The VSU History Archives Volunteer Program:

Another Way to Learn History Another Way to Learn History

By

Stacey Wright, Dallas Suttles

And Deborah Davis

VSU Archives

• The VSU Archives and Special Collections supports the University’s commitment to scholarly and creative work, enhances instructional effectiveness, encourages faculty scholarly pursuits, and supports research in selective areas of institutional strength focused on regional need by collecting, preserving, and providing access to records of enduring historical value documenting the history and development of VSU and the surrounding South Georgia region and in support of VSU curriculum.

History and Archives• The Archives is to a Historian like a lab is

to a scientist

Types of Archives’ Teaching

• The Archives Orientation—for those planning Archival Research or wanting to see a particular collection—one-shot, rather like library BI.

• The longer term course-integrated instruction. Large research project centered in archives, may include several formal classes and individual meetings. Co-teaching.

• The internship or work project that may or may not include research component. Orientation for training. Sole supervisor.

• Teach graduate MLIS courses and Independent Studies in Archives.

• Dr. Catherine Oglesby, Dr. Melanie Byrd, and Dr. John Dunn of the History Department and Deborah Davis of the VSU Archives have collaborated on archival projects for history classes for the past 9 years.

• Movement into the new archives opened up space that made it possible to work with larger introductory classes for the first time—we were looking for a project.

History Class Connection

The Beginning: A meeting between a history

professor who wanted hands-on experience for entry level

students and an Archivist with 188 boxes of presidential papers

to process…with little help.

Archives Apprenticeships

for an Entry-Level History Class:

A Win-Win Situation

History Point of View: Three perspective on

why come to Archives:

History students need to understand:

• Primary sources and secondary sources and what the differences are

• What an archives is and how it relates to the study and understanding of history

• The work necessary to make primary sources meaningful

• How working in an archives is a potential career path for historians

Why would a professor want to do this?– Dr. Byrd

Already had experience with archives’ “hands-on history.”

How does it meet professors’ goals?

• Because it gives students a chance to do history instead of just reading about it.

• It is a way that students who have trouble with the abstract part of history can still be exposed to historical metholdology, texts and artifacts

• It’s a way to get students into the library and to see how vital a library and an archives are to the college experience.

• It is a fair and intellectually challenging way for students to truly earn extra credit.

Pt 2

• As a professor I want to help students achieve the grade that they feel they can earn.

• …..And this is a valid way of doing it.

• Opens their minds and makes the past come alive.

• Connects them to the heritage of the campus—see school history and culture

Pt. 3

• It is a way to get students interacting with other students and library faculty whom they might not ever meet.

• Shows them the foundation of research that maybe they can apply to different topics or other classes. Transfer of knowledge.

• Archives is competent to assess skill and easy to tell the credit from the spread sheet.

Dr. John Dunn’s work from intro to intensive in Archives

John Dunn• It will help students—Ways of learning• Helps the library• Learning history skills in a different way• If they don’t take tests well—can show what they are

doing

• 60 hours student took himself from a D to an A and aced the final

• History Career focus• Focus on students who have gone on to work in

Archives and for careers.

Why students think they need to come to Archives

• Because our history professors give really hard tests!

• And they need extra credit.

• Students are relieved that they can “do something” rather than “figure something out” to get part of their grade.

Academic Libraries and Volunteers—why haven’t we

done this before?

Volunteers long used in public library/historical society areas

• Limitations for volunteers in Academic Libraries:– Insurance– Parking– Administration

Students as Volunteers

• Insurance: covered if a class activity or in library studying.

• Parking: already dealt with.

• Administrative Support: it’s the educational mission of the unit.

• Motivation of the Students: grades primary, doing good secondary.

• Education: intimately teaches nature of primary source materials.

Special Considerations of This Archives Program

• How will they handle the materials?• What can they do with little or no training?• How to supervise without taking time from

other patrons/research needs?• Where to house program?• How to make the project useful to us?• How to make sure they learn and it applies to

their studies?• How to keep track of their time and effort?

The Solution

A several-part program to have history students learn about primary sources, learn about VSU, and gain extra credit. We started with the presidential boxes and the old archives room we had just vacated.

How to Train: Oh, the Options:

• Offered five one and a half hour evening and afternoon orientation sessions in Archives per semester—students volunteered to come.

• Had professors announce and trained one-on-one as they came. Cut way down on our numbers.

• Classes either came to Archives (perhaps for another one-shot class) or I went to them and did the orientation for every one—Best Solution

Where to Work? Depends on the project

Resources•Got 3 “trickle down” computers after the “move”’

•Used In-house designed Access databases

•Later used home-made mysql databases for more data security.

How to Supervise?

Student and Student Assistant working on the first volunteer project: processing the papers of Dr. Hugh Bailey.

Logistics•They would sign in and sign up for either a box, data entry for vital records, or microfilming (most choose a box).

• They would work on their project over the course of many days. The average to index papers was 10 hours. • Student hours and progress were entered weekly in an Excel spread sheet.

