the lawrenceville school heely scholars program
TRANSCRIPT
Innovations in Attracting Students to Archives and Special Collections: The Lawrenceville School Heely Scholars Program
Jacqueline Haun Archives Librarian The Lawrenceville School April 21, 2015 NJLA, Long Branch, NJ
Curricular beginnings New position, new teacher, new program Goals of program ◦ Introduce students to the disciplinary
methods historians use to discover historical information ◦ Give them experience with working with
primary resources ◦ Patience and curiosity ◦ Encourage them to share their research
results with school community
Typical curricular process “Looking for nuggets” model for early
sessions Small group work to focus in depth on a
topic Repeat visits Sample topics: Women at Lawrenceville,
Lawrenceville in the Air (WWII), Early travel writing (Richard Halliburton), Cold War at Lawrenceville (bomb shelters)
Gradual addition of assignments based on our collection strengths The Gilded Age WWI and WWII (Norris and Heely
letters) 1960s, Vietnam Newest assignment: “What would de
Tocqueville have reported about Lawrenceville?”
Expanding use of collections
Newspapers Trustees’ minutes Headmasters’ papers WWI and WWII correspondence Open student records from 1890s-1930s New collections (Hamill Papers) New this year will be oral histories
collected concerning 1960s
Resulting products Documentary films Prezis (brief flirtation) DBQs (document based queries) PowerPoint presentations Exhibits Not only information from our own
archives, but research that brings back information from other archives about school history and joins our collections
Other curricular uses
History: Women and Gender; History of Japan (student records); other teachers following Smit model
English: Mark Twain (scrapbooks); Creative Non-Fiction; Truth about Trenton
Art: Design class (revealing “hidden history” using design elements)
Hutchins Scholars: environmental history on campus
Visibility factor
More faculty aware of archives More students aware: increased use for
independent research and newspaper Alumni visibility through alumni magazine
and school news website Archives blog: stephanarchives.org Other social media
The Stephan Gift (2009) Pre-gift, all programming done as part of
classroom setting Student luncheon with our big donor
($20,000) on Alumni Weekend 2009 Donor becomes an even bigger donor
($2M $7M) Mandate from administration to set aside
$10,000 annually from gift for “student and faculty research”
Hutchins Scholars model
Heely Scholars
First year, selected by teacher; now nominated by history teachers and approved by program director
Two-week summer commitment Required to complete research projects ◦ Document Based Queries (DBQs) ◦ Exhibit or documentary
Heely Scholars – 1st Year
Pilot program June 10 – 21, 2013 Topic: Lawrenceville and World War I 4 day students Total cost $5,000 ◦ Stipend $3,900
(Director) ◦ Student food (lunches) ◦ Field trip expenses
Pilot year results Student exhibit on
World War I Student assistance with
data input in Archives department
New prestige program for students
Problems getting students to follow through on finishing exhibit work after summer
Heely Scholars, 2nd Year June 8-15, 2014 Topic: “de Tocqueville at Lawrenceville” 8 students, expansion to boarding (1 early
departure) New requirement to take fall advanced
research seminar class as follow through Total cost: $7,940 ◦ Stipends $5,040 (Director + summer boarding
supervision) ◦ Student meals $1,900 ($2,300 allotted, lunch and
dinner) ◦ Off-site expenses
2nd Year results
Continued work in classroom DBQs for use by other history teachers Documentary film (still a WIP) Student participation in school meeting and
presentations as ambassadors for program Increased awareness of program on campus
Round 3! Student selection currently in process June 14 – 26, 2015 Topic: Pivotal year of 1968 10 students, boarding Requirement to take research class in fall Total cost: $9,500 ◦ Stipends $5,900 (Director + residential
coverage) ◦ Student meals $2,880 ◦ Off-site expenses – more off-site visits
Future of Heely
New project archivist with background in public history to assist with program
Possibility of independent funding for established history program
Moving beyond history in summer program? ◦ English curriculum projects ◦ Environmental research on campus
Take aways
Begin with collection strengths
Build relationships with educators
Increase visibility in multiple ways
Students are intrigued once they begin to discover things in the archives
Contact Information Jacqi Haun Archivist The Lawrenceville School [email protected] 609.895.2034