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 jhaun@lawrenceville.org 609.895.2034