Jannick Harmsen

My internship at the RIAS was in the period of January-March in 2022. When I started the Netherlands was still in lockdown because of the COVID situation, and it was relatively quiet at the RIAS. However, during the second half of my internship most of the restrictive regulations were let go, and things turned back to normal at the RIAS.

Despite the regulations in the beginning I really got to see the inner workings of an academic institute, was able to support (international) researchers, and participated in a couple of events. Next to this, I got the opportunity to work on my own research and familiarize myself with working with primary sources. The extensive collections of the RIAS were especially helpful in my thesis research on the relation between détente and the Chilean intervention under Nixon. Next to that, I got the opportunity to dive into the collections of presidential papers and got to do some research on the Truman Doctrine and Environmental Justice in the Clinton administration.

Even though the first weeks were relatively quiet, it was wonderful to see visitors return to the RIAS, and to be able to show them around the archive. I was able to help a number of students from all over the Netherlands with their research and guiding them through the collections of the RIAS.

Finally, it was great that during the second half of my internship more and more colleagues were once again working at the RIAS instead from home. I’ve had many interesting conversations on doing research and received countless of good tips and feedback on what I was working on. This really helped my develop my academic skills.

I want to thank all the wonderful people at the RIAS for an amazing time!