My time at the Public Lands History Center (PLHC) has been brief but vastly influential. I first discovered the internship position through my advisor Kim Daggett. It wasn’t until I actually arrived at the Tiley house that I was completely sold. After discussing the parameters of the internship with Professor Jared Orsi, history of the house, and some of our personal history interests, I knew the PLHC would be a perfect fit for me. This was only reinforced when I started working with Professor Sarah Payne and fellow-intern Adaline Renstrom, and noticed first-hand how much this faculty and department care about their students. It was truly a unique experience that made me all the more interested in public history. I am honored and so thankful that was given this opportunity and experience. The experiences and lessons from the PLHC will carry on with me forever. I’ll never forget the impact this internship has had on my future and the amazing people I got know as well.

Much of the work was archiving, database, and targeted research. At the PLHC we built oral history info documents, reorganized oral histories, and worked as part of a team preserving important historic information. During this internship I had the pleasure of building connections with influential contacts, became a part of ensuring the historic preservation of certain items, and work with the ground floor of putting together a system that will help documentation and direction for future PLHC staff. Doctor Sarah Payne, Adaline Renstrom, and I began plans to begin the transfer of the oral histories from the PLHC into a repository.  Despite the time restrictions of working at the PLHC, it has helped tremendously in reaffirming my inspiration into the path of public historic work. Oral histories are some the oldest and most complex forms of history and when significantly simplified are stories. Without the preservation of these stories, a piece of the human experience is lost. Taking part in caretaking and making these stories more available to the public is very special me and I look forward to benefiting the past in the future and sharing the human experience with generations to come.