Sarah Goehring: Welcome back to Listen to the Helpers, a podcast created by the Fred Rogers Institute to elevate the voices of helpers everywhere. Fred Rogers once said, "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." Today, we're joined by Emily Uhrin, our archavist at the Fred Rogers Institute, for a special episode. At the end of today's episode, stay tuned as Kenzie and I reflect on our discussion with Emily in the context of Fred Rogers legacy and all of our work at the Fred Rogers Institute.
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Sarah: Emily, we're so glad and excited to have you on today's episode of Listen to the Helpers. Today is kind of a special episode for us because not only do we get to learn about your work as our archivist at the Fred Rogers Institute, but we also get to hear you talk about some details of what actually is in the archive. So, we're really excited to to bring you to our listeners today. So, to start off, Emily, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? tell us who you are, um, where you're from, and what you do, and kind of how you came to be the archivist at the Fred Rogers Institute.
Emily Uhrin: Sure. So, I am Emily Uhrin, the archivist. Sorry, I know Sarah already introduced me, but I always start all my talks with that. So, um, I grew up, uh, in Greensburg, one town away from Latrobe. and um I attended St. Vincent College and I studied English here um but I also worked in the library and working in the library really got me interested in library science. So when I graduated from St. Vincent, I decided to um continue studying in the library science field and I went to the University of Pittsburgh and um into that program and was doing a concentration in archives and records management. Well, um, Brother David Kelly, who was the director of our St. Vincent College Library, he was the original archivist, um, for the Fred Rogers Institute, and he, um, needed help with going through files that were in Pittsburgh at WQED. And since I was taking classes at Pitt, um, it made sense for me to help him out as an intern. And so I got to while I was taking classes at Pitt, I got to go to WQED and uh start going through files that they still had there in their um in their Family Communications offices. So that Family Communications was um the name of Fred's production company. And so I was going through files there and um doing an inventory similar to what our work study students do with files. um now just you know going open opening up filing cabinets, boxes, doing an inventory of what's there and um then I graduated in 2006 and came back to St. Vincent and was working um with Brother David and um we continued the inventory and cataloging and then in 2008 the building was built and uh we established the archives down here and I've been here ever since.
Sarah: That's great. Um, we always brag about the fact that kind of you are you know so much about Fred because you are in literally working in all of his life's work every single day in the archive. And I'm wondering if maybe you can talk a little bit about kind of in general what an archive is because some of our listeners might have maybe heard the term archive but might not really know like what that means. Um, can you talk about like what actually is an archive? What is it used for? And then more specifically, what is in the Fred Rogers archive?
Emily: Sure. So an archive is a collection of materials um usually original documents um things like it's different from a library in that a library collects books and magazines and newspapers and those are things that are widely published and um available uh you know to to multiple users multiple libraries. Archives are usually original documents like one of a kind items um that are unpublished, not widely available and uh they are collected and cataloged in such a way that they are accessible for usually a person doing a research project of some kind. So um there are all sorts of different archives. Ours happens to be mainly paperbased but there are objectbased archives. But um what is important is um an archive is meant to be accessible for research purposes. So um so there are certain like rules and um things that you you learn if you study um library science and archives that um that you can follow to make sure that when someone is coming to you and they want to know what you have dealing with a particular subject that you are able to go back into the collection and identify those items and be able to pull them. or for researchers. So, it's um having a collection of unique items that you know how to um find what you're looking for when a question comes up. And our archive is made up of items that Fred Rogers saved throughout his life. Um both the things that he saved and that his production company saved. So, it's a combination of um personal papers and professional papers. So, we really get to see that intersection of Fred's personal life, his work life, and um and like I said, we have mostly paper documents. So we have correspondence um letters back and forth to people either personal friends or um or professional correspondents or viewer mail. Um we have articles both about Fred and by Fred. articles makes up one of the biggest portions of the collection and they're valuable to researchers because um a lot of them are interviews with Fred. So you get to um you get to hear things from Fred's perspective about his work that also you get to see what the um reception of Mister Rogers was throughout time by looking at these newspaper clippings and magazine articles. We have photographs, um, some professional that were taken on the set and some personal that were taken by Fred himself because he enjoyed photography. We have um his handwritten notes that he would use to prepare television scripts, speeches, music, and also sometimes just jotted down um thoughts uh or quotations that he enjoyed. So, [snorts] a lot of handwritten notes. We have his television scripts. He wrote all the scripts for the neighborhood program. So we have um sometimes multiple drafts of the scripts in addition to the final versions. We have the songs that he wrote. Again, they're in draft form or final version. Um some some of the publications that he and his production company released. We have um their professional development materials that they created, their um books for parents and caregivers and books for children. Um we have uh speeches that Fred gave the transcripts of those speeches and um he was often asked to go talk at different events either for professional organizations or college commencements and he would write a um a unique speech for each one of those places. So we have all of those. So we have a we have a rich um archive of um materials for researchers who would like to come study.
