probably be that Maxwell was an associate. From what I can gather about the company is that was opened in Philadelphia in 1829 and eventually shut down in 1873. As to why it shut down, I am uncertain, but coincidentally the company closed down the same year Maxwell died. It is possible that Maxwell might have been a very valuable member or associate, but due to my lack of resources, this is an assumption. Another notable name that got my attention was a group called the Proprietors of Plymouth from 1849. This garnered my attention because of the name Plymouth, which brought to mind the colony founded by the Puritans. However, this was more than 200 years after the town was fully founded in 1620. A proprietor is someone who owns a business, so it would appear that Maxwell had some associates in Massachusetts. It was interesting to see that Maxwell had potential business associates in a historical town. It would also appear that Maxwell had been regularly associated with the Wyoming Bank. By Wyoming, these letters would refer to Wyoming Valley, which is not far from Misericordia. Throughout my time at Misericordia, I have gone to Wyoming Valley to purchase items. However, it would seem that the Wyoming Valley Bank is no longer around, but I have been unable to find any information on a Wyoming Valley Bank. Finally, one name that got my attention was the Staffordshire Coal & Iron Company in the year 1850. This mostly relates to the history of coal mining and steel manufacturing in Pennsylvania.

Week 9

Interns' Corner

During my ninth week, I worked in intervals throughout the week. I managed to get ten hours done and managed to get through the years of 1844 and 1845 before stopping partway through 1846. Again due to the recent issues that plague us all, I am unable to go into detail about what document interested me the most. Instead, I have to find a couple of names on the sheet and theorize what it means. One recurring name was the Pine Forest Company, which grabbed my attention. I could not find any information about it, but considering Maxwell’s history of property dealership, I am inclined to believe that the company was responsible for the construction of homes. Pine Forest was either that or at the very least just supplied the wood needed for these homes. Another company that caught my attention was the Baltimore Coal Co. Considering Luzerne County’s history of coal mining and the fact Maxwell wrote a book about the subject fourteen years later it was nice to see a reminder of it. There were also the names of various banks such as the Wyoming Bank and the Philadelphia Bank. Considering Wyoming did not become a state until 1890 at least eighteen years after Maxwell died, it highly is likely this bank was referring to the Wyoming Valley not far from Misericordia. Regarding Philadelphia, it was interesting to know that Maxwell had correspondence with one of the most famous cities in American history. Finally, there was a letter from someone or someplace called Larkins of London. I was unable to find any information on whether or not this was a person or was some sort of business back during the 1840s. If it is referring to a person than it is interesting to see that Maxwell had been in contact with someone from London. I am rather disappointed that I was unable to read the document physically because it would be fascinating.

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