Merging Astronomy and Archives

            Hello, my name is Travis Clatterbuck.  I am a senior at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, with a History major and minors in Ancient Studies and Public History.  Over the Spring 2024 semester, I will be completing an internship with the Space Telescope Science Institute as an archive intern.  This will be my second internship with archives, a field I wish to further pursue after I graduate at the end of the semester.  Although I have some experience interning with archives, this will be a unique experience as it is with the organization that controls the Hubble and Webb space telescopes.  My previous experience was with a historic museum, so the material within the collection will be quite different. 

            My internship takes place at the Space Telescope Science Institute which is located on Johns Hopkins University Campus.  My work hours are typically Monday and Wednesday six hours a day, for twelve total hours a week.  Thus far in my internship, I have not yet begun any projects as I am still being trained.  However, the majority of the work I will be doing will include digital archiving, analog processing, and aiding in the curation of a small rotating exhibit.  For the digital archiving project I will be working with a website called ArchivEra to process the raw digital material that the archive has in pdf format.  The analog processing project will require me to process a couple of physical collections.  Finally, I am very excited to have the opportunity to aid in the curation of a small, rotating exhibit.  I have enjoyed the curation assignments that I have done in school but have never had the chance to do in a professional setting. 

            I am looking forward to having another opportunity to experience working in an archive, especially in a different type than my previous internship.  I think this internship will be extremely unique and is an excellent example of how archives and public history jobs can be found in almost all fields.  I am by no means a scientist or astronomer, so I am interested to learn more and see how I can bring my background in history and public history to a science-dominated organization.  I hope to share more on a specific project later on in the semester.