Dylan Hammond

Hands-on Experiences Led to Choice Washington DC Internship for WC Senior

Dylan Hammond has a greater understanding of such disasters as the sinking of the Titanic and the Johnstown Flood — and the relief role played by the American Red Cross — after spending the summer among the archives and artifacts related to those and other catastrophes.

“You get to look at, touch and hold history — it’s an intense experience,” said Hammond, a senior from Eastlake, Ohio, majoring in history and education studies. He possesses a fascination with public history and the role museums and other public depositories of historic and cultural materials play in teaching and learning.

“I want people to see the beauty in history through these things that were left behind.”

The Red Cross selected Hammond from among more than 250 applicants for a historic programs and collections internship at its Washington DC headquarters last summer. He learned from his supervisor, the ARC’s head archivist, that his experiences outside the classroom at Wilmington College vaulted his application to the top of the stack from the start of the exhaustive interview process.

“My experience put me at an advantage over even many graduate candidates for the internship,” he said in referring to his ongoing role over the past four years as a student worker at the Meriam R. Hare Quaker Heritage Center at Wilmington College.

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