Environmental Internship Program - 2023 Booklet

Molly Taylor ’25
HISTORY
Certificate: Computer Science
PROJECT TITLE
Archival Ecologies
ORGANIZATION(S)
Blue Lab,
Effron Center for the
Study of America,
Princeton University
LOCATION(S)
Lytton, British Columbia,
Canada; Princeton, New
Jersey
MENTOR(S)
Allison Carruth,
Professor of American
Studies and the High
Meadows Environmental
Institute; Jayme Collins,
Postdoctoral Research
Associate, High Meadows
Environmental Institute
As climate change increases the frequency
of extreme weather events, museums and
archives are increasingly at risk of damage and
destruction. I contributed research and writing
to an audio series about the collections lost in
the 2021 wildfire in Lytton, British Columbia.
Through the story of Lytton, this project explores
the connection between climate change and
cultural preservation. Our team spent a week
in British Columbia interviewing the stewards
of Lytton’s cultural institutions about their
collections and plans for recovery. Participating
in fieldwork strengthened my interest in the
environmental humanities and expanded the
possibilities for my independent work as a history
major. In the final weeks of the internship, we
produced the first episode of the series. This
work reinforced my excitement for nonfiction
storytelling, as I loved thinking creatively to
present interviewees’ perspectives alongside
historical context. Beyond the concrete skills I
developed during this internship, which included
writing for audio, recording high-quality audio
and finding obscure sources through the library, I
gained an understanding of how to tell nuanced,
personal stories around climate change.
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY
47