ORLANDO, Fla. — Preserving information and items connected to Central Florida history and making them available for the public to see is the goal of this week’s Everyday Hero.
Barbara McCall says she has found a new purpose by volunteering at the Orange County Regional History Center.
“It also gives me a feeling of achievement,” she said. “I’m giving back something to the community.”
What You Need To Know
Barbara McCall is on a mission to give back to the community by preserving history as a volunteer at the Orange County Regional History Center
History Center archivist Katie Marra said she welcomes McCall’s assistance and appreciates being able to work with her to catalog artifacts and old public records
McCall said volunteering at the History Center is right up her alley — not only is she giving back, but her work is in line with her studies for a Master of Arts in history
Slipping on gloves comes easy to both McCall and Katie Marra, who is an archivist with the Orange County Regional History Center.
The pair works together to help prepare items for collections, and Marra said it is comforting to work with McCall.
“She just kinda puts the cherry on top of all the projects that I’m working on,” Marra said. “And she’s working on her own projects, learning the ins and outs of collections.”
McCall is a recent federal government retiree now pursuing a Master of Arts in history.
“It’s very interesting taking the courses, but it’s just very beneficial to get the practical training at the same time,” McCall said. “It compliments it.”
Most of her volunteering duties are centered on helping to preserve journals, ledgers and historic administrative papers.
“Barbara has worked on several projects — she has been doing collections processing, so that includes doing preservation of certain records, re-organizing and re-arranging, and she also catalogs these collections,” Marra said.
McCall said she plans to keep on cataloging, and is grateful to be part of the team dedicated to preserving Central Florida’s history.