My first day, July 25th, began with culture shock, at least for a German/European who is in the United States for the first time. People here are a lot more open and informal than people usually are in Germany. Everybody is asking each other how they feel. Everybody is chatting and doing small talk. The atmosphere is extremely relaxed and welcoming. Everyone, even Steve Green, Founder and Chairman of the Board, immediately introduced himself by his first name. Such a degree of openness is really new to me. Germany is a lot stiffer compared to here. People’s open attitude clearly helped me get along during my first week, and made things much easier (although it took me some time to get used to it).
Yet not every experience was as positive as the way people interact with each other. On Monday, we had a “goodbye lunch” for Allyson, one of the first MOTB staff members who was beginning her last week at MOTB. The lunch was certainly great and the food was delicious. The shock came, however, when I took my first sip of the iced tea. I believe have I never tasted something so unbelievably sweet in my entire life. Interestingly, most of the others (of whom many are from other parts of the US) agreed on that. People here call it “sweet tea,” and I was told that the further south you go in the USA, the more sugar they put into their beverages. First lesson: always ask for unsweetened tea.

Yes, I even got a name sign for my workplace! (And no, I decided not to confuse people here with the ü.)
On the same day, Jill Funk, Curatorial Department Manager, walked me through the Museum Collection for the first time. I was simply astonished by the sheer quantity and diversity of artifacts; and I could not wait to get a basic introduction on how to handle artifacts because this will enable me to perform elementary tasks for the curators. After reading some instructional material, I got my first hands-on training with Francisco Rodriguez, the MOTB Conservator. Francisco showed me the conservation lab where they are working on preserving the world’s largest Bible, printed by Louis Waynai between 1928 and 1930. Interestingly, you can tell from the water sign on each page that the paper of this Bible was manufactured in Dresden, Germany. So since the Bible was printed in Los Angeles, the paper had an even longer trip from Germany than I had traveling to Oklahoma City last Friday.
Tuesday I shadowed Norman Conrad, Curator of Americana and English Bibles, and Ashley Carter, Curatorial Department Assistant, who are working on a digital docent presentation about Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany. Since Luther is not as big of a topic here in the United States as in Germany, I was able to help them quite a bit. In return, I got glimpse of something that is not very well‑known in Germany: the history of English Bible translation and, in particular, Myles Coverdale’s influence on it. As Norm told me, Coverdale’s fingerprints can be found in almost every English translation, even today.
Wednesday and Friday I assisted Dr. Josephine Dru, Curator of Papyri, and Brian Hyland, Associate Curator, with their work on uncatalogued documentary papyri. After putting some of the papyri into new glass covers, we took high-resolution photographs of them. At first, however, we had some issues due to a kind of weird fog on the camera filter. But when we finally started taking the photographs, I was absolutely astonished how many details—that are actually invisible to the naked eye—the different camera settings can make visible. For instance, using the infrared setting brings out the ink whereas raking light highlights the papyrus’ material structure. We discovered several places where some papyri were still folded, and Josephine explained to me that by humidifying the pieces she would be able to unfold them again, which might uncover yet unknown text.
I also had the chance to get some insight into the work of Susan Jones, Curator of Antiquities. Thursday I shadowed her, and assisted with cataloguing coins from Hellenistic Palestine. Susan described coins to me as a good “beginner artifact” because you would have to work quite hard to actually damage them. So I gained my first real hands-on experience with these artifacts by measuring them, weighing them, and writing down their inscriptions.
All in all, the first week of my internship at MOTB was quite successful and already rewarding, on the academic as well as on the cultural and personal level. Check back next week when I will share more of my experiences in the USA and insights into the work of the MOTB curators.
Danke, Kevin.