Jennifer Black, Assistant Professor of History and Government, Misericordia University
Proposal Type: Roundtable
Seeking: Additional Presenters,General Feedback and Interest
Abstract: This roundtable will challenge the exclusivity of academia and explore the educational possibilities of collaborating with archivists in the public history classroom. Using the model of the “embedded librarian,” this roundtable suggests that archivists can provide a useful support system for the academic classroom. My own collaboration with University Archivist Jessica Garner will serve as a jumping point for this discussion. We seek additional panelists who can contribute to a broader understanding of public history instruction in a university setting.
Seeking: Embedded librarianships have become, in the past several years, a new and useful way to integrate information literacy into classroom instruction at the college level. These librarians orient students to the research process and offer important advice and support to supplement classroom instruction. Yet how might this model be applied to public history practice? How might public historians tap the knowledge of local archivists—both within and outside of the university—as “embedded” support systems to improve student learning and practice?
This roundtable will challenge the exclusivity of academia and explore the educational possibilities of collaborating with archivists in the public history classroom. We seek additional panelists who can contribute to a broader understanding of public history instruction, and in particular those that consider the following questions: what benefits can be gained from collaborative instruction between archivists, public history practitioners, and university professors? What are the challenges of such collaboration? How might these collaborative relationships shift traditional roles of teacher and practitioner? How might such collaboration move beyond simply trotting out old stuff for students to “touch and feel”? How can students, through the help of the archivist, build skills for recording and interpreting local history? Are there classrooms beyond those in history and public history that would benefit from the support of an “embedded archivist”? What are the i mplications of the “embedded archivist” for the broader community?
We seek additional panelists for this discussion, but also welcome general comments and suggestions for improving the proposal overall.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to share contact information for other people the proposer should reach out to, please get in contact directly: Jennifer Black,jblack2[at]misericordia.edu
If you have general ideas or feedback to share please feel free to use the comments feature below.
All feedback, and offers of assistance, should be submitted by July 3, 2015.
Related Topics: Archives, Museums/Exhibits
HI Jennifer,
I have a recent MA graduate who I think would be perfect for your panel and will sedn contact information along via email.
Best,
Greg
Hi Jennifer, I take students into our archives for projects each term, so while we don’t specifically have an “embedded” archivist dedicated to our class, we work with the same archivist each term. Last fall’s assignment was that students had been “hired” by a tribe to survey archival holdings related to that community and write a report of primary and secondary documents in the collection. We then shared the final reports with the tribes. In this way, the archivist worked with students to diversify their educational experiences and the archivist also indirectly served the tribes. For collections with large holdings about Native communities, an embedded archivist serving tribes would be a great public history service.
Hi Laurie, Thanks for your comments. I’m interested to know more about how you’ve navigated community partners while partnering with the archives on campus. Would you mind writing to me directly (address above) with more information?
Hi Jennifer,
Would you be interested in including curators/collections managers who work in University libraries and collaborate with professors to create exhibitions? At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill the curators work with professors to have entire classes co-taught and an exhibit designed and produced by students in the class that is then featured in our library. I can get you contact information for the curators and professors if you are interested in including this.
-Mattea
Hi Mattea,
That sounds interesting– I would like to talk with you more about it. Could you write to me directly with more information?
Hi Jennifer,
I would encourage to reach out to a friend of mine, Allison Seyler, who works at the Maryland State Archives. She works on the Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland project and I told her about your proposal and she expressed interest. You can reach out to her at [email protected].