Week #12 Reflection - 8/1/2024

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   Today marks my final blog post for my internship in public history. What a gift this whole experience has been! I've officially moved back home to Jacksonville, and have been preparing for my Fall 2024 classes. I'm really happy with my courseload for the fall, and will be taking courses on the Caribbean, American history in the 20th century, Italian II and a course on the American Revolution. Even though I'll no longer be on campus, this internship has provided me with so many skills that I know will help me through my final undergraduate courses, and beyond. Perhaps the most important revelation for me has been that when I put my mind to it, I can't get real substantive work done and make an important impact.

   This last week after the internship presentation, there hasn't been much more for me to do, though tomorrow I'll be submitting my final evaluation form and then that will be my final assignment. I'm excited to get the form back from Dr. Gannon and to hear her feedback. I do not think this internship could have been much more fulfilling than it has been, and so to wrap it up so nicely with the internship presentation was really enjoyable.

   To any future interns who might be reading these blogs to see what a History department internship entails, my main advice would be to pursue an internship in a field that peaks your interests and where you feel you can make an impact, take advantage of the opportunity to be mentored by your supervisor, and ask for help if you're confused about any of your tasks. This has been such a great adventure this summer, and I know future interns will find work like this more than enjoyable.

   Again, I just want to express my gratitude for this experience, and to the UCF History department for giving us undergraduate students such wonderful opportunities to learn through hands-on work.

   With that, I'm signing off. As always, I'm thankful for this experience, and for all of the lessons and skills it has taught me.

Be well,

Kane

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Week #11 Reflection - 7/26/2024

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   So today was the big day! The internship presentation went off without a hitch and it felt really nice to share my work with everyone. Any nerves I had quickly subsided as I enjoyed sharing and also hearing about everyone else's wonderful work. Of special note today during the internship was the nice surprise that Dr. Sacher was there and asking questions about my work. I hadn't known he'd be there, and Dr. Sacher's Fall 2023 class "Civil War and Reconstruction" really opened my eyes to the importance of the Civil War and the research still to be done on the entire era. Being able to go from that class to presenting for him and a few of my other professors regarding my work on Olustee felt like a full-circle moment, and I really appreciated and enjoyed the experience.

   Things are officially wrapping up and almost done now. I'm going to look into having Dr. Gannon fill out my final evaluation form and get that done soon. Right now I just appreciate the confidence and experience working on Olustee has given me, as well as the knowledge of how important internships are. Because of that, last night I applied to intern for the Kamala Harris campaign, and though interning on policy is quite different than a history internship, I do have a sense that working on Olustee has given me a drive to continue expanding my skills and work experience, which is wonderful. I also think having experience in researching the Civil War is vital to so many different fields today, including political work, because so many old ghosts are rearing their heads in our Nation, including racism, division, and extremism. I want to be involved in educating people on how to recognize those challenges and fight for a more equitable society. One of my favorite historians, Jon Meacham, writes in his book The Soul of America that, "For all our darker impulses, for all of our shortcomings, and for all of the dreams denied and deferred, the experiment begun so long ago, carried out so imperfectly, is worth the fight" (Meacham 272). However idealistic it may sound, I want to be apart of that fight, and knowing history is a vital step in that effort.

   The next few weeks for me will entail moving back home to Jacksonville, finishing my studying for the LSAT before I take the test in the first half of August, and preparing for my online classes for Fall semester. Even though I've got a pretty jam packed schedule, I'm confident about the direction things are heading, and happy to have been involved in such a consequential type of historical research. As always, I'm thankful and excited for the future.

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Works Cited

• Meacham, Jon. The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels. Random House, 2019, p. 272.

 

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Week #10 Reflection - 7/19/2024

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   This week I was able to have my last meeting with Dr. Gannon on Wednesday the 17th, and to be honest it was quite bittersweet! I'm proud of what we've been able to accomplish during my internship, but I'm certainly going to miss the sense of purpose and schedule that working on Olustee has given me.

