Projects completed at the

Messiah University Archives

This page details a few examples of the kinds of projects I completed while working as an Archives Assistant during my undergraduate career at Messiah University

David Climenhaga Collection Reprocessing - January - May 2024.

My final project at the Messiah University Archives was to reprocess an entire collection of materials relating to the life of David Climenhaga, a pastor, missionary, and bishop in the Brethren in Christ Church. The materials were organized into new half-boxes, each relating to an aspect of David's life, missionary service, pastoral service, or additional relative information. Many of the materials included sermons, communications, photographs, legal documents, and other items that were all to be organized chronologically and sequentially by the organizational standards practiced by the Messiah University Archives.

Oral History Transcription - November 30, 2022.

My final project for the fall semester was to practice transcribing an oral history interview that our archives director produced back in 2019. To accomplish this, I used a foot pedal tool and an audio-playing program where I was able to play, pause, rewind, and fast forward by pressing the three pedals. This project proved to be more time-consuming than I had initially thought, but I still enjoyed the learning process of analyzing and organizing the words I heard onto the document.

Messiah Archives Storage Reorganization Project. - Oct. 31, 2022 - Present

Currently (as of October 2022) the Messiah University Archives is in the process of reorganizing its collection.

Working together as a staff, we have been moving, deconstructing, reconstructing, and changing the layout and order of the Archives. This has included breaking down and rebuilding archival shelves, moving and sorting existing archival containers, and transferring materials to new spaces that the archives as acquired. Through being part of this project, I have been able to learn about how to manage storage space, how to prioritize certain parts of a collection for the reorganization process, and how to reorganize records based on space available. This is still an ongoing process.

Roseglen BIC "First Sort". - Oct. 12, 2022

This project was my first time sorting an unprocessed collection. Our process was to take out all of the items within the box, sort them into different piles depending on the subject matter, take out any unnecessary material, refolder our piles after sorting the documents by date, place folders in existing congregational boxes, and type up new container lists for said boxes. This proved to be an exciting process as I had never done a first sort yet, so there was a significant amount of discussion between my coworkers, and I had to decide what we wanted to keep, what was important, what needed to be placed where, and what we needed to get rid of.

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Cataloging Library Books. - Oct. 3, 2022

For this assignment, I was tasked with cataloging various books from BIC and non-BIC authors for the Archive's library shelves.

At the Messiah University Archives, we use the PastPerfect database software, so I was able to use the 'Library' section of the software and enter relative information about the books that would be searchable by researchers. After completing the cataloging process I went through the library shelves and placed each book in there respective location.

History of Theatre at Messiah U. - Sep. 21, 2022

This project was my second research project as an Archives Assistant. For this assignment, I was asked to gather pictures, primary and secondary source material, and other background information about the history of the theatre program at Messiah University. A request was put in by a student who needed additional materials for a "From the Archive" segment in the school magazine which led to me looking through our archives for connecting information. Most of my time was spent reading our school's newspapers from 1968 - 1975 to see what information was published about musicals and plays, as well as the creation of the theater major, which supposedly was created in '74. After I found pertinent material, I noted it down and, once I was finished reading it, sent it to our head archivist, Dr. Devin Manzullo-Thomas.

"Can We Find Out WhoTook These Slides?" - Sep. 7, 2022

For my first archives research assignment, I was tasked with placing a variety of slides taken by individuals associated with the BIC Church who traveled to different countries and documented their experiences. After placing the slides in sleeves relative to the country they were taken in, I had to use resources, including articles and biographies, to figure out which person took these photos. After completing my research, I figured out who took them based on a bibliographic entry about them. This helped the archive source the slides for any future reference.