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Owl Territory
THE NEW HAVEN MUSEUM IS DEDICATED “TO EXPLORING THE PEOPLE, PLACES, EVENTS, AND IDEAS THAT SHAPE THE ELM CITY.” ITS WHITNEY LIBRARY SERVES MORE THAN 1,300 RESEARCHERS ANNUALLY — INCLUDING SOUTHERN STUDENT INTERNS IN SEARCH OF THEIR PROFESSIONAL CALLINGS.
EMMA NORDEN, ’20, IS HAVING A FULL-CIRCLE MOMENT. In August 2023, she became the research librarian at the New Haven Museum’s Whitney Library, one of three places she interned as an undergraduate history major. Today, she’s supervising her first intern, Finley Chapman, who much like Norden five years earlier, hopes to gain all-important experience working at the library.
Each of their internships was secured with the help of Jason Smith, professor of history. Smith believes in the transformative nature of internships, despite not completing one of his own as an undergraduate. Instead, he recalls tentatively reaching out to an historic Revolutionary War battlefield site, not realizing that his professors could potentially help. “I don’t think I ever heard back,” Smith says, “or maybe I heard that they didn’t have the need for an intern at that time. Either way I decided it was a dead end and stopped pursuing.”
In direct contrast, the Department of History is committed to smoothing the way for students seeking an internship — with good reason. Recent college graduates with internship or relevant work experience are more than twice as likely to acquire a good job immediately after graduation, according to Gallup, an international research consultancy.
At Southern, about two-thirds of history majors are enrolled in the Bachelor of Science program and plan to teach in grades seven through 12. For them, real-world experience is provided through student teaching.
While history majors in the Bachelor of Arts program are not required to complete an internship, “we highly encourage our students to do so,” says Smith. Looking back, Norden says her trio of internships brought clarity. As an undergraduate, she knew she eventually wanted to work in a library but was unsure what her ideal career would look like. Under Smith’s guidance, Norden also interned at Southern’s Hilton C. Buley Library in special collections and at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center, formerly the Knights of Columbus Museum, in the archives.
“All were great experiences. I enjoyed both special collections and the archives, and then the New Haven Museum offered a perfect mix of the two,” says Norden. She later earned a graduate degree in library science from Indiana University, Indianapolis, working part time at the New Haven Museum and other libraries — positions she found through her internship experiences.
Through it all, research remained a draw. “A lot of my job consists of digging into the archives to answer questions,” she says. Potential topics range from a search for long-lost relatives to an author seeking information on New Haven in 1905 for their next book.
Museum visitors who are conducting their own research will find the experience easier thanks to Chapman. His internship included an overarching project: processing the library’s extensive New Haven newspaper collection, which dates to the 1760s — everything from culling duplicate issues for storage to creating a new research guide. Chapman’s favorites are the newspapers from the time of the U.S. Revolution.
Norden also assigned side projects, including research, to provide a “true library experience.” On a particularly fruitful day, Chapman discovered a two-volume book of relevant genealogical data for someone seeking information on their family tree.
The internship provided personal insight as well. Chapman, who is slated to graduate in December, transferred to Southern and, like many, has changed majors.
Interviewed near the close of the spring semester, he’s extending his work at the New Haven Museum through the summer. In the fall, he’ll intern at the university’s Buley Library, working in archives.
“My educational background has been kind of all over the place, so, it’s taken me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life,” says Chapman. “But, through this internship, I’ve discovered that I want to work at a library.”
He’s looking into graduate school and sees a future in archival work or technical services. “I really like the background work,” says Chapman. “So much goes into making a library functional behind the scenes. Most people don’t have the opportunity to see it.” ■