   During our meeting, I was able to show her the Master excel sheet I've compiled for Olustee, and we were both really pleased with the results. I was able to complete both a list of servicemembers we highly suspect are in the grave and a list of servicemembers we need more information on, which will help Dr. Gannon as she continues researching these servicemembers. I was also able to color-code the regiment sheets we have, solidify the information and sources for those regiments, and include a breakdown of pension documents that Dr. Gannon has been using to study Olustee. To finally see all of the information I've been working on laid out in such a clean and concise manner was really satisfying, as I've been working on the excel sheet for awhile, and wasn't sure what the final product would look like as I sifted through all of our available information. With that being said though, we've made such enormous progress and I hope the master sheet plays a role in getting some recognition for these soldiers.

   My attention now is turning to putting together my powerpoint for the internship zoom presentation. I'll be presenting on my own because I worked one on one with Dr. Gannon, so I just want to make sure I have all of my talking points organized and that I'm ready to present! As a sort of parting gift to Dr. Gannon as well, I'm going to finally finish my letter template for contacting Congress about Olustee, and send it to her. Overall, the most gratifying realization I've had this week is that my work is going to continue to help and influence what Dr. Gannon is doing with Olustee, and that after my internship is done, that work will continue. The end of my internship is also coinciding with me moving home to North Florida for my final year, which I'll be doing online. Even though I still have two semesters left of online classes, it does sort of feel like my college experience is starting to wrap up, sadly. I've been so thankful for these opportunities, these lessons, the people I've met, and the growth I've experienced. Not least among these is working on Olustee, which I'll always take with me into my future work.

 

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Week #9 Reflection - 7/12/2024

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   Some productive work going on this week. I've not been able to meet with Dr. Gannon as she's been out of the office and the Fourth of July had the University closed on the days we're usually available to meet. We'll be meeting very soon in the coming days, but because it's been a second, I've been using this time to clean up the excel sheet I've built and organized, so that it's not as much of a first draft once we meet, and so that it's more polished. I've also decided to go ahead and do a little extra work in my extra time, and have been experimenting with putting together a draft letter to State delegations on Olustee, that way we have an idea of how to include the names of those in the mass grave when contacting legislators. This hasn't really been asked of me, but its some practice I thought would help my writing skills and wanted to give to Dr. Gannon before the internship ends.

   Cleaning up the excel sheet and polishing it up has been going well, one of the things I've been grappling with is that as I've worked on the excel sheet, there are a few instances of two different cells having similar information on a servicemember, but said in differing ways, so I've been trying to clean things up by combining all of that information into one coherent cell so that there is not any unnecessary repetition in the sheet. I've been working on the sheets for quite awhile, but there's such a wealth of information to sift through that it hasn't become tedious and doesn't feel like I'm not doing anything. Luckily, even though I feel like it's in a good place to present to Dr. Gannon, each time I open it I see new things I can work on, so that's great. It's helping me hone my vision on how this can really include the best of everything we have regarding research,

   It's also surprising that the Internship showcase is only two weeks away. I've been preparing and gathering everything I want to discuss, and will probably begin building my powerpoint next week. Also feeling very lucky to have Dr. Gannon as such an important mentor. Throughout this whole process I've valued her guidance and her opinion a lot, so I'm going to take those lessons with me after my work here is done. Feeling like I'm in a very good place and excited to finish strong!

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Week #7 Reflection - 6/28/2024

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   This week has gone really well. Finally finished working on the excel spreadsheet and planning to meet with Dr. Gannon in the coming week to discuss and analyze what I've put together. From there I'm sure we'll be able to either move forward with something else, or I'll continue editing it if she has any critiques or things she would like to see changed.

   It's crazy to know that I'm officially only a month away from the close of this internship, and I've been reflecting on how fulfilling it has been, as well as all of the things I want to complete before my time is up. As soon as the excel spreadsheet is put aside, I'll discuss with Dr. Gannon the final preparations for the Olustee exhibit boards, and cleaning them up, that way by the time I'm out of here, the exhibit is ready to be printed and displayed. There may be a few other tasks that I'll need to complete as well so I'm looking forward to getting that clarified and preparing.

   I've also begun thinking about the presentation I want to give at the Zoom showcase at the end of July. Right now I know I'll want to discuss my work on the Olustee exhibit, the excel work, and also preparing a draft list of members of Congress to contact in the coming future, so I'm going to start looking at how to build a powerpoint around those topics, and which images I want to use that will best convey my work.

