Ava Baker

Preserving the Past, Advancing Her Future

For some people, historical preservation may conjure up images of dusty archives and quiet museum halls. But for Ava Baker, a sophomore history major at USC Upstate, the work is about making connections and saving important stories.

Baker is helping the Piedmont Historical Preservation Society catalog some of its collection as part of a paid internship funded by a Mellon Foundation grant. Forty-one Upstate students in select humanities majors are spending 15 hours each week interning for area nonprofits.

Baker appreciates that she’s been entrusted with the same type of projects that a professional might handle. “I’m literally doing the job I would be doing at the museum,” she says. “It’s a really good hands-on experience.”

She loves the satisfaction of bringing order to the stacks of material she handles. “You take giant piles, and you organize (them) until one piece of paper is in (each) folder.”

She first sorts the piles thematically – one for church-related items, another for mills and another for personal documents. Then within each group she catalogs the specifics of each item.

But the job goes beyond just cataloguing. “You really need to be able to communicate concisely, explain your thinking,” Baker says.

Far from being a solitary pursuit, archiving is very collaborative. “It’s so much more teamwork than you could ever imagine,” she says. “I was surprised at how much teamwork we needed.”

Because the organization is located nearly an hour away from campus, Baker is grateful the Mellon funds have helped cover her transportation costs and given her an opportunity she might not have had otherwise. “Not every internship is in Spartanburg, some need to go further,” she says.

And the impact goes both ways. Small nonprofits such as the Piedmont Historical Preservation Society rely on interns and volunteers to get important work done, since they don’t have the budget for staff.

“They needed us so badly, and we arrived on scene and we’re already meeting goals and post markers for where we need to be,” Baker says.

She’s glad she can provide help while also building her career skills.

“It’s a good opportunity for people who are not quite experienced to get that experience and to get paid doing it, so they know what their work is worth … especially for the humanities. This entire thing is wonderful, and I hope we continue doing it.”