Tyler McGurk served as an archives intern at the UC Merced Library this summer. He is currently a student at San José State University’s iSchool where he is pursuing a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS).
Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, what did you study, and how did you become interested in archives?
I was born and raised in Merced. In 2018, I began attending Pepperdine University where I studied history. At Pepperdine, I learned about SJSU’s MLIS program from some great people in the library. After I graduated in the spring of 2023, I returned to Merced and started working on my MLIS degree. My interest in archives stems from a passion for history, a knack for organization, and a commitment to academic scholarship.
What was your internship experience like? What was something new you learned?
During this internship I worked closely with Carol Wilson, the Archivist for Regional History Collections, to complete various projects. Our priority and the largest project we worked on this summer was rehousing the UC Cooperative Extension, Fresno County Records. This included reorganizing files in new boxes to reflect the collection’s proper order as well as processing additional boxes of photographic materials that had been previously unidentified. We wrote new series-level scope and content notes and updated the finding aid. Other projects were completed as well, including processing the Charles G. Holdridge Photographs, rehousing the Ralph H. Anderson Collection, and rehousing and additional processing of the UC Cooperative Extension, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Records.
Tyler McGurk rehouses Ralph H. Anderson's chaps and ax.
At the heart of this internship, though, were the fundamental skills and strategies needed to be a proficient custodian of archival materials. Carol provided me with plenty of experiences to develop and test my skills. I was introduced to standards of labeling boxes and shelves, tracking box locations, managing and tracking storage capacity and inventorying archival supplies. I spent a lot of my time working in ArchivesSpace where I performed data entry, updated box and folder listings as well as created new box and folder entries, corrected box locations, and uploaded relevant Library of Congress Subject Headings for current and future use. I gained experience writing concise and accurate finding aids to assist researchers in using collections. I also had the opportunity to respond to reference requests by pulling boxes and helping researchers in the reading room.
Processing photographs and negatives from the UCCE Fresno collection.
What did you enjoy most about the experience? Do you have a favorite item you encountered in the collections you can tell us about?
I really enjoyed learning how to handle and rehouse different kinds of materials. What archivists do with a collection of documents is different from what they do with a collection of photographs. I got to work with a lot of different materials during my internship, including documents, photographs, negatives, slides, and even leather chaps and an ax. I think my favorite item, though, was a photo album that is part of the UCCE Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo collection. It has photographs and newspaper clippings of the Goleta 4-H Club. My mom grew up in Goleta and I spent a lot of summers there as a kid. Seeing places like Nojoqui Falls captured in time and having the responsibility of rehousing the photographs for future use was a special feeling.
The Goleta 4-H Club scrapbook from the UCCE Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo collection.
What do you hope to do after you graduate?
I hope to work in an archives in a university library. This internship provided me with as full a picture as possible of the archival process. The abundance of hands-on experience that I got during this internship provided me with knowledge that I could not have gained in a classroom. As I continue working on my degree and eventually transition into my career, the knowledge I have gained here at UC Merced will be foundational.
