Interning with Abe

SPRINGFIELD — Princeton resident Michelle Donarski found the perfect summer internship. Donarski, who will be a senior at Eastern Illinois University in the fall, is a history major. Since she works in the school library, it made sense to apply for a position with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum for the summer.

“At the library at Eastern, I deal with the interloan library stuff, so that kind of sprung out on my application,” Donarski said. “They’re like all excited because I’d worked in there.”

Donarski had something else in her favor.

“They’re working on the Cherry Mine Exhibit here at the library and when they saw I was from Bureau County they were all excited,” she said.

Donarski has been working as an intern in the Newspapers and Microfilm section of the library since June, and is staying at the University of Illinois in Springfield. The full-time position includes assisting patrons whenever they come in, whether it’s needing a newspaper on microfilm or helping with research, such as finding an obituary.

“We have the biggest collection of Illinois papers,” Donarski.

She’s also helping with the Cherry Mine display.

Donarski said she had visited the museum before, but her first visit to the library was when she began working there.

Donarski said she’s enjoying her job.

“I like the people I work with and meeting the people from all over and hearing what they’re researching,” she said.

Donarski, who graduated from St. Bede in 2006, plans to attend graduate school after graduating from Eastern. She plans to focus on museum studies and eventually work in a museum.

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