lessons from the archives: three colleges partner with brooklyn historical society

Lessons from the Archives:Three Colleges Partner with Brooklyn Historical

American Studies Associa5on (ASA) Annual Mee5ng -‐ Washington, DC

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Introduc5on

Robin M. KatzOutreach and Public Services ArchivistCo-‐Director, Students and Faculty in the ArchivesBrooklyn Historical Society

Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society

What is SAFA?

• Innova>ve postsecondary educa>on program• Uses primary sources to teach – document analysis,– informa?on literacy– cri?cal thinking skills

• First-‐year undergraduates


What is SAFA?

• Three year grant–US Department of Educa2on (FIPSE)–$750,000 over 3 years– Jan 2011 un2l Dec 2013

• Supported– 2 FT professional staff– 1 PT staff member– S2pends for par2cipants


What is SAFA?

• Three schools within walking distance– New York City College of Technology (CUNY)– Long Island University Brooklyn– St. Francis College

• Nineteen local partner faculty– All ranks and stages of career– Wide range of disciplines– Variety of types of classes (seminars, surveys, etc.)– Intellectual and professional community

• Na5onal partners


What is SAFA?

• Centered around class visits to the archives• Over four semesters (Fall 2012 -‐ Spring 2013)– 1,100 individual students– 63 courses– 100+ class visits to Brooklyn Historical Society


What is SAFA?

• Class visits in a nutshell– Ideally 1 – 3 visits to archives

– Anywhere from <10 – 40+ students

– Faculty request documents 3 weeks ahead of ?me

– Staff pull, prep, cite, assess copyright, set up docs

– Staff greet class; review care/handling; occasionally lecture; co-‐facilitate exercise & wrap-‐up


What is SAFA?

• Student popula>on– Mostly first-‐year / early academic career– Both professional and liberal arts majors– Mostly products of NYC public schools– Very diverse: minority, non-‐tradi?onal students– Many interna?onal students, new Americans, or non-‐na?ve speakers of English

• SAFA’s secondary goal: familiarize students with cultural ins>tu>ons and resources


What is SAFA?

• Our Teaching Philosophy-‐ Goals and objec?ves-‐ No show-‐and-‐tell-‐ Ac?vely use materials-‐ Less is more-‐ Modeling document analysis to beginners

• Document analysis -‐ Not tradi?onal bibliographic instruc?on-‐ Preselected, pull at the item-‐level

• Specific vs. generic prompts


What is SAFA?

•Document analysis – Not tradi?onal bibliographic instruc?on– Preselected, pull at the item-‐level

• Specific vs. generic prompts– Ex: “Why did Henry Ward Beecher write this leder?”– Not “Who is the creator? What type of document is this?”


What is SAFA?

• Professional Development Opportuni>es– Summer Ins?tutes 2011, 2012, 2013

• Summer Fellowships– Applica?on process– Produce own scholarly or crea?ve projects– Only undergraduate fellowship of its kind– Gabriel Furman papers, ARC.190– hdp://safa.brooklynhistory.org/fellowship2012– hdp://safa.brooklynhistory.org/fellowship2013


SAFA Findings

• Independent evaluators have found that SAFA students are more engaged and perform beOer than their peers.


SAFA Findings

• Receive and analyze reten>on data this year– Final Report due December 2013

• Data from 2012 Evalua>on Report – Available in your folders– Online at hdp://safa.brooklynhistory.org/docs/EvalReport2012.pdf


Findings: Observa5on Skills

• Q: Why might this document be worth preserving in an archive?


PRE POST

Students no2ng a single feature of giving a vague response

72% 49%

Students no2ng mul2ple physical features

28% 51%

Findings: Ar5cula5ng ‘a usable past’• Q: Why might this document be worth preserving in an archive?


Sample PRE responses Sample POST responses

This is a photo from the past To show how society valued entertainment

Because it showed what was going on at that moment.

[It] shows how technology was progressing in the US.

It gives insight... to what life was like during the 1960s.

It shows how people were sending postal cards through the

telegrams and how it was different... than... today.

Findings: Academic Performance

• Just one class at LIU Brooklyn


SAFA NON-‐SAFAComple2on Rate 96.9% 76.7%

Passing Rate 91.9% 48%

Grade B or be[er 60.7% 30.3%

Findings: Students

• Improved observa>on and interpreta>on skills• Found archives “interes>ng and useful”• Understanding of history is “complicated”• Exposed to new career op>ons


Findings: Faculty

• Return involvement with SAFA• Improved pedagogical design– Document selec5on– Framing ques5ons

• Appreciate professional development• Increased confidence in student ability


Findings: The Program

• What maOers to success?– Not:

• discipline • amount of 5me spent in archives

– Relevance– Opportunity to tweak and refine– Support and guidance of BHS staff


Why does SAFA work?

• High Impact Educa>onal Prac>ces– Work with first-‐year seminars, learning communi?es– Common intellectual experiences (among a cohort)– Collabora?ve assignments and projects– Undergraduate research– Diversity/global learning– Community-‐based learning– See www.aacu.org/leap/hip.cfm


TeachArchives.org• Launch December 19, 2013

• “Teaching effec>vely with primary sources”

• Three audiences:– Local community– Educators na?onwide– Librarians and archivists na?onwide

• Three content areas:– Exercises– Ar?cles– Project documenta?on


TeachArchives.org

• Exercises

• To use outright or as a model

• Each will include:– Info about course and prof

– Narra?ve and ?tle

– Objec?ves, context, end products, assessment

– Adached handouts/prompts

– Skills used

– Some digi?zed documents Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society

TeachArchives.org•Ar>cles by SAFA staff

• Including:– Our teaching philosophy

– Faculty / staff collabora?on

– Document selec?on

– Crea?ng handouts

– How to teach care and handling

– Cita?ons: it’s not about plagiarism

– Digital cameras and tablets in the archives Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society

TeachArchives.org•Ar>cles by partner faculty

• Including:– “The Appeal of the Archives: Engaging Students in More Meaningful Research”

– “Why Less is More in the Archives”

– “Ficng It All In: Incorpora2ng Archival Materials into a World History Survey Course”

– “Texts as Objects: Complemen2ng the Literary Anthology with Primary Sources”

– “How Archives Can Teach Design Students to Effec2vely Communicate Ideas”


TeachArchives.org• Project Documenta>on

• Including:– US DOE annual and final reports

– Reports by independent evaluators

–Materials and tools created by SAFA• Online call slip, care & handling handouts, etc.

– Comprehensive lists of classes taught, materials used


Thank YouRobin M. [email protected]

@robinmkatz

#safabhs and #safafellows

TeachArchives.org (Dec 2013)

Launch party: Thurs, Dec 19, 2013

Brooklyn Historical Society (Brooklyn, NY)


lessons from the archives: three colleges partner with brooklyn historical society

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