Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-n9wrp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-24T10:05:28.513Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

32 - Undergraduate Research in History

Into the Archives: Undergraduate Historians as Good Citizens

from Part III.4 - Humanities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2022

By
Kevin Ostoyich  and
Rebecca Ostoyich
Edited by
Harald A. Mieg ,
Elizabeth Ambos ,
Angela Brew ,
Dominique Galli  and
Judith Lehmann
Harald A. Mieg
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Elizabeth Ambos
Affiliation:
Council on Undergraduate Research, Washington DC
Angela Brew
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
Dominique Galli
Affiliation:
Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis
Judith Lehmann
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Get access

Summary

The chapter provides an overview of how undergraduate history students are often introduced to historical research as well as a possible corrective. We offer a new approach, which we believe improves the undergraduate research experience for history students. We claim that the logic of the discipline tends to lead to curricula in which the first years of study are mainly based on secondary texts while sustained interaction with primary sources is often left toward the conclusion of undergraduate studies.At Valparaiso University we implemented a hybrid internship/independent study course in which students work at the University Archives and Special Collections while pursuing historical research projects based on the collections. We believe the course strengthens the connection of students to primary documents and encourages students to conceptualize research as a civic enterprise.

Keywords

historyundergraduate researcharchival literacyarchival intelligenceinternshipindependent studyprimary documentspublic audienceuniversity archives
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research , pp. 313 - 320
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailyn, B. (1994). On the teaching and writing of history: Responses to a series of questions (Lathem, E. C., Ed.). University Press of New England.Google Scholar
Erekson, K. A. (2011). From archive to awards ceremony: An approach for engaging students in historical research. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 10(4), 388–400.Google Scholar
Galgano, M. J., Arndt, J. C., & Hyser, R. M. (2008). Doing history: Research and writing in the digital age. Thomson Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Hoefferle, C. (2011). The essential historiography reader. Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Malkmus, D. (2008). Primary source research and the undergraduate: A transforming landscape. Journal of Archival Organization, 6(1–2), 47–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malkmus, D. (2010). “Old stuff” for new teaching methods: Outreach to history faculty teaching with primary sources. Libraries and the Academy, 10(4), 413–435.Google Scholar
Morris, S. L., Chute, T., & Swain, E. (2016). Teaching with archives: A guide for archivists, librarians, and educators. In Prom, C. J. & Hinchliffe, L. J. (Eds.), Teaching with primary sources (pp. 73–111). Society of American Archivists.Google Scholar
Prom, C. J., & Hinchliffe, L. J. (Eds.). (2016). Teaching with primary sources. Society of American Archivists.Google Scholar
SAA, ACRL, & RBMS. (2018). Guidelines for primary source literacy. Joint Task Force on the Development of Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy. Society of American Archivists, Association of College and Research Libraries, & Rare Books and Manuscripts Section. www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForPrimarySourceLiteracy-June2018.pdfGoogle Scholar
Wilson, N. J. (2014). History in crisis? Recent directions in historiography (3rd ed.). Pearson.Google Scholar
Yakel, E. & Malkmus, D. (2016). Contextualizing archival literacy. In Prom, C. J. & Hinchliffe, L. J. (Eds.), Teaching with primary sources (pp. 5–67). Society of American Archivists.Google Scholar
Yakel, E., & Torres, D. A. (2003). AI: Archival intelligence and user expertise. The American Archivist, 66(1), 51–78.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×