Student's Penn State Harrisburg's corn mitment to archive and chroni cle the history of the Jewish ex perience in Harrisburg has been given a productive boost from one of its students. And as the only college in the region concentrating on the doc umentation of regional material specifically profiling Central Pennsylvania's Jewish history, Penn State Harrisburg is equally committed to sharing the results of its work with the community. The newest chapter in that ef fort, a photo exhibit depicting nearly 100 years of Jewish his tory in Harrisburg, is on public display in the Schwab Family Holocaust Reading Room in the college library through spring 2009. The internship project of Leb anon resident and American studies graduate student Kelli Rae Curtin, the exhibit titled "A Considerable People: The Jewish Community of Greater Harrisburg" was produced to Photo Club contest winners: End of Fall 2008 semester internship recaptures Harrisburg history capture representative images and restore aging photos from a collection gathered by Simon Bronner, distinguished profes sor of American studies and folklore. "No other institution locally can provide the library resourc es and campus involvement coupled with community en gagement that we are able to in Holocaust and Jewish studies," Bronner said, pointing to the college's Center for Holocaust and Jewish Studies which has the Reading Room as its focal point. Curtin's involvement came as a result of Bronner's call for in terested students to accept an in ternship to create the exhibit. "I should note that she was not the only one who expressed inter est, but she was chosen because of her experience and commit ment to public heritage work," he added. Creating the exhibit from scratch utilizing old, uncatego FIRST PLACE "Pacific Coast Highway" by Tayyaba Bhatti rized photos stored in a carton was a challenge Curtin will ingly accepted. "I looked at the culture surrounding the images. A photo exhibit should be more than history. It should be a cul tural study," Curtin said. Bron ner, who oversaw the internship said, "It was historical research, Kelli took the time to learn about Jewish history in Harrisburg to strengthen her effort to produce the exhibit." Curtin, who also holds an un dergraduate degree in American studies from Penn State Har risburg and plans to pursue a doctorate, added, "Through ex amining the collection of pho tos, I considered what story or stories the exhibit should tell. As a result, I broke it down into three subtitles in the Jewish experience synagogues and the Jewish Community Center (structures), the legacy of the Holocaust (survivors and monu ments), and social and cultural life." The exhibit of more than 30 images shows the faces and places of Jewish culture ranging from 1920 s basketball teams, to Holocaust survivors, to youthful swimmers at a day camp, to the 1912 wedding portrait of Bessie Smuck and Ike Woolf. "When she had chosen the pho tos, Kelli was then able to take advantage of the range of tech nology available to Penn State Harrisburg students," Bronner observed. "Here's an intern who used that technology to scan, preserve, enlarge, and even en hance historic photos. She then utilized the resources of our art studios to mat and frame the photos for public display. With the college's modern digital technology at her disposal, Kel li brought the aging photos back to life and made them available to the public. They now have a new life and can be digitally ar chived." Linda A. Ries, head of his tory and archival programs for RUNNER UP "Upside Down" by Mikhail Vorobeychik 28 2009 the Pennsylvania Bureau of Archives and History, who at tended the recent unveiling of the display said, "I think the exhibit and lecture are a great step forward in celebrating and rediscovering the rich heritage of Harrisburg's Jewish popula tion. It is a great beginning and I hope we see more of this in the future." "An internship should be a learning experience and some thing you can carry with you into professional life. Kelli cer tainly accomplished that and much more with her project," Bronner added. "Her project fits perfectly with the college's commitment to share its re sources and scholarship both faculty and student with the community." Story courtesy of Penn State Live (www.live.psu.edu)
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