Sarah: Yeah. And we really do have so much here. And I know you mentioned the handwritten notes and the scripts and the drafts of songs. I know that um in my experience when I've talked to some researchers that have come here, I know that that tends to be kind of a fan favorite of our researchers when they can like see and hold pieces of paper that have Fred's real handwriting on it. Um there's something really impactful about like seeing that and feeling that in person. And you mentioned, you know, that the Fred Rogers Archive is very paperbased, although we do have some objects here and there, but like mostly paper items. And I wanted to highlight that we are in the process of digitizing the archive to make it even more accessible because I know that Emily you mentioned that part of what makes an archive an archive is its accessibility to researchers. Um but ours being a physical paperbased kind of archive right now it's mostly accessible to people who come here to Latrobe to study in person and research in person. But um can you talk just kind of briefly about like the how the digitization process has been going and what that kind of looks like for you and I know our work studies students have been helping you with that too.
Emily: Sure. So to digitize the archive we have been working with a um company in Pittsburgh. So, it's nice having a local um company and uh we are packaging up boxes for them and every couple of weeks we'll do an exchange where they come pick up boxes, they drop off what they've done and give us the digital files. And so we are sending things to this company um in terms of those different item types um that we talked about um just a minute ago. And so we are using a digital asset management system that allows us to um with the digital documents put them into those different categories like like correspondence, articles, um viewer mail, speeches. Yeah. So and also by um by decade too. So we have we are able to um have them arranged within the digital asset management system by those different item types and the dates but also um they're being scanned with the um the OCR text recognition software so that they will be able to be searchable um by the actual text in the documents which really nice because that gives us another level of searchability beyond um like when I catalog things and I'm kind of defining like the keywords and the subject terms and stuff. This gives us another step and it's actually looking at the text of the document itself. So, um, so searching, uh, will will you'll be able to, um, like really get down to the nitty-gritty. Like if you have a like if you're wondering like what are all the items in the archive that reference Chicago you'll be able to put Chicago into the search and um see all the documents that have that whether it's been something that I've defined as a keyword or whether it's in the actual text of the document itself. So, so we are um doing the back and forth of packaging up the boxes, getting them back, getting everything um into the digital asset management system. So, so far um it's it's going well and um and eventually uh we'll be able to um share things with researchers um who can't come here in person and need to work remotely. will be able to um give them a nice experience of being able to go through documents as well. And that's something that's been a limiting factor for us these years is being able to share things digitally. But having this new system will allow us to um be able to make kind of like an online folder for a person, put everything in there that they need to see. and um and so we'll be able to work with a lot more um people than than in the past.
Kenzee Knott: Awesome. Emily, I followup question just to really highlight how accessible that this you know digitization process is going to be when we have the final product. But like you're one person with 22,000 items. Like you talked about identifying like artifact types and everything, but like how do you know exactly where one thing is? Because like I know what the archive physically looks like as the Sarah and you, but like people really don't know like how you just know where everything is. Like what is the organization process like for you and like the physical artifact pieces?
