Senior Cathryn Kinde (History and American Studies) spent Summer 2020 as a Film Archive intern for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). Although due to the COVID-19 pandemic she was not able to be physically present in the museum, she was able to gain valuable experience remotely by cataloging, researching, and authenticating new films for the museum’s public database. Although her primary focus was film, she was also able to assist the recording department in cataloging and assessing audio clips from World War II radio broadcasts Operation Annie and Radio Luxembourg.
In Cathryn’s own words:
This internship was incredibly rewarding. One of the reasons I became a history major at UMW, was because I believe that we have a duty to honor those that came before us, in whatever way we can. Going through these films that focused on different concentration camps and other horrific sites of the Holocaust, I felt like in some small way, I was ensuring that these people who had suffered so much would not be forgotten. I may not know their names, but I know their faces, and I will not soon forget them. Being able to ensure that other people who go to the museum’s database will also know these people, was an honoring and humbling experience. The USHMM motto is “What you do matters,” with an emphasis on you. Although my internship is ending, I am taking this mentality, as well as everything else I learned, with me.
Cathryn was one of eight College of Arts and Sciences students who received an internship grant supported by the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Advisory Board internship fund and administered through the UMW Office of Career and Professional Development.
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