When I first arrived at Prints and Photographs, I received a processing plan and several Hollinger boxes filled with unsorted postcards. With the help of three other interns, I sorted and organized over 56,000 postcards dating from the 1890’s through the 1950’s. We sorted the postcards into a series for U. S. geographical, foreign geographical, and topical. Each series were further sorted into states, countries, cities, topics, genres, etc. It was a great experience getting to see our history through postcards. It was almost a kind of vicarious traveling. Throughout the project I had to do a lot of research. Many of the postcards lacked geographical identities, so part of my task was finding out where these places were or what these postcards were about.
Sometimes this required going up to the Copyright Office and using their record books and card catalog (the Copyright Office has the largest card catalog in the world, it really is something to see). Also, while working on the collection, we pulled postcards that we thought were interesting or unique and set those aside to use for an exhibit. Part of the Junior Fellow program includes a one-day exhibit of the treasures that we discovered in our divisions. One of the postcards I included in the exhibit was of an early Zeppelin airship (the LZ3) and written on the back was the following, “Vienna, Austria. Sept 7, 1908. Dear Uncle, Here is the way we may visit Europe in 2008 […].”
I also got to create catalog records for the items that I chose for the exhibit (I have to say, I have a lot more respect for catalogers now). By the end of the ten weeks, I had helped turn an unorganized collection (useless to librarians and researchers) into over 70 organized boxes, including a container list, allowing anyone interested in either the history of postcards or in specific localities the ability to find and use this collection for their research.
Besides the actual work I did, I also got to see a lot of great things that others don’t get the opportunity to see. The program included many tours of different divisions and facilities. I got to see the Conservation division and watch conservators work on one of Thomas Jefferson’s papers. I got to see the bible that Lincoln was sworn in on, Thoreau’s personal copy of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, two books from George Washington’s collection, the Bay Psalm Book (the first book printed in North America), and much more. It was a biblioholic’s dream come true. We took a tour of the Fort Meade facility, which is their newest off-site storage facility that uses a maximum space-efficiency approach to storing items (the building is brand new, it houses millions of items, and already they need to expand it!). Also, we toured the new state-of-the-art Audio-Visual Conservation Center where all of the motion pictures and sound recordings are kept. The Library of Congress is enormous, obviously.
Overall, I had a wonderful time and I learned a lot about the Library of Congress and how something so large and daunting is managed, cared for, and used. I learned a lot about the management of collections, in general, and the approaches and techniques that the Library of Congress uses. Hopefully, I can say that I’ve acquired a new skill set; I’ve definitely received top-notch professional training. Although I had a great time, I am glad to be back. One of the things I’ve learned is that like any library, the collections are only as good as the people who care for them and share their knowledge and passion with others. The Library of Congress truly is our nation’s library and there are many wonderful people there who make it what it is.
