Hello everyone, my name is Ryan Schleifer. This summer I have the honor of participating in a remote internship for the Law Library of Congress. This is an incredible full circle moment for me. When I was in elementary school, my mother took me on a trip to Washington D.C. where we went on a tour of the Library of Congress. Pictures from this trip are included in this post. Back then, I never imagined that I would go on to intern for the Library of Congress. In the years that followed, I developed writing skills that led me to this position.
I’ve wanted to be a writer ever since I read Joseph A. Bailey’s Memoirs of a Muppet Writer in middle school. I always enjoyed reading, but Bailey’s novel made me think about the process of writing stories for others to enjoy. In High School I became increasingly curious about different perspectives and began reading non-fiction to gain insight into the experiences of real people. I balance my interests in fiction and non-fiction as a student at the University of Central Florida by majoring in History and minoring in Creative Writing. As a UCF student I have presented a research paper on Civil War-era Key West at the 2021 Florida Conference of Historians and written fiction in the UCF Creative Writing program.
At the Library of Congress, I am specifically participating in their Summer Remote Program on Creative Digital Publications.[1] The program lasts for 12 weeks during which I will compose and subsequently present an original blog post or dataset to the Library of Congress. My internship starts next week on Monday, May 23rd. This week to prepare I have been searching the Library of Congress’ website to gain insight into previous datasets they’ve published. I am very impressed by the variety of subjects featured on their website ranging from President Lincoln’s Law Career, Native American Constitutions and Pre-1923 Piracy Trials.[2]
I am looking forward to working in a collaborative environment in which I learn from my peers and supervisors. As part of the internship, I’ll also attend virtual lectures from various guest speakers. I am very excited to find out who will be speaking. Personally, I want to strengthen my writing skills by focusing on writing to meet the requirements of my employer and the interests of audiences. These skills will be incredibly relevant to me post-graduation for numerous jobs I’m interested in. For instance, I would love to do academic research after college. I am also interested in writing history for general audiences and pursuing freelance writing of all varieties. In my Library of Congress compositions, I want to connect my diverse writing experiences by making narrative history accessible while maintaining academic integrity.
[1] “Summer Remote Program: Creative Digital Publications.” The Library of Congress. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://www.loc.gov/item/internships/law-library-internship/
[2] “Lincoln and the Law,”https://www.loc.gov/collections/lincoln-and-the-law/about-this-collection/; “Native American Constitutions and Legal Materials,”https://www.loc.gov/collections/native-american-constitutions-and-legal-materials/about-this-collection/; “Piracy Trials,”https://www.loc.gov/collections/piracy-trials/about-this-collection/