Collegiate interns wrap up summer 2025 projects with the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs

The Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs (HCA) welcomed six collegiate students to learn alongside professional staff during summer internships. From May until August, students conducted research projects at four state museums and historic preservation sites, investigating the past to uncover stories of people who have become part of Delaware’s historic narrative. 

From the Revolutionary War and life in the 18th century to more modern-day events, interns worked alongside HCA staff to hone their research, archival and database skills, and gain hands-on artifact preservation experience with the collections team. 

Each student also produced an independent project supported by collaborative guidance from their school and HCA Staff. 

MacLaren Remy (she/they) is a graduate student at the University of Delaware. She is pursuing a master’s degree in history with a certificate in museum studies, focusing on early American history. At Cooch’s Bridge Historic Site, she is contributing to the Cooch’s Bridge African American database project. The database collects the vital data of African American people who resided at the site, as well as in the surrounding area. The project started with the Cooch mill and family ledgers and has been building from there. As the project approaches its first publication date, conversations about format and database mechanics have proved enlightening. 

Alexis Martinez Kennedy (she/her) is an English doctoral student at the University of Delaware, researching race representation in historical interpretation at historic sites and museum spaces. 

During her internship, Martinez Kennedy worked on a project titled  “African Americans of Revolutionary New Castle” in support of efforts underway at the New Castle Court House Museum to create a database for the African American community of New Castle during the Revolutionary period. The purpose of this database is not only to diversify Historic New Castle’s history, but to bring attention to a community that has typically been pushed to the margins of history and to recognize their equal place in Delaware’s historical narrative. Currently, with roughly 60 African Americans living in New Castle as either free or enslaved between 1760 and 1820, this database pulls from a variety of documents to begin to understand the lives of each individual in the database. 

Meira Liebman (she/her) is a rising senior at Syracuse University, where she is majoring in history with a minor in political science. She has been working with HCA’s collections team this summer on a collaborative project with the Dover Public Library, creating an exhibit about two major shipwrecks that occurred in the Delaware Bay. The shipwreck exhibit will be open at the Dover Public Library this October. In addition, Liebman has worked on creating an exhibit proposal for the heritage room at the Buena Vista conference center to help visitors better understand the history of the building. She has also spent her summer cataloging and identifying archaeological objects and historical artifacts for the state’s collections. Liebman was able to travel across Delaware, touring different historical locations, delivering loans to local museums and installing artwork. She plans to ultimately pursue a master’s degree in public history. 

Lily Sharp (she/her) is an undergraduate student at Pennsylvania State University studying anthropological science with a focus on archaeology. She interned at the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes, focusing on the museum’s “Witness Stones Project,” which aims to ensure the names of Black enslaved individuals in Sussex County are known and their legacies are documented. Sharp was tasked with sifting through a variety of historical records, both transcribed and written in old forms of cursive, to find the names of enslaved individuals who lived in the hundred of Delaware known as Cedar Creek, where she herself resides today. She is most proud of the sheer number of individuals she found, with over 200 names recorded throughout her internship, and feels that the work itself was very rewarding. The internship provided her with valuable experience in finding and deciphering historical texts, which will help her in her future endeavors pursuing a museum-centric career.

Jake Freebery (he/him) is a student at Pennsylvania State University studying social studies education and history. Freeberry interned at the Zwaanendael Museum and also focused on the Delaware “Witness Stones Project.” Freebery dedicated his time to researching, locating and documenting the names and stories of enslaved Black individuals in Delaware’s historic Baltimore Hundred. The research focuses on bearing witness to individual lives through historic records around Delaware and remembering them. Freebery compiled his notes, sources and other information into a project guide that he hopes future interns will find helpful in the months and years to come.

Naomi Presler (she/her) is studying at Xavier University, majoring in history and minoring in public relations. Presler’s goal at the Zwaanendael Museum was to work alongside fellow intern Sharp on the Delaware “Witness Stones Project.” Presler conducted detailed research through historic records to identify and highlight the stories of Sussex County individuals who were enslaved, to ensure their names and stories are not forgotten. To focus her research, Presler chose to explore the records of the Gumboro and Broad Creek Hundreds. Although she was faced with limited historical documentation, she was able to identify dozens of individuals, tracing their histories as far as records would allow. Alongside other interns, Presler also had the opportunity to visit the HMS DeBraak facility, Historic Lewes Archives and HCA’s Buena Vista Conference Center.