Mary’s blog

Bonus points if you are reading and can name the artist of the song in my title (because I can’t and I’m too lazy to.)

Anyway.

Figured I might as well use this to document my internship, so here it goes- an abbreviated version of the past couple of Tues/Thurs. I promise to write more as the days go on and my memory gets weaker.

I started on Tues. June 3rd, 10-5. Got acquainted with the office and the lovely people in said office. I also got a hard-hat tour of the new building across the street. Decided to work on added info for the transportation exhibit, and eventually the currency exhibit. Showed off all of the digital history projects that day too, and when I asked Sara what she wanted the end result of my research to be, she said “something like that” in reference to the awesome projects of dighist 471.

Thurs. June 5th. 9-5. Spent a lot (a lot) of time searching through old Washington Post articles for anything related to the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. Stumbled across the Aquia Train Robbery in 1894. Thought it was the coolest thing ever, and when I went to share with everyone, MH produced a book which talked about the RFPRR and specifically the Aquia Train Robbery right down to a wanted poster. Bubbled popped.

Tues. June 10 and Wed. June 11. 10-3 and 1-3 respectively. Went to UMW library to get the know-it-all RFPRR book, and to track down the Aquia Train Robbery article from the Washington Post. The library doesn’t have microfilm back that far for the Wash Post. Bubbled popped again. Reinflated bubble when I realized they had the Free Lance Star. Spent an hour or so getting microfilm scans from the library computer to my laptop. Also came across reference to Charles Dickens’ American Notes and his travel on railroads and roads in general. Found really cool old copy from 1877 in library. Also grabbed a book of letters from Thomas Jefferson (apparently Tommy boy called the trip from Richmond to DC the worst in the world, but all I could find was some grumbling about roads in Fairfax). Will keep looking through Dickens and Jefferson.

Today, 9-5. Spent the day reading Dickens, and random people referencing the area from the Library of Congress online database. Had a meeting with Sara. Things to look into:

Truman episode of American Experience (has a clip of sign welcoming black travellers on Rt 1.)

Jim Crow travel experiences

Other famous people (besides Dickens) who came through Fburg.

Won’t be an update next week, I’ll be on vacation.