Last year, the AMNH Archive Project team began creating finding aids for major archival collections relating to the museum’s scientific expeditions. The research is also producing brief histories of these expeditions and biographies of those who participated in them. These entity records use the Encoded Archival Context -- Persons, Corporate Bodies and Families (EAC-CPF) standard with the aim of linking personal and expedition names across the institution to facilitate research. As we enter into the second summer of the grant our project team is continuing to focus its energy on refining our use of EAC and describing archival collections throughout the museum.
Students will work with the project archivist to define an action plan which may include several of the following deliverables: creating a finding aid and entering it into Archivist Toolkit, creating person and expedition EAC records, offering suggested updates to collection catalog records, and writing a blog post about their assigned expedition.
We ask that candidates:
- Be knowledgeable and have an aptitude for organizing archival materials, including a familiarity with MARC, DACS and EAD. Some knowledge about EAC_CPF is appreciated, though curiosity and interest can go far. This is a learning experience but students with previous finding aid experience are also encouraged to apply.
- Be comfortable working in Excel; our EAC records are currently being built in this tool.
- Have a strong interest in natural science; knowledge of the subject matter is also helpful.
- Have an ability to think analytically, take initiative and be mindful of details.
- Be dependable and committed to the completion of their part of the project.
- Have good communication skills and the ability to work with others including the scientific staff.
The interns will:
- Have the opportunity to work on a finding aid and potentially work with Archivist Toolkit.
- Collaborate with the project team (headed by the Museum Archivist), proposing questions and participating in the research process.
- Work closely with the new descriptive standard (EAC-CPF).
Send resume and cover to rmorgan@amnh.org. Please indicate availability, specifically the days, hours, and number of hours a week available. This is an unpaid internship, but can be used for course credit.
For more information about the AMNH Archive Project please see the project blog at:
http://images.library.amnh.org/hiddencollections/
http://images.library.amnh.org/hiddencollections/
