As you can see from my blogger profile, my name is Emily and I am a doctoral student at Clark University. Before following my journey down the eastern seaboard, allow me to tell you a little more about myself.
I joined the History department at Clark University in the Fall semester of 2007. Prior to my enrollment at Clark, I graduated from Georgia Southern University with degrees in French and History and spent the 2006-2007 academic year in Saumur, France.
My time at Clark's Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies has been a flurry of activity, intense study, and self-discovery. Working with Debórah Dwork as my advisor, I settled on a dissertation topic during my second semester at Clark. While constantly evolving as I explore archives around the world, my research interests pivot around forced labor camps in French North Africa during the Second World War.
From day one, archival research is an integral part of the program at Clark. The faculty encouraged me and my colleagues to wrap our arms around archival collections at the earliest opportunity, which, for me, began in December 2007 with a brief foray into the holdings at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). My research trips have since taken me to Poland, Germany, France, Philadelphia, and New York City.
This summer I find myself drawn back to the USHMM to conduct research in recent acquisitions from Tunisia and Morocco, previously unavailable in North America. A fantastic opportunity!
As luck has it, my colleague and roommate, Alexander Marriott, also needs to access archives in Washington, D.C. A perfect occasion for a road trip! Lengthy trips can get lonely for the solo researcher and who better to travel with than a fellow historian? We can share advice, frustrations and achievements, and, of course, gas money!
Over the first half of the summer, our plan took shape: We would set off from Worcester, MA and then work our way down the east coast, resting first in New York City, then Princeton, NJ, and finally stopping in Washington, D.C., where I will remain behind as he continues to parts further south.
This is a record of my journey, adventures and misadventures alike.
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