• Students who needed to work outside of daytime hours were accommodated by a student assistant who worked until 7 or 8 pm two nights per week.

History Class-Extra Credit Number of visits to Archives and hours worked /visit Total Total Total Average Points

Student Name Project 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 min. hours folders Time @ EarnedAdams, Jennifer Box 13 105 105 1.75 3 35.00 1Alberstadt, Amanda Vital 195 180 195 180 195 195 210 210 165 210 150 180 2265 37.75 10Allen, Brent Box 1 90 60 105 60 60 75 60 60 570 9.50 49 11.63 6Anderson, Jonathan Box 7 120 150 120 120 510 8.50 34 15.00 5Anderson, Jonathan Box 26 120 120 120 135 120 120 735 12.25 57 12.89 5Bramblett, Celia Vital 120 45 195 105 90 555 9.25 5Bryant, Melissa Box 9 120 150 120 105 180 150 90 45 960 16.00 39 24.62 5Bryant, Melissa Box 60 75 105 255 120 555 9.25 26 21.35 5Calicutt, Carrie Box 4 30 30 45 105 1.75 9 11.67 1Chase, Jason Box 10 150 195 135 135 90 120 165 990 16.50 36 27.50 5Chase, Jason Box 33 180 75 90 105 30 480 8.00 41 11.71 5Dean, Ryan Box 8 195 60 255 4.25 48 5.31 2Dean, Ryan Box 30 90 90 180 3.00 10 18.00 1.5Deed, Morgan Box 19 120 box complete…no sign in sheet for some box hours] 120 2.00 23 5.22 5Deed, Morgan Box 16 30 120 120 120 195 90 90 160 925 15.42 37 25.00 5Durden, Allison Box 20 120 120 2.00 3 40.00 1Flam, Vanessa Vital 120 165 180 195 195 75 60 120 150 120 90 180 165 1815 30.25 10Goble, Jennifer Box 4 30 30 45 105 1.75 9 11.67 1Gokal, Reena Box 6 90 60 165 240 120 675 11.25 41 16.46 5Gokal, Reena Box 23 180 180 3.00 20 9.00 2Goodwin, Diana Box 14 90 90 105 90 did 1/2 box with H. Reynolds 375 6.25 15 25.00 2.5Hayes, Stacey Vital 90 105 60 105 120 120 600 10.00 6Howarth, Carrie Box 18 180 180 3.00 3 60.00 1Mallard, Ashley Box 12 120 90 120 60 90 120 90 90 75 855 14.25 52 16.44 6Morrison, Shauna Box 3 90 60 60 105 120 120 555 9.25 47 11.81 5Morrison, Shauna Box 29X 45 140 60 245 4.08 42 5.83 5Muecke, Jocelyn Box 5 240 180 150 165 735 12.25 31 23.71 5Muecke, Jocelyn Box 37 195 150 195 540 9.00 29 18.62 5Padgett, Stephen Box 2 120 120 120 150 150 195 195 90 see time worked 1140 19.00 25 45.60 9Patten, Cristina Box 39 120 105 90 210 240 120 885 14.75 32 27.66 5Patten, Cristina Box 48 130 180 180 120 610 10.17 38 16.05 5Patterson, Ashley Vital 120 60 180 3.00 2Patterson, Ashley Box 32 105 75 75 60 100 415 6.92 45 9.22 5Pearce, Kristen Box 22 150 120 105 375 6.25 94 3.99 5Pearce, Kristen Box 41 150 60 195 55 460 7.67 43 10.70 5Perry, Matthew Microfilm 45 180 60 60 345 5.75 3.5

Student time/infoSpreadsheet

Results of the early project:

188 boxes of presidential papers have been reboxed, folders replaced, and staples and paperclips removed to enhance preservation.

Results: Over 4000 items in our collection detailing what is in those boxes by folder.

Results: The Descriptions

Every folder is listed

The Bailey Project Payoff:

Results: Students connected with primary source

material

Results: Students got the Extra Credit they needed!

Assessment: Student Rewards

• Grades, future classes

• Verbal appreciation

• possible jobs

• Archives now has a hiring pool of history majors only, with a 3.0 gpa, who have volunteered or taken a class with us.

Assessment formats:

•Follow up meetings with professor(s).

•Written student evaluations.

•In-archives meetings to see what we need to do differently.

•Sometimes use survey monkey surveys emailed to participants.

History/Archives Work Program Evaluation

This semester you have been part of a program that uses working in an Archives as an adjunct to your introductory history class. Our goal was to provide you with an introductory understanding of “primary” documents (archival documents) and the work necessary to make such documents available. Your work with the Bailey boxes, the microfilm and vital records databases, or the scrapbooks has been very valuable to the Archives. We think the extra credit has been valuable to you. We also hope that you have gained some understanding of the “nuts and bolts” of history. We hope to continue this program with future classes and would like your feedback about what worked and what did not so that we can make the project work more smoothly and effectively. It was very rewarding working with you.

