Senior history major helps preserve the past for Marion Rotary Club

Ohio State Marion senior history major Micah Harris of Upper Sandusky, Ohio is building his resume and skills for his future career while in college working as an archivist for Marion Rotary Club.

While most would consider majoring in history as the road to a teaching profession, Harris is a prime  example of the diversity of opportunity a degree in history can provide outside the classroom.

The opportunity presented itself when Ohio State Marion Associate Professor of History, Margaret Sumner, who had supervised Harris as an archival intern at the Wyandot County Historical Society and the Galion History Center, introduced him to members of the Rotary Club's History Committee.

Rotary Club leadership was impressed with Harris and offered him a paid position to digitally preserve the more than 100-year history of this local civic organization. The Rotary Club of Marion, Ohio, chartered on February 1, 1922, with 23 members makes it one of the earliest known clubs in Rotary International.  Led by its first president, Fred Guthery, the club has a history of community service, supporting scholarship and community initiatives and upholding Rotary’s overall mission of providing service and promoting peace and goodwill.  The club boasts U.S. President, Warren G. Harding as an honor member.  Harding went on to be the first U.S. President to speak at a national Rotary Convention.

“Currently, the project is expected to take about 5 months,” said Harris. He will be charged with “physically organizing, arranging, and digitizing the archives utilizing PastPerfect,” which is the world’s leading collections management software used by over 12,000 museums to organize and store digitized archive documents. Harris will also be, “compiling periodic progress reports to present to the Rotary board,” he added.  

Harris sees this contract job as not only a great way to put some money in his pocket while in school, but a way to continue bolstering his growing resume before graduation.

While I have taken on a paid archiving internship in the past, this is the first contract job he’s accepted, Harris shared. 

Harris said, “I hope to use this job experience to encourage future contracts with employers, employers viewing my resume, that may require an archivist's services.”  

As he continues stacking unique opportunities to work in the history field, Harris was thankful for the choices he has made, working with Marion Rotary Club and the mentorship Professor Sumner and Ohio State Marion has provided.

“I would like to thank the Marion Rotary Club for presenting me with this unique opportunity to get hands-on experience as an undergraduate student. I would also like to thank Margaret Sumner for her assistance in finding internships and employment opportunities,” Harris said. 

Harris added, “Her efforts and Ohio State Marion's have been instrumental in starting my career as well as encouraging my passion for public history.”   

Harris explained his future educational and career goals and they all focused on building on the bachelor’s degree and experience afforded to him while attending Ohio State Marion. 

“I plan to pursue an M.A. in Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Kent State University, after which I would like to pursue a Ph.D. in History.  My current career goals are to pursue a position as a museum curator or archivist in tandem with continuing the search for an ideal doctoral program,” said Harris.    

In addition to the history degree program, The Ohio State University at Marion offers complete Ohio State baccalaureate degrees and real-world internship/career building opportunities in biology, business management, engineering technology, English, middle childhood education, psychology, primary education, social work and an associate of arts degree.