Student Interview: Emily Enterline
Name: Emily Enterline
Tell us a little bit about your background.
I graduated from Clarion University in 2013 with a degree in library education. I had been working for the federal government as a student intern since graduating high school, and continued in that capacity until starting the MLIS program part-time in 2014.
How did you get interested in working in the archives?
While I enjoyed my time in school libraries in my undergrad experiences, I did not see myself in that role. I began volunteering at a local historical society, and realized I really enjoyed working with those types of materials and records. I thought that I would like working in a museum or similar setting, and the Archives and Information Science specialization in the MLIS program at Pitt seemed like the perfect fit. I had some friends who went through the program, and they encouraged me to apply for the AIS specialization.
Tell us about what you are working on at the ASC.
I recently finished working on the Congressional Papers of John P. Murtha, a project that had been ongoing here for about 2 years before I started at the ASC. Murtha was the longest serving Pennsylvania Congressman, having served from 1974 until his death in 2010. A Pitt alum, Murtha was practically an institution himself in this area. He was a staunch advocate for the residents of his 12th Congressional District, and had a long history of fighting for the people of Johnstown and Pennsylvania as a whole.
I was able to help the project archivist finish processing the papers and memorabilia and prepare the finding aid. I then had the opportunity to work with the design team working on the John P. Murtha Center for Public Service (at Pitt Johnstown) to help gather memorabilia from the collection. I also got to write some text and select photographs to be displayed on the collection’s website. I’ve had quite the range of experiences with this collection!
[Note, for me info on Rep. Murtha, read Emily’s post on the congressman from last week!]
I recently started to work on the papers of the Public Administration Service, a consulting firm with many ties to the University of Pittsburgh.
What’s something fun or interesting you’ve found while working with archival material?
Getting a chance to look at and handle the photographs and memorabilia from the Murtha collection was incredible. Murtha had the opportunity to meet with many different U.S. Presidents, foreign dignitaries (including Queen Elizabeth!), and travel the world. He was also given many things from people all over the world - medals, flags, awards, and gifts from U.S. Presidents, others congressmen, foreign dignitaries, and constituents. One of my favorite things from the collection is a golf club from President Bill Clinton – he wrote Murtha a personalized note to accompany the club! There are also a few ceremonial sabers, which are always fun to handle.
What is something you learned from working at the ASC?
The past year at the ASC has taught me everything I know about being an archivist. It’s easy to read about processing materials and making finding aids, but I actually got the chance to do those things, it hadn’t really sunk in. Before I started here, I had little knowledge of what archivists actually did. I’ve learned that there is a lot more to being an archivist than just processing – we have to consider ideas like preservation, outreach, and access and privacy. The group of archivists here have proved themselves to be great mentors!
