Meet LancasterHistory’s Summer Internship Class of 2025
This past June, LancasterHistory welcomed one undergraduate and two post-graduate students into our NEH-funded Summer Internship Program. Each intern has been diligently working in one of three museum departments at LancasterHistory on various day-to-day projects as well as a larger research project. We’re also excited to welcome another post-graduate student this summer working on artifacts for the Stevens & Smith Center. In this post, you’ll get to meet each intern and learn about their projects!
Delton Brixius, Archival Services Intern
What Delton’s Working On
Over the summer, Delton has been interning under LancasterHistory’s Director of Archives and Manuscript Collections, Heather Tennies. Delton has been cataloging documents from the digital archive of Congregation Shaarai Shomayim, a local synagogue, into LancasterHistory’s collections database, PastPerfect. The documents relate to the synagogue’s long history following its chartering in 1856, as well as to the general history of the Jewish community in Lancaster, which has been present since the 1700s.
About Delton
Delton is a rising Junior at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, majoring in History and International Studies. After college, he plans to pursue a career in the field of history, either in the area of special collections or in public history. In his free time, Delton enjoys reading, playing video games or board games with friends, and hiking.
Favorite Internship Moment
Delton’s favorite moment during his internship was helping find a specific court summons from the 1700s out of a box full of other papers to fulfill a research request for a patron. He enjoyed working with historical documents and observing how these documents were utilized by LancasterHistory to assist the greater Lancaster community. He also enjoyed the field trip to the McCaskey Alumni Association’s offices, as it gave him a new perspective on how organizations approach the process of starting their own archive.
Nate Drenner, Curatorial Intern
What Nate’s Working On
Under the supervision of Dr. James McMahon, LancasterHistory Curator & Director of Collections, Nate has been inventorying and processing various items in the LancasterHistory Collections. He has been adding and updating records for various textile objects using PastPerfect. He’s also been working on cataloging recently-acquired items related to the Vietnam War.
About Nate
Nate is pursuing his doctorate in American Studies at Penn State Harrisburg, specializing in public history. As a former English teacher, he is particularly interested in the stories that objects and landscapes can tell. He’s hoping to move into a career in public humanities, a field that connects and engages diverse audiences with arts and humanities topics.
Favorite Internship Moment
Nate has enjoyed the unexpected discoveries that appear during the inventory process. One example is a large WWI-era recruitment banner for the Pennsylvania National Guard. With little information existing in records, it became a miniature research project—a puzzle to be solved.
Amelia Kasdorf, Historic Site Management Intern
What Amelia’s Working On
During her time as the Historic Site Management intern, Amelia led tours of Wheatland, discussing James Buchanan and his family, as well as Victorian-era customs and material culture. She handled administrative duties, gained experience interacting with visitors, and worked alongside LancasterHistory staff and volunteers at the museum, presidential home, and the Stevens & Smith Center, showing her multiple sides of a career in museums. Amelia also had the opportunity to pursue a research project of her choosing. As someone interested in both history and the environment, she investigated Wheatland’s spring, which once fed Buchanan’s beloved frog pond. In addition to the spring being a favorite spot of the president and his family, she studied its importance as a water resource to Wheatland and the neighboring properties, and explored the causes of its eventual desiccation. With this research, she wrote an article on the spring’s history and its place in the larger story of watersheds and development in Lancaster.
About Amelia
Amelia is a recent graduate of Juniata College, where she earned a degree in History and Museum Studies with a minor in Environmental Studies. She’s interested in environmental history in particular, which explores how the environment has impacted humans and vice versa, including the intersection between historical and environmental preservation. She plans to attend graduate school next for a program in environmental history or museum studies, and would like to work at a museum, historic site, or environmental preserve, like a national park. In her free time, Amelia enjoys hiking, camping, spending time outdoors, visiting museums, making art, and writing.
Favorite Internship Moment
Some of Amelia’s favorite moments revolved around interacting with the Wheatland volunteers and conducting independent research on the Wheatland spring. She’s enjoyed meeting, talking with, and learning from fellow tour guides. They were not only kind, but shared an interest in history and admirable commitment to museums and learning. It was also exciting to research a topic that aligned with her interested, and she appreciated the support, resources, and time she was granted to do so. Amelia learned a lot from the internship about museum work and responsibilities, as well as historical research methods and interpreting one’s findings to the public.
AJ Crowell, Stevens & Smith Center Intern
What AJ’s Working On
AJ worked with Stephanie Townrow, LancasterHistory’s Director of Interpretation & Exhibitions at the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy, to help finalize the material culture to be displayed at the Center. They split their research time between the Decorative Arts Center at LancasterHistory and the Stevens & Smith Center to ensure the material culture would transition to its new space smoothly. AJ also drafted supplemental engagement material to accompany exhibitions in the Center galleries that immerse visitors in the history of the Reconstruction Amendments.
About AJ
AJ is entering their second and final year in their master’s program for Material Culture and Public Humanities at Virginia Tech. They recently graduated from York College of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s in Public History. AJ is excited to bring their passions for the powers of historical and personal memories to the museum field. Outside of work, they enjoy tending their small patio garden, cooking, and watching women’s professional soccer.
Favorite Internship Moment
AJ really enjoyed getting to work “behind the scenes” of the opening process for the Stevens & Smith Center. Working with material culture integral to the interpretations of the exhibitions that will eventually be nested in display cases was incredibly satisfying. AJ has followed the development of the Stevens & Smith Center since 2021 and they’ve cherished every opportunity they’ve had to be involved with the Center’s development.
It has been wonderful to have this engaged group of young professionals at LancasterHistory this summer! Their official program concludes on July 24th with us (and some are staying on a little bit longer), but we hope they are not strangers and come back often to visit.
If the LancasterHistory NEH Summer Internship program sounds like something you’d be interested in (or a college student you know!), you can learn more about the program on our website here.
Support for the LancasterHistory NEH Summer Internship program provided by a
National Endowment for the Humanities We the People Challenge Grant.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed on this website, do not necessarily represent those of
the National Endowment for the Humanities.