SIUE Madison Historical Team Teaches Eighth-Graders to Become Archivists
A team of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville students and staff spent three days in February with the eighth-graders in Rachel Harris’ U.S. History class at Liberty Middle School in the Edwardsville School District, sharing their love of history and their work in conjunction with Madison Historical: The Online Encyclopedia and Digital Archive for Madison County. The project, which is coordinated by the SIUE Department of Historical Studies, works to document, preserve and share the rich history of Madison County, Illinois.
During the three-day lesson, the eighth-graders used digitized artifacts from the Madison Historical archives to analyze how the local history of Madison County speaks to the larger narrative of the United States in the 20th century. The project also gave students a chance to work as real historians by bringing in artifacts from home, writing the metadata that explains the artifact and aiding in the digitization of the artifact.
“For many students, this was an excellent opportunity to make real-world connections between what they are learning in the classroom and the significant archival resources available in their community for the first time,” said Shannan Mason, SIUE historical studies doctoral student. Mason led the team of SIUE archivists, who also included Interdisciplinary Research and Informatics Scholarship (IRIS) Center technician Ben Ostermeier and undergraduate research assistants Jake Elmer, Jacob Engel, Madeline Halstead and Lillian Stevens.
After learning about the archival process in class, the eighth-graders were tasked with speaking to family members, neighbors or friends within the community who possessed an artifact that was of historical significance to them or relevant to the history of Madison County. The students analyzed the artifact and considered its credibility, structure and context before bringing it to school to be scanned or photographed by the Madison Historical team for digital preservation.
“Through this process, the middle school students became active participants in the digital archival process, learning how to synthesize information from texts and artifacts into a concise written narrative for publication,” added Mason.
While this project likely pushed some students out of their comfort zone, the step-by-step approach presented by the Madison Historical team guided students through the process, resulting in impressive outcomes that will make great additions to Madison Historical’s digital archive. The projects created by the students will be included in Madison Historical’s online database and published on the site.
Photo: SIUE student Lillian Stevens photographs an artifact brought in by a Liberty Middle School student.
