Spring Internship Highlights

Records Management hosted three student interns during the Spring 2024 semester. Their work contributed to the Records Management Division’s effort to improve access to its collections. The impact of their work will be far reaching, and their efforts are greatly appreciated by staff.

Meghan Zimmerman, a junior at Wando High School, started volunteering with the Records Management Division in the fall of 2023 and has undertaken two archival processing projects. So far, she has processed a collection of historical contracts related to the new municipal airport (now Charleston International Airport) dating to the 1930s. Meghan next moved on to working five boxes of records detail the acquisition, exhibition, and conservation of the art hanging in City Hall. Meghan will continue to work with the division during the summer as a Summer Youth Employee. Look for a post about her experience later this summer!

Meghan Zimmerman is shown processing archival files (bringing order to the chaos).

Mark, a senior at The Citadel, learned the ins and outs of the City’s internal electronic document management system (EDMS) during his academic internship. He reviewed previously uploaded City reports and studies for scan accuracy. The EDMS is used for many of the City’s records of permanent retention. It contains archival records, but departments also actively scan files into the system. Any record that is scanned into the system must be reviewed for accuracy. Mark was instrumental in this important quality control step. An index to the collection is available on the Records Management webpage. Requests to access the collection can be sent to records@charleston-sc.gov.

Ashlyn, a senior at the College of Charleston who also joined us on an academic credit internship, digitized historical City records and upload them to the Lowcountry Digital Library (LCDL), hosted at the College of Charleston. Ashlyn started with a straightforward project of scanning a unique manuscript index to the annual City of Charleston Year Books from 1880-1930. After scanning and indexing that, Ashlyn moved on to the much more nuanced BAR Photograph Collection. Ashlyn researched, scanned, and assigned metadata to the BAR Photograph Collection. Her work has heightened visibility and promoted accessibility to some very significant City records. (Check out Ashlyn's post to learn more about her experience!)

Ashlyn Pause assigns metadata for BAR images before being uploaded to the LCDL. Mark Delatte reviews a City study for inclusion in the EDMS.

All three students brought energy and enthusiasm to their internships. Records Management staff are honored that they chose to spend their semesters with us. Congratulations to Mark and Meghan on their graduations! And we are excited for Meghan to continue working with us this summer as a participant in the City's Summer Youth Employee Program.

If you are interested in a future internship for course credit with City of Charleston Records Management Division, please contact records@charleston-sc.gov for more information.