Nearly 600 volunteers — ranging from high school and college students to retirees enjoying their golden years — give of their time and talent each month to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.
Most of our volunteers are very visible to the public as docents who assist our guests during their visit and answer any questions about President Lincoln and his family, the Civil War, Springfield, and the museum.
Equally important are the volunteers you don’t see working behind-the-scenes to help the presidential library and museum fulfill our many missions.
One such volunteer is Nancy Covert.
Nancy began volunteering in our Oral History Department in September 2011 and has generously given over 4000 hours with a service value at nearly $100,000.
“Nancy has worked countless hours to process oral history interviews and post them onto the program’s website,” says ALPLM Oral History Program Director Dr. Mark DePue.
In her role, she performs a vast number of tasks, including scanning and resizing photos, developing word lists, creating audio excerpts, writing correspondence, burning disks and mailing materials to interviewees, managing the collection’s data base, and posting the interviews onto the Oral History webpage. Dr. DePue points out the overall protocol for processing the interviews is very complex, and Nancy also meticulously maintains a binder which includes the detailed instructions for each of the many steps in processing and posting interviews.
“As the only volunteer doing these tasks,” adds Dr. DePue, “Nancy is vitally important to the program and is a primary reason the program has achieved the success it has enjoyed over the past ten years.”
In addition to her regular work, Nancy also works closely with interns and other volunteers who have joined the program over the years and provides key training when new members join the Oral History team.
To sum up her service the past decade, Dr. DePue says, “Bottom line, Nancy is an indispensable member of the oral history team.