Amanda McQueen, the Texas Archive of the Moving Image
In Summer 2022, I interned as a remote cataloger for the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) in Austin, Texas. Using a Remote Desktop login, I accessed digital video files from various servers and entered technical, administrative, and descriptive metadata, including specific Texas locations, into the FileMaker Pro database. I entered basic metadata (collection name, dates, locations, genre, and important keywords) for every video. The videos selected for online publication on TAMI's website were cataloged fully, with more detailed keywords, a title, a blurb, an abstract, and a list of highlights. I worked on 6 collections over the summer: The Tyrrell Historical Library Collection, consisting of entertainment news segments; the Paul Schaefer Collection, consisting of footage from San Antonio's KMOL-TV news; the Mike Gilbert Collection and the J.G. Stephens Jr. Collection, both consisting of home movies; the Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society Collection, consisting of industrial films; and the Mickey Leland Archives, consisting of items related to the Texas Congressman. At the end of my internship, I selected 4 videos from these collections to highlight in TAMI's monthly What To Watch newsletter.
Remote working at the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI)
Once a week, I attended a check-in meeting with my supervisor, and I sat in on two full staff meetings to learn how the institution operates. Along with the other cataloging intern, I met individually with staff members to learn more about TAMI's social media engagement, donor relationships, preservation strategies, and digitization workflows.
