My name is Daniel DelViscio and I will be working as an
Archival Fellow in the Delaware State University Archives and Special
Collections. I am from Philadelphia and have lived there all my life.
For my undergraduate degree I went to Penn State where I
earned a very useless English degree. As a result of my inability to find a job
along with my lack of desire to teach ankle biting kids I decided to further my
education and crippling financial debt by completing a master’s degree. I
quickly selected library science as my choice and completed my master’s degree in
library science at Clarion University, which is located in northwestern
Pennsylvania. Originally, I wanted to earn my degree to become a librarian, but
as a result of one of my class assignments I quickly changed that idea. The
assignment was to visit two archives - a small repository and a large archive. After
a visit to the University of Penn Museum Archives I was inspired and decided
that archival work was something I wanted to do.
The largest factor in changing my focus from library to
archival studies was the opportunity to work with original, historic materials.
Unlike in a library, just about all the records and collections within archives
are original and can only be found in that archive. For example, at the
University of Penn Museum Archives much of the collections pertained to the artifacts
of the museum, various archeological dig sites the museum has been involved in,
and the people historically associated with the museum. In essence, the University
of Penn Museum Archives is the institutional memory of the museum and without it
there wouldn’t be vital information about the people and artifacts that have
passed through the museum over the years.
I’m guessing the same is true of the archives at Delaware State
University.
I really look forward to working in the archives for DSU.
From what I’ve already learned it has a rich history and I can’t wait to delve
into more. I look forward to the exhibits we at the archives will be bringing
to you in the near future.
Written by Daniel DelViscio
Written by Daniel DelViscio
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