1. How many hours did you work: (choose the range closest to your final total) 1-5 _____; 6-10______; 11-15; _______; 16-20 _____; 20-25_____; Over 25________2. Did you find the extra credit you earned from this project a significant addition to your grade? 3. If you only made 1-3 points, why did you stop there?4. Did you learn any thing that applied to your history class from the orientations in Archives at the beginning of the semester?5. What do you think of the facilities for this project found in Old Archives. 6. You may have dealt with Deborah or Leann, archives staff, but generally the student supervisors, Diane, Jennifer, Laura-Lynn, Katrina, or Ryan Powell, supervised the Old Archives workroom. How helpful did you find the supervision on this project?7. What about the hours available to work on the project. Over the course of the project, we had late hours on Tuesday and Wednesday Hours, and some other nights and a Saturday. Were the hours adequate? Did you know about the extra hours? Did the signs on the Old Archives Door keep you informed? 8. Overall, how well did this project work for you? What did you like about it. Would you come to the Archives in the future to do research or to work as a student assistant?9. Overall, what did you experience that did not work for you. How should we improve this project to make it more useful to students? More fair? More of a learning experience?

History Professor Evaluation

The project, along with Ms. Deborah Davis’s presentations of the history of Valdosta State University, provides for the students a look at how micro-history or history at a very local level fits with the larger picture. Ms. Davis surveys the history of VSU through the Progressive Era into the 1980s. They get to hear and see what life was like

at VSU during the Depression, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement, for instance. By working with and contextualizing archival sources, students come to understand something of both the art and the craft of the historian. Students work in micro-film, in university official’s papers, such as those of the most recently retired Dr. Hugh Bailey, and at cataloging local newspapers from a specified time frame, for example. Although they take on the assignment obviously for extra credit, they discover and appreciate the value of hands-on learning.

Archives Evaluation Points

• We needed more and better trained student supervisors.• We need to be very specific about when they can and

cannot work.• We need rules for cleaning up the space.• Commitment from automation for computer

maintenance. • What is best timing for orientations, ending, open hours?• Do we need to change our record keeping system. By

student? By project? • We need to make sure it is relevant to their class—older

projects.• We need to protect any material given to them.

Lessons Learned Over Time: •Planning and More Planning

Handouts, schedules, hiring, training manual

•Orientation timing depends on professor and class, not Archives

•History is. . . “older than me”—unless it’s really cool.

•People can’t come in one week before the program ends and do this….

•Record Keeping is constant.

New Projects: New Partners

• More Professors involved—separate record keeping—4-5 plus volunteer groups

• More levels of students: different complexity of projects

• New projects…”older than me”

• Appropriateness of projects to student level is key to success

The Thirty hour option

Valdosta Daily Times Vital Records Index

Do the Scholarship needed….and users will come.

The bulk of or reference questions come from the Valdosta Daily Times Index and Vital Records

Index

The Scrap-book IndexingProject

• Photocopyscrapbook• Forms for

Indexing:a. citationb. peoplec. subjectsd. summary

The Database for Scrapbook:

Electronic Forms Mimic Paper Forms

The video project

Umatic tape to DVD work station

The Campus Canopy

Odd and Short-term projects:

Results—Growth in teaching program• 2-3 professors heavily enrolled in program—

others interested.• Opportunity to “team teach” with history

professor for majors.• MLIS program participates with online

archives projects.• Overall Archives Teaching program,

including volunteer classes, has expanded to approximately 20 classes per semester from 3-4.

Results—Growth

• Hiring options from student volunteers.• Bringing friends in volunteer groups.• Program recognized on campus and around state.• Natural magnet for student workers and interns

now. • Raw work is done that we can use to process.• Students come back to ask reference questions and

get our help.

• Now more necessary to teaching mission of college!

ResultsRecords in our databases:

•Valdosta Daily Times Vital Records--names = 42, 594

•Publicity Scrapbook Articles= 6,600

•Campus Canopy/Spectator Articles= 9,241

•Videos Digitized and entered = 1,123

Results

• Total Student Hours devoted to research, indexing, digitizing and data entry:– 6890.55

• Total value of student work to Archives:– 44,577.105

• $44,577.105****Takes into account the change in the rate of minimum wage

from 5.15 to 7.25

The message gets out:

Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board Award for the Excellence in the Educational Use of Historical Records awarded

October 4, 2004

Final Lessons: To be a Volunteer site

• Separate the volunteer work from regular, deadlined work flow.

• Streamline projects• Make orientations similar across groups• Make the project feed itself

– Need more copies—volunteers can copy– People didn’t enter info in database—volunteers can

do it.– Never have paid workers do something that could

be part of your volunteer program.

Thank You

Mr. Dallas SuttlesE-mail: dastttles@valdosta.edu Office Location: Odum Library Room 4370Office Telephone: 229 333-7150

Ms. Deborah S. Davis, CAE-mail: dsdavis@valdosta.eduOffice Location: Odum Library Room 4370Office Telephone: 229 259-7756

Ms. Stacey WrightE-mail: slwright@valdosta.eduOffice Location: Odum Library Room 4370Office Telephone: 229 333-7150