This blog post features the Serial & Government Publications Division Junior Fellow from the Library’s 2024 Junior Fellows Program. This summer, Junior Fellow Zoe Harrison researched and wrote essays about African American newspaper titles available in the Chronicling America* Historic American Newspapers database. In 2021, the Library began to digitize a collection of miscellaneous 19th and early 20th century newspapers from the Black American press. Harrison wrote ten well-researched newspaper history essays that represented significant titles from this collection.
In this interview with Robin Pike, Head, Digital Collection Services Section, Harrison shares her research interests and background, her internship experience, and more about the project, “Researching the Black Press in Chronicling America.”
Tell us a little about your background. What led you to apply for a Library of Congress Junior Fellows internship?
I recently graduated from the University of Arizona with two M.A. degrees in Library & Information Science and U.S. History. I started in the history M.A. program, studying the death culture and funerary customs of Southern Black communities, before deciding to simultaneously complete an M.A. in Library and Information Science. My experience working with my university librarians sparked my interest in library school because I was desperate to learn more about how to make the history I was reading and writing more accessible to people outside of universities.