Emily: Sure. It's actually part of the cataloging process where you um say like I know what box number and what folder to find an item in. So um when I when I go into my catalog say I'm doing a search for the word play and like okay I want to pull this document on play in my catalog I've defined that it is in box um EU25 because we had brother David and I had started a thing back way back um when we first started cataloging where if he did a box he would name it like um BDK1, BDK2. So then when I did a box, I would do like EU1, EU2. So um so that's why we have our initials um in front of the box numbers. So um so what I'll do is I you know I have the boxes in there in order. I will go to the particular box, open the box. Um the file folder titles are all there. I will pull out the file folder. Um, now I have to say I am not so organized that every item within that file folder is in a particular order where I know like exactly within the file folder. So I do um, you know, when I open up the file folder will go through the documents until I find the one that I um, need. So that's how like physically you find the location. But then in archives there's the idea of like a physical arrangement and an intellectual arrangement. And I feel like the the digital asset management system maybe is more of that intellectual arrangement where you can filter by like item type whereas in the in the physical arrangement of the actual archive storage room they're not organized by item type if [clears throat] that makes sense.
Kenzee: That makes sense. Um I have a curious question I've never asked you but how many EU boxes do you think exists in the archive? How many boxes do you think you've truly cataloged if you could estimate?
Emily: Yeah. So, for the cataloged portion of the collection, [clears throat] there's um there's about 150 boxes that I've like that I have searchable within my catalog, but that takes up um just about um two of the big like shelving units in in the archive. And then um other boxes are boxes that have been inventoried but not yet entered into the catalog that still um those are still accessible because um with the inventory I keep those styles on my computer so that um that I can still have them be searchable. um like if I'm looking for something in particular like oh it might be in this inventoried box that's not in the catalog yet but um so then um say we have still about two two more shelving units of boxes that um still need to be inventoried and that is um that's where a lot of the work study students come in um handy in helping us with um doing that initial inventory of opening the box, seeing like what the file folder titles are, getting a general idea of what's in the boxes so that um even if it hasn't made it to the to the actual catalog yet, we still have a grasp and idea of what we have.
Kenzee: Yep. And I can note that I was one of those students who worked on some boxes. A lot of my boxes, I believe mine were like old like merchandise catalogs. I did a lot of merchandise cataloges and like Mister Rogers Neighborhood stuff in the media realm, which was very fun to read, especially being that most of it was like at least 20 years older than I was.
Sarah: And it's crazy to think that like the stuff in the archive is quite old now. And even after this many years of that stuff existing and this many years of you being the archivist that there is still more archiving to be done and there's still more things to catalog and still more things to inventory. And I know that sometimes you get more additions to the archive from people who are, you know, are or were affiliated with Fred's work who find something somewhere and happen to have things to drop off to add to the archive. So, it's just really interesting that it's it over 22,000 items in the archive and still growing even.
Enily: Yeah, we get new boxes somewhat frequently, every couple months at least, I would say.
Kenzee: And based off of, you know, what's currently in the archive and what you know of and when researchers come, um, what type of topics are usually researched and studied?
Emily: We do a lot with education and teaching. Um I would say uh those are two of our biggest subjects. Um people looking at Fred as a teacher and also what he had to say about the fields of education um and teaching. So those are two of the biggest we have a lot on um play, listening, um love, curiosity, creativity, child psychology, child development. Um, and then going beyond some of some of those um, topics that I feel like we kind of naturally associate with Fred. Um, some of them can get a little bit more um specialized like like Fred and the environment or Fred and animals or um books that Fred read or presented on the neighborhood. um swimming, um being a vegetarian, um routines, um so there people can get um very creative in um you know like looking at a very particular part of Fred's life and to um to study that. Um, so some of our topics are very specific and some are more um more broad and general.
Sarah: That's so interesting. I love hearing about all the different topics that people come in wanting to learn more about and the things that people are curious about, especially because we have people who are coming from all different parts of the country and even sometimes from other countries and people who are working in a lot of different types of professions all coming to learn from Fred's work in some way. So it's really interesting to hear about the different topics that are of interest to other people. Um so with the nature of this podcast being called listen to the helpers and with Fred doing so much work in supporting helpers and us trying to extend his legacy supporting helpers. We talk a lot about helping and helpers in our work at the Fred Rogers Institute. And I'm wondering, Emily, what is your perspective on what it means to be a helper?
