Begin Year Two

Posted September 11, 2012 by Danielle Geller

I’ve been making a lot of trips back and forth between Boston, D.C., and my hometown in Pennsylvania since the end of my internship at the Smithsonian’s NMAI, and I feel like classes crept up on me out of nowhere. I decided to take three classes this semester (instead of two last year) in the hopes that I can finish my degree a little faster. I’m scheduled to take Access and Use; Records Management, and Establishing Archives and Manuscript Programs, and I’m really looking forward to them.
I decided not to continue working towards my Masters in History, so I’m down to just the Archives Management concentration. I had a really great talk with my advisor, who was able to address all of my concerns and fears. I’m a much different person than I was when I first enrolled at Simmons, and a lot of my goals have changed. I may pursue a Masters in History somewhere further down the line, and I actually have a ton of ideas for my thesis, but I’ll probably be looking for a much more defined history program when I do—and maybe I’ll be working in an academic archive where they’ll offer to waive some of the costs of my classes! (One can hope.)
I’ve been doing a lot of reading into the foundations of archival education and Masters programs recently and how archivists are being trained, and while I don’t have all of my thoughts together on the subject yet, I hope to have something composed to share with you all next week.
Hope the semester’s started off on a good foot for you!