Learning About and Creating Student Archives
Overview
The Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC) is a mixed-media repository that holds the historical records related to the study of philanthropy. These archival materials serve as the entry point into learning how to identify, read, and analyze primary sources in the workshop. This workshop teaches students the value of primary source literacy and ownership of the research process.
This unit introduces students to archives, primary sources, and secondary sources. Students document their time during Covid-19 remote learning by creating, describing, and organizing primary sources. Each student’s personal papers are aggregated into a class archive that is presented in a mock finding aid. Students select one to three “folders” of their classmates’ personal papers to analyze and learn from. They then create a secondary source by describing what they learned about their classmate through their personal papers. Archival best practices and research skills are built into this nine-lesson unit.