Emily: Yeah. So, I love Fred's idea of, you know, everybody is a helper at some point and everybody also needs help at some point. So um like you're never just a helper or never just a person who needs help. It all depends on the situation. So I see um a helper as being um someone who at a point in time is willing and able to help in whatever that situation might be. Um so there are times when you can be a successful helper like um at the moment like okay like yes I'm available yes I have the capability to help in this instance there are other times when maybe you can't be a helper either because you you cannot physically or emotionally or mentally be available at a particular time or maybe you literally cannot do the thing that is being asked of you. Um so there there are times I think when you can be a helper and when you cannot be a helper but also the times when you need help yourself. So, I I feel like I have a hard time defining a helper because I look at it as like a situation by situation basis and you can be a helper multiple times throughout the day and in different ways. Um and so um having Fred's idea which he he he talked about this in um more [clears throat] in relation to um the idea of charitable giving and when he founded his sweater drives but um I like the idea that everybody at some point is a helper. Everybody at some point is the person who needs help. So, so, um, that's kind of how I look at the idea of helping.
Kenzee: Wow, Emily, that was deep. I am impressed. That's amazing. Kind of back onto the topic of the archive. Um, is there anything that as the archivist you wish people knew about what you do?
Emily: Um I yeah I think that um and what's funny is people always say to me like oh you must be very organized where in a way I am but then also um well you two work with me you know that I'm I don't come off as the most organized person um got stacks and piles of things and um and so like what's interesting about an archive and especially like what's really nice about the Fred Rogers archive is things came to us like organized like we we were lucky enough to get files from a from a um like an office space that you know they were like okay here are office files from from 1976. And you open up these boxes and things are in labeled file folders and it's it's very nice um nicely organized. So um so some of that organization work is already done for you. Like we're we're not imposing an organization on the on the items. So, so, um, we're keeping that original organization that that Fred and his production company kept the files in. So, um, so yeah, so people don't have to associate me personally with being a highly organized person. And [clears throat and snorts] um also people probably do know know this, but it it is a very um it can be a very like quiet and um sometimes lonely position. Not lonely in terms of your thinking like, "Oh, I'm sad down here in the archive. I'm all by myself." not not really that type of [clears throat] uh lonely but it is a lot of um solitary work um where it's just you sitting down with the documents it requires a lot of reading I think it requires a lot of patience and um I think there are particular types of people who who do um appreciate archive work more so than than um than others. It's not a very fast-paced work environment. Sometimes it definitely can be. Sometimes it can be stressful when you're um you have a lot of questions or needs coming at you once. And so it can get uh stressful at times, but um it overall it's it's a unique way to learn about someone and um it's a fun way to spend your day if you like looking at new things all the time and like look like analyzing documents and writing summaries and things like that.
Sarah: That's so interesting. And I love that you like clarified the idea of, you know, it's it's solitary work, but it's not lonely in a negative sense. So that's interesting to think about. Um, since since you are so knowledgeable about Fred's life and work and you know probably more than almost anybody about Fred as a person and um as a professional, we're wondering is there anything in particular that you have personally learned from Fred's life and or work that you know has really stuck with you just just on a personal level?
Emily: Yeah, I think um it there's actually a Fred quote. Um it's “The child is in me still and sometimes not so still.” And that's something that I actually grapple with like all the time. I think about that that quote and wondering like okay what did he mean by that? Does that mean like his inner child is there and sometimes sometimes the inner child just like wants to come out and it's like okay like um like the inner child is very active and not so still like that that's kind of like like where where my mind eventually ended up landing on the on this quote. Um but then I found out that it was actually the beginning of a song lyric that he was working on. So it was actually um like the song lyrics and then huh was it him trying to work out a melody and that's why like it's the child is in me still and sometimes not so still like is that so it was more like a rhyming thing and am I putting way too much thought into it? I don't know. But um that that's that particular Fred quote that always is just like in my mind. So that that I so something I learned beyond learning that that was a song lyric is just um how Fred did have these memories and feelings of what it was like to be a child which I find fascinating. He said in an article on it's like you have to remember what it was like not to be able to reach the light switch. And wow, he can actually like remember that feeling. And I think that makes him so unique that he's able to um actually remember and feel what it's like to be a child. Um so so that that idea of like taking the child's emotions and ideas and viewpoints um into account and respecting them. And um that's something that I find super fascinating and um say is just something that that sticks with me about Fred.
