Perusing through the Emancipation Proclamation. Hanging with Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown. Discovering a speech written by Woodrow Wilson. It’s all in a semester’s work for those accepted into the competitive American Studies Program.

Just ask MBU senior Tim Jones.

As the poet John Dryden said, “He who would search for pearls must dive below.” The phrase is one that MBU senior Tim Jones understands well after spending a semester working and studying at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.

There he had an opportunity to immerse himself in history. Jones, a history major who holds a 3.8 GPA, was one of a handful of college students from around the country selected to work at The Archives through the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities’ American Studies Program.

Founded in 1976, the intensive semester-long American Studies program uses Washington as a stimulating educational laboratory where collegians, like Jones, gain hands-on experience with an internship in their chosen field. His acceptance into the competitive program was not surprising to the professors who know him best.

“Tim is an able, capable, insightful, hard-working student who, I am convinced, will make a mark on the world of historical scholarship and do it all for God’s glory and in His strength,” said Dr. Keith Beutler, MBU assistant professor of history.

The four-month stint at our nation’s capital indeed proved stimulating for Jones.

“I found it difficult to comprehend that every document I dealt with was critical to our history,” said Jones, who is set to study history at the graduate level next year and has long-term plans to one day teach at the college level.  “They all, in some shape or form, contributed to who we are today. I felt that each one deserved special attention.”

The National Archives essentially acts as America’s record keeper. Established in 1934 by President Franklin Roosevelt, the agency houses such notable—and equally significant—historical documents as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

During one day of work, Jones’ supervisor invited him to a special viewing of documents stored in The Archive’s secured vaults.  The vaults  house many of America’s most valued historical documents, most of which are not currently available for public viewing.  Jones arrived at the vaults to learn that he would be viewing the documents with Dan Brown, author of the “Da Vinci Code,” and U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. For hours, Jones, Brown and Gregg mulled through a range of renowned documents including the Louisiana Purchase, the Treaty of Guadalupe and the Treaty of Alaska.

As soon as the special guests left the vaults, Jones eagerly asked his supervisor if he could put the historical documents away. She agreed. .  In doing so, he was able to touch the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Being able to touch the box of the Emancipation Proclamation was undeniably one of the most memorable parts of my stay in D.C.,” Jones explained. “While I was holding it, I realized that if I were to drop it, I could potentially be damaging America’s most important document.”

Luckily, he didn’t.

Not all of The Archive’s documents are as distinguishable as the Emancipation Proclamation. In fact, Jones’ chief responsibility was to properly house a once-classified set of correspondence between military personnel serving in Word War I. The 13 cardboard boxes full of thousands of letters were for decades closed to researchers due to national security classification. After they were declassified, they became candidates for archival processing. Jones was assigned the task of preserving them for future generations to come.

Specifically, Jones was responsible for correctly housing the documents in non-acidic folders, organizing them appropriately and reconfiguring them to microfilm. The boxes of correspondence were primarily between military personnel stationed in D.C., London and Paris.  Some were seemingly mundane, like a letter questioning whether or not U.S. soldiers could accept medals from foreign dignitaries. Other documents were brow-raising to even some non-history enthusiasts.

Toward the end of Jones’ assignment, he discovered a historical pearl— a speech written and delivered by President Woodrow Wilson to a group of naval officers in Virginia.  The speech urged the young group of naval officers to rise up and invoke change, Jones explained.  Two days before his semester concluded, Jones discovered a pearl of even greater value hundreds of photos that complemented the thousands of paper documents he had been processing.

“To see the images to many of the words I had been reading was really amazing,” Jones said. “I felt like it was the capstone to an already incredible experience.”

In some sense, his incredible semester experience is continuing. Thanks to his successful stint in D.C., Jones was hired to work as a research room attendant at The Archive’s Military Personnel Records facility in Overland, Mo. If his past is any indication, chances are good Jones will again unearth a pearl or two from the thousands of documents housed at his place of employment—artifacts that many may never fully appreciate.

Jones sees beyond the millions of pieces of papers, though. He sees the millions of words on those thousands of pieces of paper that make up our history.