It’s not every day that one gets the opportunity to move across state lines to experience the workings of a new career. Throughout my undergraduate years at Virginia Commonwealth University, I juggled with the possibilities of the future and where it would ultimately take me. I have always been attracted to the ways history can tell such personal stories. Because of this, I knew that it was my dream to always be surrounded by history. Being offered the Nadia Sophie Seiler Library Internship at the American Antiquarian Society opened pathways I would have never thought about otherwise. Throughout my internship, I was able to thoroughly explore AAS from behind the scenes. Surrounded by the Society’s collection of millions of historical objects, my mission was to soak up as much as possible.
During my internship, I had the opportunity to catalog and work with many different items from the graphic arts collection. I could go on for an eternity about all the unique pieces I witnessed with my own eyes. While working heavily with photographs and prints, I found the most joy in researching. As I was researching different photographs and prints, especially certificates and registries, I thoroughly enjoyed the hunt for the stories of the people depicted. Learning about the personal factors of their lives humanized these people. I stared at the faces of people who had no idea of my existence, and through cataloging I felt like I was helping bring them “back to life.”
Something I have always enjoyed about history are the stories it tells and where the information leads. At AAS, my fingertips had the opportunity to touch many different moments, but a few items ingrained themselves in my brain — such as the group portrait of the Casares family and their servants (Catalog Record). David Casares, a well-off engineer based in Yucatan, Mexico, was a friend of Stephen Salisbury II, who was a member of AAS and served as its President from 1854 to 1881. Featured in the photograph are the eight members of the Casares family and their seven servants.
This photograph hit home for me as a first-generation Mexican American. It brought back memories of researching my own genealogy. My goal was to find information on the featured servants. It makes sense that the well-off family has a much more recorded history, but my curiosity about the seven servants still loomed. How did they end up in the photo? What were their lives like? Where were their families? Questions like these circulated in my mind every time I looked them in the eyes. The research process, although not having the full outcome I had hoped, solidified the realization that some people may just remain a mystery. The opportunity to work with this portrait inspired me to continue my own years-long genealogical research. What has enriched my adoration for history is the personal aspects that can be uncovered. Something so small, like this family portrait, ended up meaning so much to me.
Working with historical materials can evoke the dark side of lived realities, too. With the hundreds of challenging items that reminded me of the racism and violence of the past, one that truly stuck with me was an O.P. Annex souvenir card (Catalog Record). For just 0.25 cents, you too could have snagged a souvenir of the all the men executed at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio between 1897 to 1905. Featured on this cabinet card were portraits of twenty-three men, all convicted murderers.
After searching through countless newspapers for information about the men, I realized how important a resource newspapers are for research. The papers didn’t stray from the gruesome details of the crimes these men committed and laid out as much information as possible in many cases. Unfortunately, there was a lot of violence against women, especially wives. This object reminded me that the interest in crime isn’t a twenty-first-century craze. The true crime documentaries and podcasts many of us listen to today are like modern-day versions of that souvenir card.
My recollection of my internship would not be complete if I didn’t mention the Paine collection. I’ll never forget working with the collection of Stephen Davies Paine, which arrived at AAS just before I began my internship. I remember being so starstruck on my first day at AAS by the size of the stacks and the number of items on each floor, but that amazement does not compare to my reaction when going through this collection.
Being able to touch the individual items, not just see them on the shelves, is incomparable. Through the thousands of trade cards I touched — yes, thousands — I felt like I could close my eyes and taste what life was like all those years ago. Working with ephemera gave me the sense of viewing nineteenth-century life in the same way I did with the photograph of the Casares family. Although the ephemera was made to last for a short time and was considered at the time to be “unimportant,” seeing so much of it all at once really opened my eyes to see how these items shaped the way society and businesses worked.
A huge thank you to all the staff at AAS who took the time to have conversations with me and made me feel so included; it made this process so much better. A special thank you to Associate Curator of Graphic Arts and Registrar Christine Morris and Vice President for Collections and Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts Lauren Hewes who gave me a chance and showed me this new world; I could not have done it without you both. It has been an absolute pleasure to “make my mark” within this institution. Whether you’re researching in the AAS catalog for profession or pleasure, I hope one day that the initials “kv1” (which are part of every one of the 269 records I created during my internship) help you along the way.
Katherine Vega was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia and is a recent graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University. She received a BA in Art History in December of 2024. From February to May 2025, she worked as the Nadia Sophie Seiler Library Intern at the American Antiquarian Society under the guidance of Christine Morris, Associate Curator of Graphic Arts and Registrar. With a continuing passion for history and a solidified passion for the library world, she intends to continue her education by pursuing a MLIS in the coming years.