   It's kind of bittersweet to know the internship is wrapping up, but I've also been so profoundly moved by this work that I hope I'll be able to continue to be a resource for the project and offer any continued assistance. Right now though, this work has turned out to be one of the most fulfilling experiences I have had in my undergraduate career, and to know that it revolves around such a worthwhile and important cause is so gratifying. As a researcher, writer, and student I feel that I'm all the better for having taken part in this.

   More updates coming soon as we get into the time crunch, and I'll certainly continue to go into detail in my future posts about the work I'm doing to end my time with the internship in a productive way. For now, the overwhelming feeling is gratitude, and I'm excited to continue working.

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Week #6 Reflection - 6/21/2024

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   Really productive week as I've been hammering away at getting my information for the Master Excel spreadsheet for Dr. Gannon. We were able to meet yesterday and got a lot of great work done. First, I was able to give her my mid-term internship form which we discussed, and now I'm just waiting to receive her filled out copy so I can submit it for grading. We also went through the excel files together and looked at different resources for my sheet, as well as clarified the structure of what it should look like. This information is really valuable for me, as this will be one of the sheets Dr. Gannon uses to continue her research, so I'm hoping to label very clearly which soldiers we're still tracking down to see where their stories ended, if they died at Olustee or survived the battle, etc.

   Another really eye opening experience from our meeting yesterday was discussing the narrative Dr. Gannon is considering for an eventual book on Olustee. As someone who loves historical writing, and is interested in perhaps getting my own historical work published one day, it was a real gift to have a first hand view of what that process is like, as well as how important narrative is to the overall structure of a piece. Part of our conversation really emphasized how the mass grave at Olustee contains the remains of Americans from all walks of life, including immigrants, formerly enslaved Black Americans, Black Americans born into freedom, working class white Americans, and so on. This point is such a profound point to make in the work because it really shows that those left behind at Olustee are a microcosm of our Nation at that time, and their story is the American story. 

   As of now, what the next two weeks are going to entail include transferring all of my information into the new Excel file, editing and cleaning it up, and showing Dr. Gannon my first draft. It'll also take a few days to search within the file by Soldier's name, because some of our information is spread out, so I want to be as thorough as I possibly can. Big revelation for me this week, mainly because of learning Dr. Gannon's process with writing, is that so much of this internship's value doesn't only come from any specific product I'm producing, but also comes from the opportunity to just sit and observe and learn by being in the room. I'd say overall it's been a good week and I'm working diligently to get my excel sheet ready!

   

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Week #5 Reflection - 6/14/2024

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This week I’ve been compiling information for the master excel spread sheet that Dr. Gannon has asked me to start working on. In preparation for this, I’ve done a lot of reviewing the google drive this week, especially because we have so many different excel spreadsheets in it, each with their own progress on certain regiments, and some more up to date than others. This is definitely helpful, because I’m able to rely on the work of previous interns to make sure I’m double checking everything and that my information is accurate.

   While reviewing the google drive I was happy to find the spread sheet that I believe is most up to date with the names of those we believe are still left behind in the mass grave at Olustee. Right now, my plan is to transfer these names over to the master spread sheet, and begin compiling other information on these individuals, such as any historical records we’ve noted, and any bio’s for these individuals that have been written by previous interns. Making this list and also separating the individuals out by regiment is going to be super important, as in the fall Dr. Gannon is hoping to use names of those left behind in the grave when lobbying Congressional State delegations. I think this will certainly humanize this issue and help emphasize the importance of honoring these soldiers.

   Something I’m learning heavily while I complete my work in this internship is how important it is to manage my time. I’ve been able to go at a pace so far that is manageable, and I’m trying to ensure that my work is level with the other things I’m doing this summer, such as working at my job, and studying for the LSAT. This is a skill that is really benefitting me because its ensuring that I don’t get burnt out doing too much, and that my work on the internship remains up to standard.

