During my internship at the Betsy-Tacy Society, I was tasked with cataloging, photographing and researching a large collection of Madame Alexander dolls. The dolls were to be sold as a fundraiser for the Betsy-Tacy Society and information about their condition, fandom, and value was entered into a document.  This document was created by myself with the assistance of other interns and eventually became my primary responsibility during my time at the Betsy-Tacy Society.  

Obtaining the information for this document required many of the same historical research skills as an academic paper.  Much of the information regarding the production and original retail sale of the dolls was garnered from receipts and manufacturer information going back as far as the 1960's.  Determining this information allowed me to establish the demographics of potential buyers and therefore what platforms were best for selling them. 

Although this experience was different than writing a research paper, it required the same knowledge and process of consulting and using primary sources to guide my research.  Using the dolls as primary sources and generating further questions from them provided valuable experience in connecting historical research with challenges encountered in museums. 

While working with the dolls, I was also asked to interact with fans on social media.  This involved posting information about the Betsy-Tacy Society as well as historical dates and events that were significant in the Betsy-Tacy book series.  Both of these responsibilities involved the use of primary sources and allowed me to complete the learning outcome of researching appropriate primary source documents and evaluating how sources inform research questions.