High Profile: JENNIFER SCHEETZ

Jamestown. Colonial Williamsburg. Museums of the Smithsonian Institution. Visits to historic sites and museums make up some of Jennifer Scheetz's earliest memories. Her father, retired Army Maj. George A. Vidal, a career military officer with a history degree, thought such places were ideal destinations for family outings.

So Scheetz, who became the Charleston Museum's archivist in May, is not surprised that she developed a love of history early in life or that her interest in the subject has remained constant.

Scheetz jokes that history might be part of her genetic makeup.

In college, she followed her heart and majored in history at the University of Central Florida, where she graduated in 1992. However, library science and information technology would become her career choice.

But she did not know that at the time.

After graduating from Central Florida, Scheetz worked in customer service at a Kmart store in Dothan, Ala., while waiting for a position in her professional field to come along. But a person, not a job, would determine the direction of her life for the next 12 years.

A civilian flight school student named Robert Scheetz Jr. took a part-time job at the store.

"I knew within a couple of months that this was my partner," Scheetz says. "We decided early on that that was what we wanted. We got married in 1994, and I worked as a 911 dispatcher (in Dothan) until 2000."

Her husband joined the Army in 1996 to complete his education and later became an officer. The couple then moved to the U.S. Army Garrison at Baumholder, Germany, in January 2001.

There, she was an office manager at a day-care center on the base.

In April 2003, he went to serve in Iraq.

"He was killed at the very end of May 2004.

The attack came May 30, and he passed on the 31st, Memorial Day. They were only about two months out from coming home when he got killed." He was 31 years old.

'What felt right'

After returning to the United States, Scheetz spent time with supportive family members and close friends around the Southeast. She had been kicking around the idea of going to graduate school while in Germany. A love of books persuaded her that the library science field would suit her best.

She was accepted at Florida State University in Tallahassee and the University of South Carolina and decided to attend USC.

"I was making choices based on what felt right," says Scheetz, who started graduate school in 2005. "And that's a new thing for me."

While at USC, she worked as an intern at the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. She also learned a lot while attending field school in England.

She graduated from USC in 2008 with a master's degree in library and information science and a certificate in museum management.

Rachel Cockrell, registrar at the museum, was Scheetz's supervisor.

"She was always enthusiastic about everything she did, and she has a lot of knowledge about military topics," says Cockrell. "Some of the rest of us would have to look things up, and she just knew them.

"We are building an archive on the current conflicts that will be a resource for years to come. We collect e-mails and photographs from soldiers and families. She was the point person on that as well as collecting newspaper clippings on fallen soldiers and local people involved in the military," Cockrell adds.

"She's extremely organized and just really quick on picking up procedures and policies."

As Scheetz was about to graduate, she learned that the Charleston Museum, which was founded in 1773 and was the first in America, was looking for an archivist.

"I applied, but didn't think I'd get it in a million years," says Scheetz.

Backlog of collections

In a room tucked away in the museum, donated papers and other items waiting to be processed are on tables, the tops of bookcases, file cabinets, wherever there is room for them.

"There had not been an archivist or assistant archivist here for at least six months," Scheetz says. I knew there was going to be a backlog. I don't think anybody ever gets rid of their backlog.

"Processing is going to take the front seat for now," she says. adding it will provide a great opportunity to learn more about the collections. "I love to look inside the boxes and see what's in them. Even when I've been here for five years, I'll still enjoy seeing the cool books and letters people have saved and brought to us."

Most of the donations deal with the late 19th and early 20th centuries. More than 600 maps, 15 cubic feet of sheet music and stacks of plantation blanket books are among the more interesting items in collections.

Right now, it's necessary to search the card catalog for most items that have been processed over the years.

One goal is to have the collections listed on the Web so that researchers, students and genealogists can have a better idea of what the archive has, says Scheetz. But not everything is going to change.

Today, access to the archive is by appointment only, says Scheetz, who operates it with the help of one part-time archivist hired last month. The staff just is not big enough to serve walk-ins.

Reach Wevonneda Minis at 937-5705 or wminis@postandcourier.com.