   I’ll also mention that even though most people aren’t aware of the history of Olustee, over the weekend I came across a book in a bookstore on Amelia Island in northeast Florida that mentioned General Finnegan, and provided some information on him that I hadn’t yet known. Just as a sidenote, it was nice to know the information we’re working on isn’t totally lost on the general public, and that there are more resources out there that I can use to enhance my work. I’m excited to continue!

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Week #4 Reflection - 6/7/2024

   Very productive meeting with Dr. Gannon this afternoon! So far we've been focusing on how to clean up the Canva slides for the Olustee exhibit and I've come up with a few ideas, but mainly right now I need to make sure all of the text is left-aligned with the same font and size and make sure the imagery in the slides are coherent. I haven't begun editing the slides yet though, as I'm waiting for some guidance on what exactly we want to change from some of my colleagues!
   Because the department is quite busy with the VLP institute right now as well, including making a trip to St. Augustine, we're gonna put the final touches for the Olustee exhibit on the back burner. What I was able to discuss with Dr. Gannon specifically this afternoon was our need for a master excel or google sheets spread sheet with specific names of troops in the Olustee mass grave, their service records if we have them, bios, and other identifying information. This master sheet will be incredibly valuable, especially when we start identifying troops who we want to mention in our letters to Congress and State delegations.
   The next time we meet, Dr. Gannon has said she doesn't need any specific product just yet, but mainly ideas for what the master sheet will look like and include, so I'm going to start working diligently on that. I think this task will present as a bit of a test, because it's less creative and more analytical and organizational, which I'm thankful for. Hopefully this will give me an opportunity to continue diversifying my skill set and contribute to organizing all of the valuable information we have on the Olustee soldiers.
   We've also been lucky to find some extra records and newspaper articles in our search for more material on the aftermath of the battle. In a stroke of luck, some resources have been found that specifically mention the Black community in the South being aware of the battle of Olustee and the contributions of Black soldiers. Every day new perspectives are being added that are really valuable to the overall work.
   This weekend and next week I'm going to start looking into how to set up the master sheet for the Google drive, and which exact information we want to include for it. Glad to have an important role to play and I'm excited to continue working!

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Week #3 Reflection - 5/31/24

   This week has been a bit slower, but still very necessary as its been so valuable in giving me time to do a deep dive into the Olustee google doc. I was very thankful to see that so much of the information prior interns have collected is available in the doc, and it really gives me a sense of being a part of something much larger than just myself, and that I'm contributing to something important.
   Right now, my attention has turned to cleaning up the Olustee exhibit. I was able to get in contact with Katarina in the history department this week, and let her know that I'll be at her disposal for the canva slides, as she's leading the effort to organize them. She said she'll send me some projects/tasks soon to contribute to cleaning up the slides, so I'm excited to hopefully spend next week working on the project. This week not only have I been able to look into the google drive in a more thorough way, but i'm also going to spend this weekend going through some newer CRS reports released by Congress to see if there is any relevant legal information we will need in the coming months as we prepare to lobby for recognition of the Union dead at Olustee. On a personal note, being able to engage with this work at the same time as Memorial day really drives home the point of how necessary it is that all of our servicemembers receive the honor and dignity they deserve.
   Something I've found most interesting in my work so far is just how evident it is that the the United Daughters of the Confederacy, or the UDC, waged this campaign to not honor the Union dead at Olustee specifically because Black soldiers died at the battle. In the google doc, we have primary sources, including newspaper clippings from 1912, where the UDC state very blatantly that they won't honor Black soldiers, and that they'll work against political candidates who are for building a Union monument at Olustee. Undoubtedly, these efforts are sobering relics of a racist past, and what's disheartening is that the UDC were successful in their attempt at hiding the history of these Union soldiers. I have hope though that we will make progress in this endeavor to undo the actions of the UDC, and get Olustee back on the right track. For now though, I'm focusing on cleaning up the Olustee exhibit slides, and will check back in next week with any updates!

