Andie Kinstle ’28 Works in Oberlin College Archives as Weidenthal Undergraduate Summer Intern

How did you learn about the Weidenthal Undergraduate Summer Internship, and what made you decide to apply? 

I learned about the Weidenthal Undergraduate Summer Internship through a friend who sent me an advertisement for the internship in the Campus Digest. After completing a Winter Term project called Digital Archiving Practicum where I got to practice classifying, organizing, and digitizing materials from the Theater Department, I knew I was interested in learning more about archival work. I decided to apply for the internship because it was a great way to expand my knowledge of the field and gain experience processing and managing archival materials. 

What did your work in the Oberlin Archives involve? 

A large portion of my work involved organizing, dating, and digitizing different types of photographs such as prints, film strip negatives, slides, and born digital photographs for the Oberlin Review Records Collection and photographs from the Office of Communications. I also digitized weekly calendars to create a timeline of Cat in the Cream events, and I worked on a few small research projects about John Henry Scott and Hanna Camp. Most recently, I read through the diary of a student at the Oberlin Academy Preparatory Department in the late 1860s and wrote a biographical sketch based on the diary’s contents. 

What has been the most surprising or memorable discovery you made during your internship?

 The most memorable discovery I made during my internship was learning about the life of Mollie Hezlep Jones, a student from the Oberlin Academy Preparatory Department in the 1860s. The College Archives possesses a copy of her diary from her time as a student, and I read through it in order to write a biographical sketch of her life. I found her diary surprisingly fascinating and really enjoyed reading through what she wrote about: her classes, writing letters to her family, the books she read, and her relationships with other students. It was interesting to see how her life as an Oberlin student is both similar and different from Oberlin life now, and this was definitely a memorable project. 

Do you think physical media is important? 

I think physical media is incredibly important! Working on projects this summer that involved materials, like scrapbooks and diaries, added an extra layer of historical authenticity to the projects. The diary I worked with was from 1868, and I think it’s an incredibly fascinating and unique experience to work directly with that kind of old, three-dimensional material. Even more modern physical materials are distinct in a way that digital media cannot replicate. 

Has this experience shaped your academic or career goals? 

This experience has definitely shaped my career goals as it has solidified my interest in pursuing a graduate education in archival management. I’ve been interested in the broader Library and Information Science field for a while and curious about archival work, specifically. This internship gave me the opportunity to learn about different processes for accessioning, describing, and digitizing archival materials, and I really enjoyed getting to explore Oberlin’s rich history through the various projects I worked on this summer. This experience confirmed archival management as a career path I want to pursue.

To learn more about various internship opportunities available at Oberlin, visit Career Exploration and Development.