Mary Atwell

The position fit perfectly with my needs, but I’d already fallen in love with the campus after attending public functions here over the years. I was thrilled when I saw the job listing!

I have always been interested in history. I grew up going to museums and historical houses. While other kids were out riding bikes, I was following my parents through Mount Vernon and The National Gallery of Art! I was a history major but took a sidestep after graduating college and ended up in accounting. After my children were born, I left the accounting world and worked part time at Frederick County Public Libraries, in the C. Burr Artz Library. There I volunteered in the Maryland Room under the direction of the wonderful Mary Mannix’82, working with archival collections. I eventually went back to school for my Master of Library and Information Sciences (MLIS) degree, in archival studies, and the archival job at Hood popped up right as I finished – it was serendipitous!

Because my job is half collections development and half archives, I don’t get to spend as much time as I would like on processing collections. The archives work I prioritize is to provide research or reference needs and conservation. I love my reference work, and I feel so fortunate to be paid to dive into Hood history! Hood did not have an archivist until 2013, so there is a great deal of conservation and processing work to be done with the collections, but it is a labor of love.

The pandemic actually hit when the library was already closed for our renovation, as of December, 2019. Most of the archival collections were placed off-campus for the duration of the renovation work. I kept behind some subject files, the bound Blue & Grey volumes, and my working yearbook copies for reference work, but the virus made even my reference work very difficult when we were off campus and separated from those materials.

I am very excited about the new archives spaces! For the first time we will have a dedicated reading room where students and other patrons can visit with our collections in a safe and controlled manner. We also have a processing room where materials can be processed safely and under proper supervision. I plan to offer regular open hours for the reading room, and hope to accommodate more student interns. I am currently working on an archives student intern program that will provide a solid scaffolding for a holistic and meaningful experience during a semester’s internship. The Learning Commons renovation really gave us the opportunity to create spaces that better protect our collections and provide much better access!

If I had to pick, it would be a charcoal rendering of a nude model, drawn by Helen L. Smith H ’89, while she was in art school. It represents the opportunity she had to reach past the conventions of the day and study art fully as a young woman. She taught at Hood for some years, then opened an art shop and studio and had a long and fulfilling artist’s career. While she was not a student at Hood, her story embodies the mission of Hood College.

The most unusual – we have some good contenders, but I pick the Chilean cowboy spurs! They were presented to Hood College by May Mumma Ohman,’67, who was a Hood Ambassador to Chile in her junior year, and donated the spurs to the Hood archives.

When the Williams Observatory opens as the Hood College Museum, I would first like to create an exhibit that showcases the observatory as the gem it is. We have a historically significant telescope and refractor in place in the observatory, and a rich and interesting astronomy program history that went well beyond the campus and local community.

I have three pieces of advice:

• Internships! If possible, intern or volunteer work in historical institutions during each summer break. Internships for public history were not encouraged in my undergraduate program and that helped set me up for a very long trip back to history.
• Take advantage of the Nonprofit & Civic Engagement Studies minor offered at Hood! These courses provide management skills, grant writing, and fundraising skills – all very important for the business side of museums and archives!
• Visit as many types of historical organizations as possible in person and virtually, and reach out to the museum and archival staff members.  Museums and archives come in many different sizes, and in surprising places.