As finals week rolled around, I was soo ready to be done with school. Not that I didn’t love Penn State or my new-found best friends, but I was certainly ready for a break from the work. Well, the school work was over of course, but “work”? Not so much. When I arrived home, I immediately went back to full time work as a waitress. I enjoy waitressing, though; it’s nice walking out with money every night!
This week, my other work began: my internship at the Blair County Historical Society. I am a History and Spanish major, and because I am uninterested in teaching, I knew that experience in historical research was essential to discovering what my potential future in History could be. The Historical Society has a set of letters and papers of a local war veteran named Jacob Higgins. Higgins was a participant in the Mexican and Civil War, and the documents they have also contain pieces of his diary and memoirs from the Mexican War. Soo cool! It was incredible to actually get my hands on this stuff and read through some of the events that took place in Higgins’ war life.
When I started two days ago, I began by skimming through the box, trying to acclimate to the script and language. On Thursday, I began to sort the the papers by separating Mexican and Civil War articles, and from there, organizing the many military orders that Higgins’ saved throughout the years. Along with my service to the Historical Society, I also have some work to do on my own. At the end of the summer, I have to write a 20 page research paper, on basically any subject that I feel I can successfully research in relation to my Higgins and his duty in the Mexican War.
In conclusion, it’s going to by an eventful summer: lots to do in only a few months. We’ll see what happens!