Corinne Talham

Former Intern & Current Team Member

Corinne Talham is a post-bac with a bachelor’s degree in history. She wrote a senior honors thesis focusing on the repercussions of French colonialism in Algeria. Corinne has been working at Inquire Capitalism since her senior year of college and is currently applying to graduate school to continue studying history. She became interested in the Inquire Capitalism internship after taking several classes which explored the impact of the development of capitalism throughout history. Corinne was also interested in contributing to the database of Gainesville, Florida business history, since she was born and raised in Gainesville and hopes to learn more about the businesses in her hometown.

With Inquire Capitalism, Corinne has conducted several interviews with local business owners including Uppercrust, Hoggetowne Music, and Fresh Laundry and Café. She is currently working on two articles, one about the dry cleaning industry and one about nostalgia in the Gainesville business environment.

Avi Ackerman

Former Intern & Current Team Member

Avi Ackerman joined the Inquire Capitalism team in January 2024. He began the internship as a third year History major at the University of Florida, contributing articles, oral history interviews, and database research. He has continued with the project after his internship, transitioning into a part-time researcher/historian role that he still holds remotely while pursuing a Master’s degree in Mediterranean Archaeology at Sapienza Universita di Roma in Italy.

His work on the restaurant industry and pizzerias draws on oral history interviews with local small business owners to understand how food businesses have shaped local culture, traditions, and economic development of college town communities. Avi has also worked on the Historic Gainesville Business Database, contributing business data from newspapers and city directories from the 1880s to the 1950s. Originally from Boca Raton, Florida, he graduated from the University of Florida in August 2024.

His research has also been featured in The Conversation, which you can read here.

Mia Chacon

Former Intern

Rebekkah Hudson

Former Intern & Current Team Member

Rebekkah Hudson was an Inquire Capitalism intern in Spring 2025. She was then a third-year student at the University of Florida pursuing a double major in History and Linguistics with minors in African Studies and English. Her academic focus was on twentieth-century East African history, especially the intersections of social, cultural, and environmental issues. She is now working on the history of Butler Plaza as part of the team.

At UF, Rebekkah was active in Phi Alpha Theta, the Alpata history journal, the Center for African Studies’ Student Ambassador Program, and the Undergraduate Library Advisor Program. She plans to pursue a PhD in African History with a focus on Kenyan social, cultural, and intellectual practices during and beyond the colonial era.

Hannah Alfieri

Former Intern & Current Team Member

Hannah was an Inquire Capitalism intern in Spring 2025. She was then a second-year History and Geology major with a minor in Anthropology at the University of Florida, interested in 19th-century Western American history and environmental history that combined both of her majors. During her internship, she focused on bringing together digital and oral history to highlight local Gainesville businesses. She is now a third-year student and a current member of the team.

Her projects have included research on John Wesley Powell, paleontological work on Eocene mollusks, and roles with the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, the Gender and Sexuality Protection Agency, and Phi Alpha Theta. Beyond UF, she has served as a Curatorial Intern with the Gilder Lehrman Institute and as an Invertebrate Paleontology Student Researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Jacob Friedman

Former Intern & Current Team Member

Jacob Friedman was an Inquire Capitalism intern in Spring 2025. He was a second-year History major at the University of Florida with interests in modern history and plans to pursue a second major in Sociology before attending law school. As part of the Gainesville Business History Project, he contributed research on the social, political, and economic dimensions of capitalism at the local level. He is now a member of the team working on the history of small bookstores.

On campus, Jacob was active in Phi Alpha Theta, UF Quizbowl, and the Young Democratic Socialists of America. His prior experience in the restaurant industry and at Kaplan Inc. informed his research and strengthened his skills in teamwork, presentation, and analysis. Check out his interviews with Books and Music, Wormhole and Book Gallery West here.

Will Fletcher

Former Intern

Will Fletcher was an Inquire Capitalism intern in Spring 2025. He was a fourth-year History and International Studies major at the University of Florida with a focus on Europe. His honors thesis examined the founding of the Library of Congress and how early American institutions shaped national identity. As part of his internship, he contributed to the Gainesville Business History project, bringing together his interests in American and Intellectual History.

Tamsyn Butler

Former Intern

Tamsyn Butler started her internship in Digital Business History in January 2021. She was part of the first cohort of undergraduate interns collaborating in the project. She was a student at the University of Florida studying economics and history. In History she focused on the revolutions and enlightenment histories of 18th century Europe and she wrote “The Business of Beauty: Cosmetic Companies in the Inquire Capitalism Database” as part of her Digital Business History internship. Read more about Tamsyn here.

Jeffrey Hayden (JT)

Former Intern

Jeffrey Hayden (JT) started his internship in Digital Business History in January 2021. Double major at the University of Florida, while an intern he was applying to Ph.D. programs in History and Middle Eastern Studies and plan to focus on modern Iraqi or Gulf history. JT worked in Inquire Capitalism database project reviewing information on company archives and access to business records. JT “look[ed] up companies, double-checking available archives, and looking for every scrap of detail” about the history of some US corporations. As part of the internship he wrote Bottoms Up!: Beer in the Inquire Capitalism Database.

Ashleigh Smith

Former Intern

Ashleigh Smith started her internship in Digital Business History in May 2021 as a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Florida with a double major in history and economics. Ashleigh’s academic interests are in political and social history in the United States and recently studied the political economy of the Middle East. 

