My name is Bryan Martin Salazar, I graduated from the University of Houston in the Spring of 2020 with a M.A in Public History. I am currently enrolled at the University of North Texas at Denton pursuing an Master’s in Library Science, with a concentration in Archival Studies. I am currently the Archivist for Holocaust Museum Houston and have recently accepted another archivist position at the University of Houston Downtown. 

My values and interests reflect my commitment to making history and information accessible to the public, whether it is through archives, museums, or educational institutions. I have demonstrated this through my internships and job experiences related to archives and museums. I first interned in an archive when I was an undergraduate student in the History program at UH. I interned at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, which is a part of the Houston Public Library. This internship introduced me to the field of archives by processing two newspapers that are a part of the Hispanic Collections area and gave me the opportunity to continue to receive job opportunities with this archive. Another archival internship occurred with the Hilton College Hospitality Archives at the University of Houston. This internship gave me the opportunity to grow as a professional by continuing to learn how to process collections. In addition to interning at archives, I have also found internship opportunities in museums. I was able to intern at the Czech Center Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Houston Maritime Museum.

My museum opportunities gave me the ability to increase my research (for exhibitions) and cataloging skills. For example, under the Czech Museum, I helped write and design an exhibit handbook to send out to educators, before they come for a field trip. Under the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, I interned in the archives where I worked on transferring the paper finding aid of the Masterson Family Collection to an electronic document management system.

At the Houston Maritime Museum, I learned about collections management by cataloging and cross-referencing artifacts. In the Fall of 2020, I once again worked with The Houston Metropolitan Research Center to digitize Hispanic collections. I was able to fully digitize the LULAC NEWS Collection and the Gaceta Mexicana Collection, and most of the Alfred J. Hernandez Papers Photographs. In addition to digitizing these collections, I also completed metadata for other smaller collections. All the projects that were digitized are now available online.

My course work in Public History, internships, and Job experiences have prepared me in embarking on my career as an archivist. I am very excited to begin this next chapter in my professional career, as the archivist for both the Holocaust Museum Houston and for the University of Houston Downtown.