The William L. Clements Library acquires, preserves, and provides access to primary source materials pertinent to early American History. Its curators identify projects for internships based on historical value, the physical condition of materials, and other priorities including the Clements’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. Please join us as students and mentors discuss their recent conservation, collection description, cataloging, and digitization projects.

LS&A undergraduate student Ella Horwedel performed conservation work and created a finding aid for the Starry Family Correspondence. James H. Starry, his wife Nancy Starry, siblings, cousins, and others wrote often-candid letters about their lives in Virginia and Ohio between 1840 and 1850. They provided valuable reflections on gender relations, courtship, alcohol use and temperance, African Americans, slavery, and other subjects. Ella washed, repaired, and lined the Starrys' heavily damaged letters to make them safe for handling by researchers; and she wrote descriptive text to help scholars discover the collection for study.

Vocal music student Alexandra Brassard worked with the Graphics Division to digitize and improve catalog records for the Clements Library's illustrated sheet music collection. Although American popular music of the past includes pervasive racial caricatures and stereotypes, it is also rich with themes related to immigration, gender, spiritualism, and includes notable African American composers.