Jennifer Seagraves remembers vividly — 20 years later — two history projects at the University of Virginia that required her to dig deep into archived materials to get the information she needed. The first project, which dealt with 6th Century Anglo-Saxon burial grounds in England, both introduced her to the idea of creating digital archives and showed her the benefits of engaged librarians and faculty members willing to help. The second project had her working in Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, where she sifted through letters written by the former president’s granddaughters to explore their relationship and the lives of enslaved children on the plantation.
Those experiences helped shape her career path, as today Seagraves is the instructional pedagogy and curriculum materials librarian for Campbell University’s Wiggins Memorial Library.
They also inspired an idea that has been chosen as one of several “Overcoming the Status Quo” award recipients given to Campbell faculty and staff charged with presenting outside-of-the-box ideas to improve student experiences and outcomes and the overall University community.
Seagraves and her Wiggins Memorial Library team of Marie Berry, Hannah Holmes and Holley Long will host a “primary source bootcamp” in December for faculty and staff to discover Campbell’s rich digital archival collection and explore new teaching strategies to leverage these materials to build more critical thinking among their students. They will also host an essay contest for students focused on “belonging” and encourage students to use primary sources like letters, photos and other historical documents “to evoke a sense of connection across time.”
The camp and essay contest will be made possible by the grants awarded to award recipients.
“Archives allow us the magical leap to leave our current place in the universe and explore the world through the eyes of another,” Seagraves said. “They allow us to be portals of connectivity between generations, cultures and lifetimes. There is potential for us as librarians, faculty and community to provide meaningful opportunities for ourselves to connect to the individuals who walked through these doors in the past and learn from them.”
According to Long, Campbell’s metadata and digital initiatives librarian, the University’s physical archives consist of school newspapers, yearbooks, papers written by past presidents, other publications and a sizable collection of photo negatives. The digital archives are continually growing and can be found at https://library.campbell.edu/digital-archives/.
Aside from enriching the educational experience of Campbell students, Long hopes the initiative also broadens awareness and usage of the archive.
“There is a nationwide movement in the archival community to increase usage of archival collections and bring them into the classroom,” she said. “By studying the lives and struggles of people in the past, students can develop empathy for others, considering different perspectives and understanding the emotions associated with historical events, which can help them relate to others in the present day with greater compassion.”
“In this digital age where information is abundant, it is more important than ever to evaluate and teach how to evaluate information sources,” Seagraves added. “This is an educational opportunity to reinforce the importance of teaching and learning from the primary sources available here at Campbell.”
Register for Primary Source Bootcamp
(open to Campbell University faculty and staff)
- Date: Monday, Dec. 16
- Time: 1-4 p.m.
- Location: Wiggins Memorial Library Archival Reading Room (room 309)
- Registration: https://tinyurl.com/primary-source-registration