Sarah: That is so interesting. I first of all I feel like that that's one of the many reasons why he was able to make such an important impact on so many people both adults and children because you know it seems like he was able to literally draw from his own experiences of being a child so impacting the children but then also like reminding the parents and caregivers and other caring adults in those children's lives that you were once a child too like that perspective shift I'm sure is is a huge reason why he had such a big and positive impact. And also, as another point, I didn't know that that quote was initially the start of a song that he was drafting. Kenzee, did you know that that was the start of a song?
Kenzee:I definitely did not know that at all either. Um, and I was thinking too, one of my favorite non-Fred related quotes that like, you know, matches that vibe, I guess, is um, C. Lewis says that a lot with his children's books and other children's books. There's a quote of his that says like when he became a man, he put away childish things, including the fear of childishness. Um, so basically meaning that like as adults, we should indulge ourselves in the perspective of a child and enjoying things that are, I guess, meant for children. Um, so that being said, I have to agree it is also one of my favorite quotes of Fred's is the not so still child in me. Um, so thank you for sharing that, Emily. I did I had I I gotta say though, I did not know that about you that you enjoyed that quote in the like thought behind the quote. So that is news to me and I believe also Sarah.
Sarah: Yes, [laughter] I love learning new things about Emily. I I wish that we could have just an Emily archive. [laughter]
Kenzee: We would have many. we would also have 22,000 things in
Sarah: because for our listeners that may or may not know Emily Fred very interesting amazing person but Emily is the best person to be the archivist of the Fred Rogers archive because she herself is an incredibly amazing and interesting person so it just very much matches. [laughter]
Kenzee: I have another curious question about your work in the archive. Um, and we had some preliminary conversations about what we talk about today, and this was something that I really am kind of dying to know. Um, do you think, like, obviously you've been working in the archive for quite some time. Do you think you've read all of the items within the archive? And if you haven't, what percentage do you think you have?
Emily: Yeah. So, I've read um most of them. So, I'm really bad at figuring out like figures and numbers [clears throat] and percentages. So, let let's say like 75% um of the archive like I I've read. But here's here's the thing. Um, when you have a person like Fred who was so consistent in his values and his beliefs and the way that he worked, um, you can get a firm understanding on him and his life um, by reading. you know, say you have like a week here to read research materials for a week. I think you would leave here in a week, like feeling like, okay, I like I I've got a pretty good understanding of of Fred. And I I think I started to feel that way shortly into um my work um with the archives cuz I remember my very first day as an intern and going into WQED um Hedda Sherapen who was one of Fred's um you know closest confidants in terms of like his writing and she would like she would do a lot of drafts for Fred. She would go out and speak on Fred's behalf um she was someone who really knew him um like very very well and both personally and professionally. And my first question for her was well what was Fred really like? And she said I said you know what you saw on television that was Fred. He was not acting. she said, um, you know, he he really was there to give his best to children. And what I found pretty quickly going through the archive items was that um everything that he like wrote, the things that he did, the way he interacted with people, all supports that that Fred um what you're seeing on television is what he was like in real life. And so the archive is pretty consistent. Um it's it's rare that I see anything that shocks me. And I have to say I've never seen anything that made me think of Fred in a different way. Um I think he was an amazing person. And um and so I would say that you could get a good understanding of Fred um with um with some very good readings from the archive.
Sarah: I feel like that's really reassuring to hear. I'm sure for um I'm sure for people who are listening that are big fans of Fred, too, that he really was who he said he was and who he appeared to be. I feel like sometimes that can be a rare occurrence to find somebody who's not like especially a public figure like he was, somebody who's not playing a character or has like a persona for for television or for whatever media they're producing or the content they're they're producing. But to know that like Mister Rogers was not a character, it was read just on the television.
Kenzee: I feel like that's a good way to end our time today. But Emily, do you have any additional final thoughts for our listeners?
