Hunched over a cardboard box, I retrieved an old photograph before sliding it back inside a newly labelled folder. I had just started my senior year of high school a few weeks ago, and was trying to figure out how to use an Epson scanner on the first day of my new internship at the Crossroads Discovery Center. Between scanning images, I would pause to admire each one, noting the tiny details captured in between their boundaries.
The CRDC, as I learnt over those first couple of weeks, was filled with many more such treasures from Noblesville and Hamilton County’s past. I expected to learn how to handle fragile documents, how to catalog and organize materials, and how to operate related technology. And I did learn all of that. But, most importantly, I was able to learn a few stories that formal history books tend to leave out: not the narratives of those who sought to change the world- but the ones of those who sought to make an impact in their community.
Much of my time as an intern was spent on digitization and organization projects- a process that oftentimes ended up taking longer than I expected. Each item, or collection of items, contains intricacies and unique aspects which is what made the work so interesting to me. When I was creating a more accessible inventory for the collection of Indiana Maps, I found traces of what Hamilton County used to look like in decades past. When I organized all the documents from the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce, I was able to see how the city grew its economy and its community over the years. I found that this work is not simply making a copy or organizing a box full of things into a comprehensible list, but creating a permanent connection to the original that is resistant to the damage time causes. Preservation, I realized, is also dependent on understanding the importance of an item in order to decide whether its value is worth dedicating the finite resources available to preserve it.
My favorite work done in my time at the CRDC was without a doubt the two blogs I was able to write for Audrey Haworth and Beatrice O’Neil. While digitizing Audrey’s 1917 high school scrapbook, I felt a connection to her. While I was separated from her by over a century, the CRDC allowed me to meet another girl my own age and find facets of her similar to my own friends and I. After digitizing the three existing issues of the African American newspaper The Future, I found myself studying Beatrice’s life through newspaper clippings, census records, and the Future in order to piece together her story. I felt a deep respect for all the work she did in her life, and enjoyed being able to share it for others to read. I leave the CRDC as I leave Fishers High School: grateful, and more certain than I was before about what kinds of questions I want to spend my life asking. This fall, I’ll be studying at the Kelley School of Business at IU. But I’ll carry with me the habit this internship gave me: of looking closely at seemingly ordinary things, and understanding them well enough to realize their extraordinary qualities.
About the Author
Anusha is currently a senior at Fishers High School. She is an intern at the Hamilton East Public Library’s Crossroads Discovery Center in Noblesville, where she works on research and archival organization. She is interested in history and reading and plans to major in Economics in the Fall.