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Tag: National Museum of American History Library

“Pruning” at the National Museum of American History Library

NMAH Intern Jenn Parent
NMAH Intern Jenn Parent

This post was written by Jenn Parent, intern at the National Museum of American History Library. Jenn is a recent graduate from Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA with a BS in Anthropology.  She will be relocating and attending graduate school at University of Washington-Seattle for a Master’s in Library Science this September.

I spent this summer as a library intern at the National Museum of American History and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and learned so much! What did I get to do while I was here? Let me tell you…

I worked on two main projects; first, the impressive trade catalog collection housed here. Approximately 500,000 pieces of trade literature are available for use by curators, researchers, fellows, or anyone who wants to take a peek. The trade lit includes sales brochures, product catalogs, price lists, company histories, correspondence, and other similar items from about 30,000 companies. My tasks varied; most often I was entering new (to us) trade lit into the system. Most of what I entered fell within the medical sciences field, but I still saw a wide variety of really nifty items, including surgical equipment from the 1800s, disposable clothing of the 1960-1970s, and smoking accessories (which included ‘water pipes’).