Where was your internship?
I completed my internship with the Fairfax County Park Authority’s Archeology and Collections Branch. They are solely in charge of conducting archaeological investigations within the 400-plus parks that the Park Authority owns. Primarily, they conduct field surveys before the Planning Department is allowed to begin any kind of ground disturbance related to park maintenance or improvements.
What were your main responsibilities on the job?
Initially, I was responsible for conducting land ownership title searches for the parcels within Riverbend Park and formatting them into tables to be included in a technical report for a Phase I shovel test survey that we had just concluded. Then, I conducted additional historical research into the prominent landowners identified in the chain of titles. Finally, this information was formatted into a general history of Riverbend Park.
What were the most rewarding aspects of your internship?
One of the most rewarding aspects of this project was compiling and formatting the chain of title tables for the technical report. Completing the title for each of the 10 parcels included in Riverbend Park was difficult to complete. It required research into a variety of poorly scanned and written resources which required a lot of patience to sort through and fill in the missing information.
What was your biggest accomplishment?
My biggest accomplishment in this project was the organization of the general history of Riverbend Park. Due to the large number of parcels included in the park, it became difficult to write the history in a way that was digestible to the reader. I found it necessary to color code the individual parcels to better organize them while writing the initial draft. In later drafts, my supervisors and I decided to reorganize the parcel information based on relevant family ownership which helped to streamline the narrative.
What did your internship teach you about being a professional historian?
I learned historians invest a lot of time and energy into trying to find or fill in timelines. They must make difficult decisions about the number of limited resources to sink into finding possible information. At points throughout the project, I had to take inventory of how much time I was investing in finding small or inconsequential bits of information that did not impact the overall history. Ultimately, I did not have the time to chase down every lead I found and had to make difficult choices between information that was relevant to the project and interesting to me personally.
Did anything surprise you?
I was surprised by the amount of information I was missing that I was able to find in historic newspaper databases. Before this project, I had not used newspapers as a research source at all but found them helpful and informative. I was able to find proof of deaths, Estate Sales, Sherriff Sales, and runaway advertisements related to prominent people associated with Great Falls.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your internship experience?
I am glad I was able to start this research and plan to continue it for Riverbend Park. I appreciate the consideration taken by my supervisors to focus on my goals and the things I wanted to gain from this experience. There was never a point where I felt lost in the process, my supervisors took a lot of time and made efforts to work collaboratively with me. They shared a lot of expertise and knowledge gained through their careers that helped to redirect my efforts when I was struggling with concepts or issues.