Recollection Wisconsin has been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with many UW-Madison students over the years. As the school year comes to a close, we wanted to highlight the work of three great students who have recently passed through our (virtual) doors.
Jody Bembinster completed her required practicum as a distance student in the UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) in Fall 2013 and has donated her time as a volunteer with Recollection Wisconsin ever since. Her projects have included uploading files and editing metadata for the Grant County Historical Society, La Crosse County Historical Society, and Langlade County Historical Society collections; editing our lesson plans for K-12 teachers; and expanding our presence on Pinterest. Jody is now taking the lead on curating our Tumblr site, Wisco Histo, which highlights unique and unusual photos from our partners across the state. Jody works with us remotely from Illinois — and previously from Texas — so volunteering is a way for her to stay connected to her Wisconsin roots.
Hannah Stitzlein graduated from UW-Madison with a Masters in Library and Information Science in May. This spring, she completed an independent study with Recollection Wisconsin, researching metadata issues in preparation for joining the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). She explored how other states and regions have approached requirements for joining DPLA, and determined what the lay of the land looked like for Recollection Wisconsin’s digital records within the greater DPLA context. Working from Ohio, Hannah also had the chance to attend DPLAFest in nearby Indianapolis, and she shared her experiences on our blog.
Hannah’s favorite collection in Recollection Wisconsin is the March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project from UW-Milwaukee. She’s currently seeking a metadata librarian position in an academic or special library.
Emily Nelson, an undergraduate History major, also completed her degree this spring. She’s continuing to work with the Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison as the Events Assistant, while applying for law school. Emily has volunteered with Recollection Wisconsin since 2014. She developed several of our online exhibits, exploring topics ranging from effigy mounds to octagon houses to rosemaling. Creating these digital exhibits showed her how similar a history website can be to a museum setting — both use object selection, structuring of exhibits and design to attract and keep visitors’ attention. Emily’s favorite Recollection Wisconsin collection is Milwaukee Public Library’s Historic Recipe File (and she’s even made a few of the recipes!). Her current focus is our Pinterest site.
