​Meet the AmeriCorps: Pamela

My name is Pam Curtin and I am a Preserve WV AmeriCorps member with the Clio Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind Clio, an educational website and mobile application that connects people to history around them. I received an MA in Public History and Certificate in Cultural Resource Management from West Virginia University in 2017 and a BA in History from Saint Vincent College in 2014. As an educator and public historian, I was immediately drawn to Clio’s innovative approach to sharing history and culture. I am grateful to have an opportunity to be part of this project in my service year.

I am from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and share a hometown with children’s television educator Fred Rogers, professional golfer Arnold Palmer, and even the first banana split. History, therefore, was an ever-present and meaningful part of growing up. I soon realized there were so many stories from the past left unwritten. When I attended Saint Vincent College for history, I wrote my senior thesis on Powdermill Nature Reserve’s bird banding lab, the longest continually-running station of its kind in the United States. Having visited and worked at Powdermill for many years, I was excited to document its history and craft an interesting narrative. I also developed an exhibit on Rachel Carson at the McCarl Coverlet Gallery on campus. Thanks to these projects and my academic mentors at Saint Vincent, I discovered the worlds of public history and environmental history. At West Virginia University, I worked with professors and fellow graduate students on public history projects such as the West Virginia glass industry and Jack Roberts Park. A project on Morgantown’s Sunnyside neighborhood soon developed into my MA thesis, which looked at changes in the neighborhood’s culture, housing, and approach to development. In the summer of 2016, I had the wonderful opportunity to intern at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where I worked on education programs, exhibit development, and book projects. Furthermore, I spent a few weeks of this summer traveling Europe with my sister and witnessing an incredible array of historic sites, cultures, and stories. Whether I was spending time in the mountains of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, working on “America’s Front Yard” in the country’s most-visited museum, or traveling the world, I have learned a lot about the power of place. My studies over the past few years have solidified a passion for cultural landscapes and understanding sense of place and identity.

Clio turns the physical, ever-changing landscapes of our world into a virtual museum, where we can document and discover the past around us. There are currently around 30,000 Clio entries on historical sites, museums, monuments, landmarks, and other sites of cultural or historical significance. One of my favorite features of Clio is the Time Capsule category, which encourages users to create entries for sites that no longer exist. Each Clio entry includes a concise, scholarly narrative and informative resources such as photographs, maps, primary sources, books, articles, videos, and credible websites. These entries are created by individuals, organizations, teachers, and students, building not only a collection of entries but a community of engaged users. I first learned about Clio and the Preserve WV AmeriCorps program through my colleagues at WVU. I heard nothing but accolades, which motivated me to pursue AmeriCorps after graduation. I am thrilled to serve with a nonprofit that is promoting historical scholarship and community engagement on a creative digital platform. I also appreciate the philosophy of its founder, Dr. David Trowbridge of Marshall University, that success is not measured by clicks or downloads but by interaction with historical and cultural resources. This commitment to education and public accessibility gives so much meaning to my everyday work.

This year, I am working on a number of exciting projects. On a day to day basis, I research, write, and edit Clio entries to provide users with strong scholarship and a variety of media. I provide assistance to individuals, organizations, and teachers to foster the Clio community. I present research and writing workshops to help history professionals, volunteers, and students in college and K-12 make their own contributions to Clio. I am also working on articles, blog posts, teacher toolkits, events, and grants to share Clio’s potential to various audiences. If you would like to learn more about Clio, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. You can also visit Clio at www.theclio.com or download the app for free on the App Store or Google Play. I am looking forward to serving communities throughout West Virginia and the country in my AmeriCorps service year.