She applied to the Digital Business History internship opportunity to gain insight into the development of the global economy and various industries. Read more about Ashleigh here.

Chandler L’Hommedieu

Former Intern

Chandler L’Hommedieu, a rising senior who doubles majors in political science and history, also pursued minors in statistics and sociology, when started his internship in Digital Business History in May 2021. Chandler’s main historical interests are 20th century American economic, political and media history.  

His interest in the internship comes from taking Dr. Sean Adam’s history of American capitalism class. He was particularly interested in the monetary system of the early republic. Read more about Chandler here.

Shannon Scott

Former Intern

Shannon Scott, then a third-year History major with minors in Religion and German, joined the Inquire Capitalism team in August 2021. It was her fourth digital history project, following work on the 2019 SONGS Border Wall presentation, a digital timeline for Medieval Literary Culture, and another for the Global History of Prostitution. With a focus on 20th-century history, especially fascism and queer history, she viewed the history of capitalism as central to understanding political and social change. During the internship, she gained behind-the-scenes experience in digital curation and business archives, exploring the influence of capitalism on everyday life. Read more about Shannon here.

Paul Handberg

Former Intern

Paul Handberg began his internship in Digital Business History in August 2021 while a second-year undergraduate at the University of Florida, double majoring in History and Finance. He focused his historical studies on the United States in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Interested in the intersection of his majors, he joined Inquire Capitalism to explore corporate history and archival research, centering his work on companies in the finance sector. He viewed the history of America’s financial institutions as essential to understanding the nation’s economic past and resilience in times of crisis. During the internship, he developed skills in data management and historical corporate research to support his future career in corporate finance. Read more about Paul here.

Aimee Clesi

Former Intern

Aimee Clesi, then a senior majoring in Philosophy and History at the University of Florida, joined the Inquire Capitalism team after discovering its entry on the United Fruit Company while studying Latin American history and Guatemalan politics. She contributed research on private equity firms and university press organizations, and planned future entries on corporations dominating private prison markets. Through the internship, she applied tools like Omeka and Zotero, building skills in data entry and digital curation. Alongside her work with Inquire Capitalism, she had an extensive legal background, including positions at the Supreme Court of Florida, the U.S. District Court in Gainesville, and the American Bar Association. During this period, she also became the first woman from the University of Florida to be named a Rhodes Scholar-Elect. Read more about Aimee here.

Tyler Capps

Former Intern

Tyler Capps, then a fourth-year History major at the University of Florida, joined the Inquire Capitalism internship program after a research seminar with Dr. Sean Adams on the legacy of U.S. railroads. It was his second digital history project, following a four-year digitization initiative at the Marion County Museum of History and Archaeology. At Inquire Capitalism, he focused his research on video game developers and companies within the videogame industry, exploring their growth and cultural influence over the past three decades. He used the internship to build skills in digital history and historical research. During this time, he also prepared to enter law school, having previously interned with the Florida Justice Institute and worked as a part-time bartender at a local movie theater. Read more about Tyler here.

Jordan Dickens

Former Intern

Jordan Dickens, then a junior at the University of Florida majoring in History and Political Science with a minor in Russian and East-Central European Studies, joined the Inquire Capitalism team in 2021. He had previously developed an interest in archival research while working on the History of the Black Experience in Alachua County Project, studying Black housing and business development through newspapers, census records, and other primary sources. At Inquire Capitalism, he built on his data entry and digital research skills, using tools like Omeka to help create digital resources and expand the project’s database of business history records. His broader academic interests included Cold War history, race and state repression, and the intersection of capitalism and communism. Alongside his internship, he also served as a research intern at the Matheson Museum in Gainesville. Read more about Jordan here.

Patrick Grey

Former Intern

Patrick Grey, then a junior at the University of Florida double majoring in History and Spanish with a minor in Latin American Studies, joined the Inquire Capitalism team in 2021. He had previously gained archival research experience as a research assistant for Professor Philip Janzen, working with the African Newspaper Database, and as a field researcher for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program’s Mississippi Freedom Project. At Inquire Capitalism, he contributed to maintaining and expanding the digital database, with a particular interest in Black businesses in Florida during the 20th century and the economic effects of the Jim Crow South. His academic focus centered on the African Diaspora in the Americas, exploring its cultural, social, and linguistic impacts. A first-generation college student from Lima, Peru, later based in Miami, he planned to pursue graduate study in History. Read more about Patrick here.

Catherine Hill

Former Intern

Catherine Hill, then a third-year History major with minors in French, Teaching, and Anthropology, joined the Inquire Capitalism team in 2022. With a focus on the 19th century and the impact of industrialization on global social and cultural exchange, she brought a strong interest in material culture and archival research. She applied skills developed as a volunteer and intern at the Matheson Museum Archives to investigating Gainesville’s business history, working with local archives and contributing to the digitization of city directories and other resources for the Inquire Capitalism database. Catherine had studied abroad in Paris in Summer 2022 and served as a peer editor for ALPATA, UF’s undergraduate history journal. She planned to write her honors thesis on the Belgian Revolution and London Conference of 1839 before pursuing graduate study in history or museum studies. Read more about Catherine here.