Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

Category: Intern Insights

The 2020 PASS Report

For the past several years, PA SHPO archaeologists have issued an annual report – known as the PASS Report – detailing the ongoing efforts to record Pennsylvania’s archaeological sites. 

Despite 2020’s many challenges, over 280 new archaeological sites were recorded thanks to cultural resource management (CRM) projects and continued contributions from independent research projects, members of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology (SPA), and long-time avocational archaeologists.

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Vietnamese History in Pennsylvania

In addition to being National Historic Preservation Month, May is also Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and the perfect time to share this story by PA SHPO’s 2019 Keystone Intern, Yen Ho. Yen is a Vietnamese American from southeast Pennsylvania who, in addition to her summer project, helped the PA SHPO learn more about the places important to the Vietnamese-American community and that reflect this underrepresented part of our history.

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Summer Plans? Be a Keystone Intern!

One of the most important parts of a student’s education is an internship.  It is an opportunity to gain real-life work experience, explore the many different types of things people in the real world do in your field of interest, and build personal and professional relationships that can support you throughout your career. 

We’d like to invite college and graduate school students interested in historic preservation, archaeology, community planning, cultural resources, architectural history, public history, and other related fields to apply to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s (PHMC) Keystone Internship program for their Summer 2020 interning experience. 

This paid, 12-week-long opportunity is an excellent way for you to build your portfolio while helping PHMC and the PA State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) preserve Pennsylvania’s important older and historic places.

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Intern Insights: Two Worlds – CRM and Academia

Ever since I discovered archaeology in high school I knew that it was going to be my career, even if I have not figured out the specifics of what I wanted to do. By recommendation, I ended up at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). It was an excellent choice for me, and gave me the chance to learn about the different areas of archaeology that I could choose from. While there are many work-related fields to choose, the two main divisions I saw were cultural resource management (CRM) jobs, and jobs in academia. Either way, I knew that both required at least a Master’s degree and that’s how I found my way to the State University of New York (SUNY) Binghamton. Continue reading