Fellows in the Center for Archival Research and Training are immersed in the work of the Special Collections & Archives department of the UCSC University Library, usually in service of making archival collections accessible to the public through arrangement, description, and the creation of collection guides. Another main component of the CART fellowship is creating an exhibition project to showcase the work the fellow has done on the collection, and also promote the discovery of the collection to researchers. Fellows have also hosted events for the campus community and beyond, and have created unique digital projects that activate and interface with collection materials in new ways.

Archival Processing

Each CART fellow arranges, describes, preserves, and provides access to unprocessed archival collections in the UCSC Special Collections & Archives. Fellows are trained by a professional archivist in established standards of processing, and follow the Guidelines for Efficient Archival Processing in the University of California Libraries.

Tasks include: 

• conducting a survey of unprocessed materials
• re-housing materials and making preservation recommendations
• writing content descriptions of the materials in the collection
• writing biographies and historical notes to provide contextual information on the creator of the materials
• creating a public collection guide

Exhibition Curation

Each year, CART fellows curate a public exhibition of materials from the collections they processed. This is an opportunity for fellows to delve deeper into their own research interests with the collections, collaborate other with fellows, develop exhibition curation skills, and write for a public audience. 

Public Programming

In collaboration with archives staff, the CART Fellow develops and facilitates at least one event or public program during their academic year. This could be a guest lecture, reading discussion, workshop, film screening, colloquium, etc.

Some examples of past programs include:

• "Tripping on Utopia” and Locavore Research with UCSC Professor Ben Breen - Hands-on archival encounters and book talk for Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science

• Echoes of Seema Weatherwax: History, Sound, and Creative Practice in the Archive - Hosted by Brock Stuessi, CART Fellow, with guest Michael J. Kramer, SUNY Brockport

• Reading and discussion of "Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence" by Rodney G.S. Carter.

Digital Projects

Optionally, the Fellow can also create a digital project utilizing the materials in collections stewarded by UC Santa Cruz Special Collections & Archives. Examples of past digital exhibits and projects created by CART Fellows include:

• Echoes of Seema: A creative rearrangement of the Sara Halprin interviews of Seema Weatherwax collection by Brock Stuessi

• "See you when I see you...": Black Student Life at UCSC 1965-present by Jazmin Benton

• Reading Nature, Observing Science: Examining Material Practices in the Lick Observatory Archives and Kenneth S. Norris Papers by Alex Moore, Christine Turk, and Danielle Crawford

UCSC Research Symposium

The CART Fellow participates in the annual UCSC Graduate Research Symposium in Spring quarter. They present on the research they’ve done with CART in McHenry Library, either in a short talk, research poster presentation, or alternative media presentation.