Emily: Um, I think that was a good one to end on that Fred, you know. Is is this um person that that you know we can we can study. He was a philosopher. He he left behind um his life's work so that um people can can look to it for inspiration, guidance, um help. And I just hope that this archive continues well on into the future. And I'm hoping like well beyond all of us that people will still be studying Fred and um and because I think that what he [snorts] has to say will always be valuable.
Sarah: I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that, Emily. And thank you so much for being a guest on today's podcast. We will definitely have you back um for a future episode to talk more archive things um because you know there's so much in the archive. We could talk for hours and hours about all of the things. So um stay tuned everyone for more episodes featuring Emily. Um and yeah, thank you again for joining us today.
Emily: You're welcome. Yeah, it was fun to be able to sit down and talk about work. So I appreciate it a lot.
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Sarah: Kenzee, we got to talk to Emily today on our podcast.
Kenzee: Finally. Oh my gosh, that was like I don't know. Obviously, we're biased because we love Emily and we talked to Emily like lot a lot. But um I don't know, the lore drops that Emily has are just wild and I feel like we learned so much more about Emily today.
Sarah: Truly. And I always feel like I learn so much more about Fred every time that she just casually talks about what she does. And to her it's so norm like her being an archivist is so normal because she's done this job for so many years. But every once in a while when she really goes in to talking about what she does or something that she finds, I feel like I feel like we all learn so much from her and her exploring in the archive, which is such such a gift to have that I don't know, we get to learn from her, learning from Fred,
Kenzee: Right? Do you have cuz I have one and I'm curious to hear if you have one a favorite random Fred fact because mine is that he would try to stay at the weight of 143.
Sarah: I love that. Yeah. So yeah, actually in case any of our listeners are not familiar with that fact, can you talk a little bit more about the whole 143 idea?
Kenzee: So 143 um it was a very big deal for Fred. It basically is the amount amount of um letters that are in the words I love you. And it's a very big deal in Pennsylvania as well at least. Um we have a 143 day that always happens on the 143rd day of the year. Um so that was a big deal for Fred and obviously it was because he's tried to stay at that weight for most of his life.
Sarah: So yeah, and I know that he would often like use it as like kind of a not so secret secret code when like talking to people or signing letters like a 143, you know, um as in like I love you. But I I do love that fact. My favorite random fun fact about Fred is that um Emily has talked about in going through his like personal daily calendars that he you know he was a very organized person and he kept track of lots of things um including like what he ate for breakfast or lunch or dinner and going through these personal daily calendars of his over however many years worth of these that she has um in the archive. Emily came across the fact that um it seemed like one of Fred's favorite like sweet treats, if not his favorite dessert or treat, was prune whip, which I think is just such a funny like most people it might be like ice cream or cookies or brownies, but Mister Rogers liked prune whip. And sometimes in the office we jokingly talk about having like a Fred themed lunch or a Fred themed meal and we're we talk about how it would have to be vegetarian and we would have to have prune whip for dessert and it's I don't know that's just like such a random little fun fact like one of those things that reminds me oh he he was also human like he he has his little quirks and um he's just human
Kenzee: Right and for our listeners who don't know What prune whip is? It is a vintage dessert um made from pureed prunes mixed with a whipped base um usually beaten egg whites or heavy cream. Um and if you feel like googling it, it does not look pretty. So be at your own risk. But if you're looking to have a Fred themed meal, cook a vegetarian dinner and then have some prune whip for dessert and you'll be channeling your inner Fred. [
Sarah: Um, I'm wondering since we have been tying all of our episodes to the six fundamentals of learning and growing, um, even though this was kind of a special episode, a little bit different in the content, I think we can still try to do that. Do you have one of the six fundamentals that, um, maybe stuck out to you and Emily's conversation?
