Viola da Gambas, Early Modern Salons, and Graphic Design

 

I found my internship with Dr. Johnson and the MEMS program extremely rewarding, educational, and most of all – fun. Although I have worked previously in marketing, I have been laser-focused on pursuing a career in history for the past three years and forgot how much I enjoyed it. With this internship, I was able to combine my passion for history with my (rusty) marketing experience and had the added bonus of working under one of my favorite professors at UMBC. Although I do not think that I will pursue a career in marketing, being able to create posts and manage social media platforms is an increasingly important skill. While I still think my “graphic design” skills could use (a lot) of polishing, the practice and experience I gained this semester is invaluable.

For me, the peak of this internship was getting the chance to meet with other students with similar academic interests and help advertise MEMS’ end-of-semester event, The “Early Modern Salon.” Through working with Dr. Johnson and helping with the salon, I was given the opportunity to learn to play the Viola da Gamba – a baroque era consort instrument that is not frequently played in modern ensembles. While I will most definitely not be joining the New York Philharmonic Orchestra any time in the near (or distant) future, learning how to play the gamba and about its history was a rare and enriching opportunity. Ultimately, by the end of my internship, I feel like the goal of expanding MEMS’ virtual presence was achieved and hopefully, MEMS will continue to grab the attention of UMBC students like it did for me!

Digging Through the Archives

 

One of my favorite projects, and certainly the most challenging project, I undertook was creating a MEMS research guide. After visiting UMBC’s Special Collections archive in the library, Dr. Johnson and I discovered that there were hundreds of medieval and early modern books available for student research. After discussing the best way to advertise the collection, we decided that a research guide – or “brochure” that sorts the available books by date, subject, and location – could be useful for students. However, as the Special Collections is a closed collection, where a call number and title are required for access, creating a list of books for the research guide proved increasingly difficult. While the library luckily has an online database that lists the books in the collection, there were over three hundred MEMS-approved books to sort through (many of which were not in English) – and I quickly realized this would be more difficult than initially anticipated.

The ultimate goal of the project was to help students, who may have been unfamiliar with an archive or in a time crunch, find primary sources for their research without having to comb through the online database. Yet, with the extensive collection UMBC has to offer, finding a way to organize the research guide became a challenge. The first step was to make a list of all the books available, then I sorted them according to academic subject and publication date. Although my initial plan was to create a single-page handout (in brochure format) for every MEMS book in the collection, once I compiled the list, I realized there was no way to fit everything without the guide being over five pages long. Eventually, after several days trying to redesign and reorganize my initial draft, I found that creating several different brochures, organized by subject matter, would be the only way to fit in all the information on a single handout. Although the project took much longer than expected, it was surprisingly rewarding! By the end of the semester, I not only used the brochure for my own research project, but we were also able to send it out to other students to help with their research as well.

Working with UMBCs Medieval and Early Modern Studies Program

 

During the Spring 2023 semester, I was given the opportunity to be an intern for the Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) program under Dr. Lindsay Johnson. At UMBC, the MEMS program offers classes that encompass a chronology from late antiquity to the eighteen century and stretch beyond the borders of Europe. As a history major interested in the early modern era, this internship immediately felt like a perfect fit! Although the MEMS program is interdisciplinary, drawing on a variety of humanities courses, as of January 2023, there were only a few students enrolled in the minor. Dr. Johnson and my goal for this internship was two-fold; we sought to spread awareness about the benefits of a MEMS minor, which included eligibility for a MEMS fellowship and opportunities to join in fun off-campus events, while also building a community of like-minded students interested in medieval and early modern studies. Therefore, my primary role as an intern centered around marketing and student outreach.

My first task was to help bolster the program’s online presence by creating and managing MEMS social media pages on Instagram and Facebook. By developing advertisements that detailed the minor’s requirements, available MEMS courses, and upcoming events, interested students could have an alternative, easily accessible, avenue to seek information about the program. While social media platforms became a useful tool in connecting and growing the MEMS community, we also sought additional ways to reach out to students. After coordinating with several MEMS faculty members, I was able to organize short in-class presentations in a variety of MEMS approved courses. By the end of the spring semester, I had the opportunity to visit several classes and speak directly to students about the program.