Snapshot: Interning from Home
Edgar velazquez reynald
joined us during his final semester at St. Mary’s University in 2021. He recently completed a fellowship with the Smithsonian’s Latino Museum Studies Program. Edgar is currently pursuing his PhD in History at Southern Methodist University.
Interning with Dr. Jenny Hay and Jessica Anderson for the Office of Historic Preservation
quickly became one of the highlights of my graduate experience in the Public History program at
St. Mary’s University. As I conclude my final semester in the program, I know I brought
everything I’ve learned to my internship, using research methodology to pitch ideas that were
well received. Those ideas have turned into tangible projects that I can showcase as I enter the
workforce. I also know that those projects heavily benefitted from the tutelage I received during
my internship, which helped me fine-tune my research capabilities during a semester full of
obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 winter storm.
It’s difficult to discuss my internship experience without contextualizing it within the
times we’re living in. When I began my internship in January 2021, we had learned to live with
the COVID-19 pandemic for the better part of a year. Quarantine, isolation, and working from
home became the new normal and this became the backdrop for my internship experience. I
lament not being able to visit the office of OHP, meet with my mentors in person, or visit
archives to do research with physical materials, but my mentors made sure to keep things
interesting throughout. Assignments given to me made doing research possible from home
through digitized archives. As more and more institutions digitize their archives, information has
become more accessible to everyone, making it possible to visit archives in different regions
from the seclusion of one’s own home.
Accessibility to digitized tools became the focal point of my first assignment, which
consisted of updating a resource checklist for the ScoutSA website. The resource checklist serves
as a tool for the public to begin doing their own research on the history of a property they might
consider worthy of preservation. I presented the list in order of how best to start researching,
with a description of what each resource provides. I also provided examples of how historic
designation works in San Antonio, using the King William district and El Rinconcito de
Esperanza as examples. Using the first district and one of the latest districts demonstrates how
the process has evolved since the 1960’s. I’m proud of my work in updating the checklist, hoping
people use the online resources from home. Despite the accessibility of online materials,
however, I would soon experience its limitations.
It wouldn’t be the COVID-19 pandemic without further complications brought on by the
2021 winter storm that devastated Texas for an entire week. Beginning the evening of February
14, most Texans found themselves without power or running water, myself included. Being from
Chicago, I am well-equipped to handle freezing temperatures, but found myself unprepared to
handle an ill-equipped infrastructure that left us all literally in the dark for a long, horrible week.
I count my blessings, however, knowing I didn’t endure the worst hardship and my heart goes
out to those most severely affected.
Perhaps the most severe repercussion I faced due to the storm was losing internet access
for two weeks due to a block outage. I found myself unable to work from home due to having all
digitized resources no longer instantly available at my fingertips. During this time, I ruminated
on how heavily we’ve relied on internet technology, especially in the last year, and how easily it
can be taken from us. It also made me cognizant of the disparity in internet accessibility more
than ever. Those of us with consistent internet access are privileged and may not consider that a
majority of the population remains without constant internet access or are computer illiterate,
making the need for brick and mortar archives and office services as indispensable as ever. As of
this writing, it seems things are slowly returning to normal as more of the population are
vaccinated. We needn’t let our guard down, however, and hopefully we can be physically present
at these institutions in the near future.
Once we put the storm past us, I continued with my internship by researching properties
that could possibly be worthy of preservation. I used different resources to research these
properties and really fine-tuned how to research using public records, newspapers, and maps.
There are a few times I overlooked something, but thanks to my mentors, I learned to consider
research methods I hadn’t considered. I found some information on a property that seemed
historically significant, which made me excited. The possibility of making a small contribution
to the preservation of a property only furthers my love of researching, something I hope to be
doing as a career.
I used my research capabilities in my final project for this internship, which focused on
creating an interactive map of San Antonio’s Red-Light District, the Sporting District, located in
the Mexican-American community of Laredito from the late 1880s to the late 1910s. I feel this
project benefited from learning about all the resources available and how to read Sanborn maps.
The vintage maps provided me with so much insight that I otherwise wouldn’t have discovered.
Similarly, I hope my interactive map is able to provide others with further insight and inspires
them to learn more about San Antonio’s history that is no longer physically present.
I end my internship at the Office of Historic Preservation with a deep admiration and
respect for Dr. Jenny Hay and Jessica Anderson. I admire everything they do and commitment to
preserving San Antonio’s rich history. I learned so much from them in terms of research and
methodology, which I hope to carry with me in future endeavors. I am extremely thankful for
having three different projects of mine housed by the OHP and will refer to them wherever I end
up in the future.