Ex Libris Rosenbach

This summer I am serving as a Collections Intern at the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia, PA!

The Rosenbach began as the private collection of a rare book dealer, Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach, and his brother Philip. Following their testamentary gift in the 1950's, the Rosenbach became a public institution focusing on literature, history, and art. A few highlights of the Rosenbach's collection include Maurice Sendak's original children's book illustrations (including drafts and final drawings for Where the Wild Things Are), the manuscript of Ulysees by James Joyce, and Bram Stoker's notes for Dracula. Visitors can take tours of the Rosenbach brothers' historic home, wander through the museum exhibits, conduct research in the library, or attend special events such as Bloomsday.

My main duties include:

• cataloguing a collection of manuscript pages by entering information about them into the museum's PastPerfect database.
• conducting historical research on Daniel Defoe's political pamphlets for an upcoming exhibition.
• digitizing the first lines of verses found in 17th-century commonplace books. (I wrote about this project for the Rosenblog!)
• selecting two items to go on exhibit and writing interpretive labels for them. (Right now I'm leaning toward an American dime novel called The Female Trapper as well as an 1846 letter by Charlotte Brontë regarding a toothache she had.)

I have also:

• helped de-install an exhibit of letters and newspapers.
• staffed Bloomsday, the Rosenbach's largest event of the year, as an attendance-counter and question-answerer.
• assisted with tent set-up for the Civil War Road Show.
• played Boggle with staff members during lunch. (They are extremely good at word games!)
• learned to handle rare books (and got practice when I re-shelved books from the personal library of the poet Marianne Moore).
• tested out a cryptogram activity for museum visitors.
• visited the Mutter Museum on an intern field trip. (The curator gave us a tour and took us behind the scenes!)
• eaten many a lunch outside in the Rosenbach's garden.

All said, I love my internship! The staff is fantastic, and every day I'm learning something new.