Not only has my internship with the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage taught me much more about the inner workings of the Smithsonian, but my examination and research of the 1976 Folklife Festival have also taught me much about our nation in general. With the government shutdown affecting the Smithsonian itself, one of the skills I have expanded in my repertoire is adaptability.  As a scholar, one must be willing and able to adapt when faced with a roadblock in one’s research, but the government shutdown has pushed me to a new level of adaptability. I have been very fortunate that my internship supervisor, Sojin, has not been affected by the shutdown, as she is a trusted employee.  However, I have been able to see firsthand how the shutdown affects the federal employees through the emails I have received and the resources that have been locked to me.

This has led to another skill I have expanded and further developed: how to better examine and sort for pertinent information in a massive archive. As a historian, I obviously know how to sort through archives and large amounts of data, but since gaining access to the Smithsonian Digital Archive Management System, I have learned just how challenging this can be. Not only is DAMS a very comprehensive archive, but the sheer number, upward of 50 million entries, is astounding. Not only that, but developing and learning the skills to navigate DAMS is another skill I have learned. Finding audio files, images, and other important documents related to the 1976 festival has been very interesting. In working with DAMS, a future skill I see myself developing is understanding its inner workings. I was supposed to have a DAMS training by now, but because of the shutdown, no training has been held.I look forward to gaining a better understanding and improved navigational skills from this training.

Another skill that I have developed and adapted is working with new information and software platforms. One of the Smithsonian’s most extensive educational programs is Learning Labs. Learning Labs is software designed to help showcase Smithsonian artifacts and highlight key information. My coordinator has been tasked with creating a Learning Labs collection about various aspects of the 1976 Festival. With this, I need to develop an in-depth understanding of how the platform works and the best way to share the information I have been tasked with. Learning Labs has some issues, something my coordinator admitted, but I am ready and willing to work around these challenges to provide the best results.  I am so very thankful to be interning with the Smithsonian and learning and growing in my digital scholarship and as a historian.