Unidentified Flying "Project"

Hello again, reader! This week has already started with many exciting updates concerning my personal project and internship goals for this semester- and, hopefully, beyond. Today, I spoke to Dr. French about the direction of a potential hybrid opportunity centering around the city of Apopka and its fascinating past. What became of this meeting was an almost serendipitous project that I am eager to begin working on. While speaking with Dr. French, he mentioned that he had spoken to one of Central Florida’s most prominent community historians, Ms. Francina Boykin. He related the story of how Ms. Boykin saved a curious collection of objects that belonged to the Gladden family in Apopka from an unfortunate fate of being discarded in a dumpster. This amazing array of artifacts now resides in her personal collection, housed in her private residence for the time being. 

It came to my attention that Ms. Boykin pondered upon the legacy of these objects and was looking to secure a permanent place for them. One such option, as Dr. French informed me, could be the future Florida Black History Museum, which was recently announced to be located in St. Augustine. Additionally, Dr. French informed me of UCF’s own expansive Carol Mundy Collection, an archival haven for artifacts relating to Central Florida Black history; subsequently, he pointed out the more favorable distance between Ms. Boykin’s own Apopka home and UCF in comparison to St. Augustine. I was overcome by excitement for this project and the possibility of it happening makes me hopeful for a long-term project, and thankful for all the opportunities the Public History team has already given me. This evening, I initiated contact with Ms. Boykin, and I sincerely hope to update everyone reading this with a positive follow-up on this riveting enterprise. 

At the beginning of the week, I started sending a “Monday Rundown” email that highlights key activities and upcoming assignments in a comprehensive email intended for my group of students. Over the weekend, I wanted to propose a friendly way to establish contact with my group and prepare them for the week ahead. I decided to draft a message meant to keep due dates and events relevant, as I know how overwhelming the amount of information introduced during the first week can be. I hope that this idea will be helpful for my students as we start our assignments, as I find that I work rather well with a comprehensive, easily accessible list of daily tasks. 

Tomorrow, we have three activities planned for the day which I greatly look forward to. I plan to discuss the recent developments in my project at our team meeting and learn transcription and metadata techniques at the following workshops. I am eager to see how UCF presents and prepares such information and how we will go about these methods during our internship. Hopefully, by the time of my next entry, we will have started our processing duties. See you next week, reader!