Soojin Park, StoryCorps, Spring 2019
During my internship, I helped StoryCorps move its Sound Portraits Productions Collection to an environment better suited for preservation. It was a meaningful project not just for StoryCorps but for me too, in that I was able to participate in the preservation of highly important oral history artifacts. The Sound Portraits Productions Collection, which set the foundation for StoryCorps, was full of different types of audiovisual formats that I would not have known in great depth if it wasn't for the internship. Building a thorough collection assessment report for StoryCorps at the end of the internship help me gain a much better understanding of the more realistic aspects of collection management. While the theoretical side of things you learn at school are crucial, it is equally important to understand that what can actually be implemented in institutions and organizations may go against expectations. StoryCorps is a great place to learn this because it's a rigorous environment where new recordings are continuously produced. Most of all, StoryCorps values your experience there. I had the opportunity to present my project in front of employees across different teams, and was always asked questions like "who would you like to meet outside the department?" or "what are some of the things that are not included in our agenda that you would you like to learn?". I cannot recommend StoryCorps enough for any students.
Soojin Park interned at StoryCorps in Spring 2019.