Kenzee: Um, yes. Mine feels kind of like a reach, but I'm still going to talk through it. Um, I feel like for me, solitude played a very significant but passive role in everything that Emily talked about, not only in her role as the archivist, but also the role of researchers visiting the archive because a lot of time you're looking into what was most important to Fred, whether it's personally or professionally. And you have to really consider the different themes and topics that come up. um not only the topic that you're there to study but also you know what just comes up as well. And by doing so, you really have to think about your own views and your own like reflect on your own views on that specific topic whether it is like you know something as important as love or you know the niche topic of swimming per yeah what a what a random topic for researchers to come study how funny right and now I need to know the context of that which I will be asking her after the fact but um and then of course also her role as an archivist like as she said it was a very it's can be a lonely job and you do have to work on your own and you know you are going to engage in solitude in that regard. Um so that's my ramble about solitude. What about you? What popped up for you Sarah?
Sarah: Yeah I was definitely I love those thoughts on solitude and I love that Emily when she mentioned that it can be a lonely job like you brought up she clarified to say not lonely in a sad way. I thought that was super interesting because I agree that loneliness doesn't have to mean sadness. That's often the connotation that comes with it. But lonely can mean alone, like physically alone. And a lot of times Emily is working physically alone. But I love that she specified and said lonely but not how you might think, not sad, but solitary. I think that's a really important thing to think about when we think about times of solitude. Um, I also I know she mentioned being curious about things. Um, she's finding things that make her curious to read more. So, I really think curiosity is an obvious tie for the fundamentals of learning and growing. But as you were talking out your thoughts on solitude, I was thinking looking and listening carefully as well. um really especially with the researcher perspective of it which I hadn't thought about before but as you were explaining your thoughts around solitude I'm thinking when researchers come they really are looking and listening carefully at every single thing that they're reading from the archive and and listening to or um learning from whether it's learning from the archive and the pieces directly from Fred or even talking with Emily and learning her from her experiences as the archivist and I think Emily has to practice practice that looking and listening carefully every day in her job. Uh, not only to learn about Fred, but also to be able to correctly and accurately categorize things and sort things and organize things and to pull things for researchers when they come saying, "Hey, I want to study love." What a broad topic. and for her to be able to really intentionally hone in on what might be useful and helpful, at least as a starting point for this researcher, um, she has to be super super intentional and really look and listen carefully to what the requests are and what is in the archive. So, I I can see that tying into her work, too.
Kenzee: Yeah. And we said this prior when we were talking to Emily, but I don't know how much we can truly emphasize how skilled Emily is at finding exactly what someone is looking for. She has a lot of boxes down in the archive that are organized in a special Emily manner that, you know, we had her describe today. and she's so good at finding exactly what someone is looking for because a lot of our work at the institute is based off of Fred's own thoughts and experiences and what we can study in the archive and she based off of different like professional development things that we have going on or resources that we're developing based off of, you know, inspiration from Fred, she just knows exactly what we're looking for and delivers and she's just so amazing.
Sarah: Yeah, it's really it's truly so impressive and such a cool skill of hers and and oftentimes she can think of things off the top of her head too. Um, you know, she does her like actual deep dive into seeing what is there on a particular topic, but oftentimes it is like we can come to her and say, "Hey, did Fred say anything about like she used an example of did did Fred say anything about Chicago?" And she might be able to be like, "Yeah, he talked about Chicago. He talked in Chicago. talked with someone from Chicago and like she might just know things off the top of her head just about a random topic or theme or location and it's it's so impressive. I've never met anybody who can do anything quite like that which is just a huge compliment in my opinion.
Kenzee: Um says she doesn't love I believe she says she's not as great with dates but I don't think she's truthful. I truly think that
Sarah: She doesn't give her herself enough credit.
Kenzee: Absolutely not. She is always on point with dates.
Sarah: We love getting to talk with Emily, especially in this format on the podcast, and being able to bring Emily to all of you. Um, if you are finding yourself curious about the archive and what you might be able to learn, if you're interested in coming to visit the Fred Rogers Institute to study and research um, with Emily from the Fred Rogers Archive, we have a form on the Fred Rogers Institute website that says contact the archivist. So, in the caption of today's episode, in the description, we will link the um link the form for you to fill out and you can contact the archivist. That form will go straight to Emily. You can um request an appointment, a day, a time, a topic to research and study from the Fred Rogers archive and we can set you up and you can come visit us.
Kenzee: Yeah. And please stay tuned for any news that we might have about the digitization process as well.
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