Weathervane Newsletter Summer 1999

Smith College PRAXIS Intern Develops Archival Collection

This summer, I was lucky enough to secure an internship at Historic Northampton Museum. Its staff worked with me to develop a plan for my summer duties. So far this season, I have read through several boxes of 19th and early 20th century letters donated to the museum by members of the community. After reading the letters, I assign each a unique "accession number" and enter those numbers, as well as a summary of each letter, into the museum's database. Although each collection of donated materials has been interesting, I have enjoyed the Burleigh family collection most of all.

Charles C. Burleigh, Sr. was an abolitionist and a journalist. His son, Charles C. Burleigh, Jr. was a superb local artist. Charles, Jr. spent several years studying art in Germany with his wife Ida, until his untimely death in 1882. During these years in Germany, both Charles and Ida sent many letters home to Northampton; it is this series of letters that I am currently processing.

My internship was made possible to a large extent by PRAXIS, a new program at Smith College. As of this year, Smith promises one PRAXIS funded, summer internship to each student. To qualify for this, the student must be enrolled at Smith, must be a rising junior or senior, and must indicate in writing, the educational benefits of the desired internship. PRAXIS provides tangible benefits for the interns themselves and for the communities in which they work.

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