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Week#2 Reflection - 5/24/24

   Week two has been going very well. This afternoon I was able to meet with Dr. Gannon to go over four posterboards I designed for the Olustee exhibit, and we were pretty happy with the result. The section I worked on documents the movement of Union and Confederate troops across the state of Florida, and so I designed one board with a generalized timeline of troop movements, one posterboard each for Union movements and Confederate movements, and then a board describing troops meeting at Olustee in the lead up to the battle. Four posterboards on movement is probably going to be too many for the Olustee exhibit, so I'm thinking of ways to condense the information. Our attention is now going to turn towards cleaning up the exhibit, making sure all posterboards have the same font, style, and design, so that the narrative is cohesive to those who are learning about Olustee for the first time.
   During my meeting with Dr. Gannon today I was also able to give her my preliminary list of members of Congress who will be key Representatives to contact when we begin moving towards lobbying legislators in the fall. We were also able to discuss how targeting specific State delegations to Congress will be a great way to ensure the message gets out, and how the New York delegation will be great to look into because their constituents of the 19th century were involved in the battle.
   As my work stands now, I definitely feel that I'm contributing to something fulfilling and worthwhile, and hope that we're able to make some positive change. Dr. Gannon and I discussed a series of articles that she found while researching, that document the ways Americans of the Civil-War era knew about Olustee, and specifically the contributions of black soldiers at the battle, going as far as connecting the battle to the larger narrative of enfranchisement for African Americans. These are going to be great sources, because they show that even though Olustee has been forgotten in the modern world, during its era it was seen as an important development in the struggle for freedom for black Americans, and this will definitely contribute to all of the work Olustee requires.
   As a sidenote, I was also so thankful for how significant the body of research in the Olustee google drive is. Those documents were so valuable in my designing of the posterboards for the exhibit, as some of them discussed specific details of troop movements. I think I'm going to go ahead and do a deeper dive of the research within the files as well just to make sure my knowledge is well-rounded and prepared for whatever my next task will be after cleaning up the Olustee exhibit. I'm looking forward to seeing where the exhibit will be able to travel to teach people about this important historical event. That's all for this week, I'll check back in after figuring out more details about how we want to organize the exhibit.

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Week #1 Reflection - 5/17/24

   Hello! My name is Jonathan "Kane" Carter, and I'm very excited to start my internship on Olustee this summer, with hopes that I'll become more experienced in researching, understanding how historic preservation intereracts with the government, and the role Law plays in those endeavors. Some of my research interests include the Kennedy administration and the American Civil War.
   As my first week as an Intern begins, I'm looking forward to making progress on honoring the Union dead buried in a mass grave at the Battle of Olustee, a Florida Civil War battle taking place in February of 1864. I was lucky enough to have a class with Dr. Gannon last semester, so I'm familiar with the story of Olustee, and feel that I'm prepared to take on the challenges of the internship! This week I met with Dr. Gannon for around two hours on Tuesday, and we were really able to dive into the details of the internship. As of now, the body of research Dr. Gannon and previous Interns have compiled is substantial, and well organized. Now that we have so much information on Olustee at our disposal already, I can tell that the next step in the project is going to be crafting the narrative of the story in a way that appeals to the public and to Politicians, in hopes that this will move the needle in building support for a memorial for the Union dead in the mass grave. One of the tasks I'm going to take on to help with this is designing a few more slides for a physical exhibition of posterboards on Olustee that Dr. Gannon is designing. I was already able to contribute to this project last semester, so this is a great way for me to begin my internship with something familiar. I'm planning on designing 3 or 4 new posters on the movements of various Regiments into Florida before the battle, and will hopefully be able to meet with Dr. Gannon next week to get some feedback on my designs.
   Another task that is secondary right now, but very exciting to me is doing some research on Congress. In the fall, we're hoping to send letters to specific members of Congress and Committees/Subcommittees that may be interested in the work we're doing and what it would mean to build a memorial for the Union dead at Olustee. This week I'm going to compile a rough-draft list of around 20 House Representatives to look into, especially those from States who lost constituents at Olustee. Thankfully I'm interested in Congress and familiar with the committees and their purposes, so this is another assignment that is certainly appealing to me. In researching to compile this list, I also came across the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands, and their website says their jurisdiction includes battlefields and the building of monuments to individuals, which is directly linked to what we're trying to do. Overall, I think I'm at a great starting point, and I'm excited to get to work!

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