Introduction and The Public History Center

     Hello all! It has been a few weeks since I started my internship at the Public History Center in Sanford, Florida. Let me tell you more about myself and how I got to this point. I am currently a junior at the University of Central Florida, but I hail from Palm City, Florida. I decided to major in History over a year ago, and added a minor in Anthropology (with a concentration in Archaeology) last semester. I have always had a love for history as a child, and I came to the conclusion that I would be happy pursuing a career involving history. I am interested in museum work, particularly incorporating Native American artifacts. This led me to seek out an internship in a museum, since I don't have any of the skills required for museum work, and I wanted to develop them.
     This search led me to the Public History Center. The PHC is located in Sanford, Florida, and is about thirty minutes away from UCF. The building that is the Public History Center was built in 1902, as Sanford High School. This was the building's function until 1911, when the new Sanford High School was built, and the current school was converted into Sanford Grammar School. It remained this way until 1984, when it became the Student Museum. The University of Central Florida leased the museum in 2012, and it officially became the Public History Center.
     I was able to get an internship in Archival Administration at the PHC, and I started this semester (Spring 2014). I didn't really know what to expect for my internship. I did know that I would be processing a collection of documents and photographs to be submitted to PastPerfect and Riches MI. In the past, archiving ended with the organization of items into a complete collection. Now, because of the ever growing digital world, archival collections have to be entered into these computer programs in great detail. The reason for this is public access. Researchers, and people with an interest in a particular collection, can consult these programs to determine whether or not the collection has what they are looking for. This is a revolutionary way to bring history to the public.
     And this will be my project for the semester. I will be organizing the collection that I have been assigned to (The Sanford High School Collection), and submitting it to PastPerfect and Riches MI. I have yet to work with these programs, so this will very much be a learning process. I am, however, very excited to become familiar with them and to finish this collection!
     Until next time,
                      Samantha