Max Penn

My specific project with working with the Charles E. Stade papers.  Charles E. Stade was an architect who designed a lot of buildings on campus.  His works include Mueller Hall, Meier Hall, Linwood House, the (past) Moellering Library, the Chapel of the Resurrection, as well as interior work in dorms throughout campus.  In the collection there are letters of correspondence and a vast amount of blueprints.  The blueprint pictured is for the Memorial Chapel (now Chapel of the Resurrection) and I am pointing out the pulpit, where the preacher would speak to the congregation. From the letters of correspondence, it is clear that Stade deliberately put the pulpit exactly there in order to serve the purpose of this church on this campus, which was a place of regular daily worship by an entire student body.

My work in the University archives has been extremely educational, practical, and most of all, fun.  The internship has given me the chance to truly test myself, not simply as a history student, but as a practicing historian.  The fun of being a historian is delving into primary documents and the work is trying to make out the writings, examine the correspondence, craft a narrative from the primary documents, and organize it in such a way that it can be later accessed by visiting historians and library patrons.  In this history internship, the practicality of archival work and the fun of primary documents meet together for a truly unbelievable experience.