This summer a new University Archivist, Alyssa Hyduk, joined the Archer Library family. We asked Alyssa to tell us three things she enjoys about being an archivist:
1. You get a true, authentic feel for life outside of your own time. Seeing how people spoke, reading the handwriting, understanding what they valued and what motivated them-I think it’s all brilliant, and it really does put your own life in perspective while simultaneously connecting you to the past.
2. You never know what you’re going to get. I’ve been going through collections about ornithology when I suddenly came upon naked pictures of the researcher. I’ve had to chase silk-worm pupae across the floor because it’s fallen out of a textile scrapbook. You truly never know what you’re going to find in a collection, so the thrill, (and shock), of discovery never goes away!
3. I love connecting the dots for people, especially in genealogical research. It’s such a wonderful thing to see the joy, shock, satisfaction, (and sometimes even horror), on people’s faces when they finally find that missing piece of the puzzle; when they find the branch on the family tree, or the passenger records of their ancestors, or the birth certificate of an unknown family member. Things like that, which are 100% human, unfiltered reactions, make my job incredibly worthwhile.
Welcome to the U of R, Alyssa!
